“Until the day of your arrival, when you thanked me. That was the first time in years anyone had shown us respect, and we decided it felt good. When you continued to be respectful and appreciative, we found we had something besides the monotony of servitude to think on. That was hope.” Star spread her hands wide. “Hope was something we had not experienced before. Hope was intoxicating. And then you did something we never, ever anticipated. You took pity on us.”

She had no eyes, but somehow she looked deeply into his eyes. “Then you did the utterly unthinkable. You promised to free us. We do not know if you can do this, because you do not know if you can do this. But one thing we do know. We have the means in our own hands now to flee with your people into a place where the Emperor will have to work very hard to reach us. And for as long as we can stay out of his reach, we will be freer than we have been since we entered this accursed trap.”

Scullen looked at him, the cynicism gone from her eyes. “You did that?”

Kordas nodded. “Yes . . .”

“You’re an idiot,” Scullen stated. “But you’re brave, and you’re compassionate, and I’ve never seen that here in the Capital in my entire life. I thought both things were extinct in the Empire.” She stood there silently for a moment. “By all the gods big and small . . . now you give me hope.”

He tried to stop himself. He really did. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t. Besides, he was going to take the Dolls with him when he fled, but how much good would that do if he didn’t eliminate the means by which they were being made?

He turned to Star. “Will alarms go off if we free them?” he asked. And Scullen’s eyes widened with shock.

“This is where things are put to be secure and forgotten. In the Palace, nobody cares how things are made, or by whom. They only want the result. If there was an alarm, whoever created it is probably long dead.” Star paused. “This one is compelled to tell you that this one does not know. But it is true that all things here are made by Dolls and serviced by Dolls. No Dolls have ever seen this room being scryed, and no Dolls have seen a human visit or work here in a very long time.”

What’s that old saying? “If you’re going to be killed for stealing, you might as well be killed for stealing a horse rather than a dog.”

But—wait—

“If this thing was broken, could it be fixed?” he asked. “I mean, if the Trapping and Doll-making is going to be able to be started up again—” Can I figure out a way to keep that from happening?