feet as the littles blasted through the kitchen door to leap on her. Bindy and Rina followed at a slower pace, with Canty on Bindy’s hip. Something in Nora’s eyes released when she saw them, and her voice was brighter than Nate had ever heard it when she said, “Hello, my lovelies! You’ve not been making trouble for the magus, I hope?”
“They’ve been a huge help,” Nate said.
“They always are.” Nora took Canty from Bindy; delighted, he wove his little fists into her hair, and she kissed his soft cheek. “And I’ll tell you all, the first thing the committee’s changing is the schedule. No more long shifts. No more days spent at one task, never seeing sunlight, no time to rest or breathe or have your own thoughts, begging for privy breaks and eating while you work.”
“It’s a new world,” Rina said, her eyes glowing, and Nora said, “We’ll see.”
“Have you heard anything about what’s to happen to Lord Gavin and the other Children?” Nate said.
“No lord anyone, anymore, magus,” Rina said.
“They haven’t been children for years, now,” Nora said. “Seneschal put Elban’s corpse in the Lord’s Square so we could all see it and know the old bastard was dead. But he hasn’t announced what’s to become of Elban’s House, or his family.” She shrugged, resigned. “Not their fault where they were born, I suppose. But neither was it my Darid’s, nor any of the other children who’ve disappeared inside the Wall over the years.”
“So he does.” Nora gave Nate a measuring look. “What do you say of them, then, magus? Since you know them so well. Should they live?”
His mouth dry, Nate said, “I would hate to see anyone die who didn’t deserve it.”
“Deserve it?” Nora’s eyebrows went fierce. “I watched them grow up same as anyone. Made my own children dolls of them, took them to see the puppet shows. But don’t you talk to me about deserving. Did my Darid deserve to be sold like a side of beef into that House, to be mistreated however they like and hung when they felt like it? All the House staff are out now, you know. The stories I’m hearing would curl your hair. Told us they’d be well fed and well cared for, they did, but they cut my Darid into pieces and threw him on the trash heap. Deserve it, indeed.” Bindy put a hand on Nora’s shoulder. Nora leaned her head against it and then gathered the littles closer around her, reaching out for Rina’s arm; holding everything she had left in a death grip to make up for her vanished son.
Her son wasn’t gone, not the way she thought. The sadness in her eyes made Nate’s heart ache, but if word got back to the Seneschal that the head stableman hadn’t been executed after all, he was going to want to know how Darid had escaped. Nate couldn’t risk that. He wondered who was making sure the four young people had food and wood for their fire, if the staff was gone; he wondered if Judah was hungry and cold in this amazing new world where the managers ran the factories and corpses rotted in the streets. He wondered if she was already dead.
And then he felt bad, because of course Nora was right. He wouldn’t be here if Highfall had ever been fair, and when there was unfairness on the table, the weakest were always served the biggest helping. Which made him think again of Judah, and the cane-marks on her back, and he was sick and conflicted and wished the Seneschal would send word. He wished he knew something. Anything. He had been so close. She almost trusted him.
When all of the children were gone, the manor seemed painfully quiet and painfully empty. The next morning, the courtier’s body had vanished.
* * *
Worry chewed on the edges of Nate like a dog with a shoe. He signaled Derie, but received no answer. To make up for the food they were eating, Bindy and her sisters had made loaf after loaf of bread. Nate didn’t have much appetite and Charles barely ate—as the drops wore off, he began to weep, constantly and uncontrollably—but by the fifth day after the coup, even the most misshapen and oddly-textured loaves were gone. Finally, Nate ventured outside.
The streets were quiet. People walked quickly, heads down to avoid seeing anything around them. Guards watched from the corners