She wanted to cry out that this wasn’t fair—that almost having her life ruined was serious. But . . . how would her life have been “ruined,” exactly? She couldn’t be thrown out of her home. Being dismissed by the Artificers would not have made her strange Gift vanish, and it was more than useful, and if no one else, the Heralds and her father would have a lot of use for it. She could have gotten tutoring from a Master who didn’t believe the cheating accusation. No one who cared about her—or who she cared about—would ever have believed she had cheated. Just people whose opinions didn’t count.

Still . . .

“I hate this,” she said instead, wrathfully. “There should be some way to make Dudley pay for what he did to me!”

“Well, we thought ’bout thet,” he said. “We c’d bring ’im inter civil court. An’ we c’d even make ’im go under Truth Spell agin, and make it all come out. An’ then wut? Mebbe git some money from ’im, but ’ow much’s cheatin’ worth? ’Member, this’d be a civil judge an’ jury useter goats an’ ’ouses an’ things wut ye c’n put a number on. An’ no one’d trust ’im, a-course, but no one trusts ’im now, leastwise, not anyone with sense. An’ ’e’d ’ave even more reasons t’ ’old a grudge ’gainst you. This way . . . ye got a chance ’e’ll find somewhat else t’ go after.”

She sighed, feeling utterly and completely cheated. Angry, frustrated, and sick all over again. But her father was right.

“Not even us Heralds c’n make everythin’ right, poppet,” he said, sadly. “All we c’n do is try an’ make ’em better.”

She couldn’t help it. A couple of hot tears of rage and disappointment coursed down her cheeks. But he was right. Damn it all, he was right.

“We bested ’m twice, poppet, ’member that,” Mags admonished. “An’ if ’e tries a third time, we’ll do ’im agin. ’E thinks ’e’s smart, but ’e ain’t nearly as smart as ’e thinks.” He offered her his hand. “Git some supper. Ye’ll feel better. Tory ’n Kee ’re worried ’bout ye.”

She took it, and as he rose, she got off her bed. “Nobody’s as smart as all of us put together,” she said, finally.

Mags smiled. “Tha’s the truth. Now le’s eat.”

8

Abi actually got to enjoy the Harvest Fair.