“Once, many years ago, when I was a Child Who Walks by Day, I had kin, blood relatives, who could not bear the shape of the world in which they lived. So they decided to change it. They were very brave, and very naïve. For what person can truly ever change the fate of a nation? They were betrayed one day, surrounded by enemies. They knew they had failed and there was nothing more they could do. So they chose to stand and face Death the Endless. Their enemies set their hiding place on fire to burn them out, and they gave themselves to the flames rather than be taken.

“It was Orso who saved me. He had a different name then. He was a friend of my father’s, and it was he who carried me from the flames.”

So the rumors are true. Orso saved Corday’s life when she was young. No wonder the Ghosts and the Bats are such firm allies.

“If I lived a thousand years, I could never repay the debt I owe. It is deeper than blood and bone, stronger than iron. For if the Dead Lord had not taken me into the sewers, if he had not brought me to the Court and sworn me to the service of the Death Dealers, I would have been hunted down and slaughtered like a dog in the streets. My body would have hung at Montfaucon, dancing on the wind, a feast for the crows.”

I remember this. All the families and allies of the revolutionaries were hunted down, and none were spared; wives, children, all blood, all kin bearing their name, all were fed to the guillotine or hung at Montfaucon as a message.

“So I was not sent tonight,” she says, turning to me, her eyes shining. “No Guild paid a blood price for tonight’s work. It was done willingly, for when we learned what they had done, we could not let it go unpunished.”

Her voice is ice.

“You sit here in this carriage, little one, and you think yourself safe because I am telling you stories. You think you can trust me because I am allied with the Dead Lord. But I tell you the truth, and mark it, for it will be your salvation: it is not wise to be so vulnerable.” She gestures to Ettie. “She is your heart, and anyone who strikes at her wounds you. No child of the Guilds can hope to survive with a weakness so exposed.

“There are no friends in the Miracle Court, only allies. You may think you have purchased her freedom tonight, but others will come for her eventually, including those you think are your friends, those you believe you can trust.”

A shiver runs through me, for I don’t have the bread price. How am I to protect Ettie without it? And if Corday is to be believed, any safety I buy her won’t last. I fight to keep my lips from trembling.