“Of course. There weren’t exactly other noble children to play with.” Hannah lowered herself into an armchair. “Lord Lowry liked attention, as you can imagine, and his brother preferred keeping to himself.”

“If you don’t mind my saying, you two don’t seem terribly close for childhood playmates.”

When Hannah went silent, Wren turned over her shoulder to find her expression darkened. Perhaps she’d pushed too far.

“Forgive me! I’m sometimes too nosy for my own good.”

“No, no…” Hannah pulled her messy braid over her shoulder, twisting the end of it through her fingers. “There was no dramatic falling out. I didn’t care for him much as a child, is all. He was a charming boy when he wanted to be, but his father indulged him too much. All it took was a smile, and the man was good as clay in his hands. It spoiled him—made him cruel sometimes for it.”

“I can hardly imagine him as cruel,” Wren said carefully.

“Men change.” She laughed, an almost hollow sound. “It’s funny now, really. I remember … I was perhaps six, and Lord Lowry eleven. Nelly—the cook—found a stray cat in town one day. And when she kittened, Nelly let me choose one to call mine, a black cat with white socks. I named her Midnight. When the young lords caught wind of it, they came to see the litter. Of course, Lord Lowry wanted Midnight for himself.”

“What did you do?”

“I told him to piss off, and he looked me in the eye and told me…” Hannah trailed off, smiling sheepishly. “I suppose it’s actually not that funny of a story.”

“No, it’s alright,” Wren said. “Please go on.”

“He told me if I didn’t give her up, he’d cut her open. See what was inside, like his father did in his experiments.”

“But … that’s awful.”

Hannah waved her off. “Nelly made a show of scolding me in front of him. Later, she told me it was only a name—I could still play with her all I liked. So I let him have her.”

“What happened to her?”

She cringed. “A few months later, I found her on the edge of the woods.”

Wren felt all the blood drain from her face. “Did he…?”

“No,” Hannah said quickly. “No, I don’t think so, milady. The wolves got her.”

The silence fell heavy between them.

Hannah rose from her chair. “Well, I believe I’ve said enough for tonight.”

“Wait.” No one else in this house spoke to her so candidly. If Hannah could tell her anything about how this poison was administered, perhaps she’d have an easier time treating it. “Would you mind answering a few more of my questions?”

“About what?” she asked guardedly.

“About the sickness.”

“Oh. That.”