“Who’s worrying who?” He rolled his eyes, although his nonchalance felt forced. It gave me pause; he seemed strangely vulnerable, almost afraid, and I could not understand why. But I didn’t want to lose sight of the stranger either, so I shook my head and hurried down the path. I would talk to Finn later.

The man had disappeared around the corner. I walked faster. This was likely a waste of time and, of course, I didn’t know what I would actually do if I caught up to him. Demand an explanation? An explanation for what? I climbed the broad flight of stairs to the upper eastern sector of the Gardens, taking them two steps at a time. No law prohibited smiling.

An Enforcer greeted me at the archway to the Winter Gardens. I nodded to her. Beyond the arch, wooden walkways snaked between the evergreen trees. Luck chimes clinked in the breeze.

The Winter Gardens were the one sector that stayed green all year round, which made it amongst the most popular areas in the Gardens. As a child I had climbed these trees with Finn while my mother met with her friends on the benches below. We had invented all kinds of fantasies back then, about what we would become when we grew up. Stupid childhood dreams.

The man was waiting, standing in the shade at the first fork in the path. When he saw me coming, he smirked and beckoned.

That caught me off-guard, and was irritating enough to overcome my natural reticence. I advanced toward him.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I’m not sure…”

“Corpse eater,” he called.

I stopped in my tracks. A nearby woman’s head whipped around.

“Uh…” I wet my lips. “Sir, I think…”

“You are a corpse eater.” He pronounced the words carefully, as if speaking to a child. He was still smiling. “Isn’t that right, Acolyte Elfreda Raughn?”

He’s mad, I thought, reeling. To so casually blaspheme against the Sisterhood was insane. And how does he know who I am?

The handful of people in the vicinity were all staring at us.

“Did you hear me? I can say it louder,” he said.

“I heard you.”

Although my words were soft, a shiver rippled through the onlookers. The Winter Gardens had become very quiet.

“So?”

What was this? With so many witnesses, I knew I needed to respond. His behaviour verged on the treasonous. Actually, it probably was treasonous. And yet he clearly wanted me to react, which meant that this had to be some kind of trap. Absurd. My anger, always close to the surface, spilled over.

“I don’t know who you are,” I said, still without raising my voice, “but you seem to be under the impression that I give a damn about your opinions.”

“Oh, but you do, corpse eater.”

“Don’t test me.”

“Or what?” He knew that he had gotten under my skin. “Gonna send me to the Renewal Wards?”