Granmama turned the full force of an icy stare in Kit’s direction. Most of the indigo had dark eyes, brown or black; only a handful, the descendants of the most uncorrupted bloodlines, had blue eyes. Granmama’s were a startling layered turquoise flecked with chips of granite; they appeared to be lit from behind by an unwavering torch.

“Marriage among the Higher Hundred can never be left to chance,” she said in a calm, measured voice. “There is too much at stake. Do you know how much property Sereva owns outright, property that came to her through her mother and through her marriage settlement? Neither Bascom nor Marcus can inherit that land. Unless they marry, and marry well, all that property goes to the daughters of a second cousin of mine who married a mid-caste boy and squandered her life. I’ve only met her daughters a few times, and let me tell you, I will scheme and matchmake until the day I die to prevent either one of them from inheriting an acre of my mother’s land. And if that means Bascom and Marcus must be betrothed before they turn thirteen, so be it. It is the way of our world, and it is a good way.”

Kit knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help herself. “Land—isn’t there anything else you think of? Anything else you care about?” she demanded. “Is a piece of property more valuable to you than the happiness of a human being?”

“The land is all that lasts. The land is the only thing that links us, one generation to the next, and keeps us safe,” her grandmother declared in a steely voice. “Is it more important than happiness? Of course it is. Whoever was happy more than a few days together at a time? Whoever truly knew what would make him happy? Are you happy? You think you’re such a rebel, you think you’re so free, but I’ve seen you sobbing when you thought I wasn’t looking, and you wouldn’t be in this house at this moment if you had any other place to go. And you’re going to hold your life up as an example? If your father had left you to me to raise when your mother died, do you think you would be happier than you are now? I know the answer to that one. You’d be just like your cousin Sereva, and she’s a good girl, calm and content. Wouldn’t you rather be like her some days than the person you are now?”