“Aunt Esmeralda!”

The tension between the two was palpable. I was no fool – it had become clear that Élise had brought me here to speak to her aunt, but it seemed the conversation had gone beyond what she had intended.

“Help with what?” I demanded.

“You’re supposed to keep her out of things, not involve her more!” Élise hissed angrily.

“Quit talking about me as though I’m not even here,” I snapped. “You’ve clearly brought me here to tell me something, so get on with it.”

Esmeralda and Élise glared at each other, but eventually the younger woman conceded. “Do as you want. You always do.”

Her aunt nodded and leaned closer to me, her voice barely above a whisper. “There is a small faction within Trollus pushing for better treatment of those with mixed blood – equality, even. As it stands, any child less than pure blood is born into servitude. They are owned by the noble or the guild who owns the mother – or in the rare instance one of the parents is a full-blooded troll, they are auctioned to the highest bidder when they turn fifteen, and the money goes to the crown. They are traded like animals until they have grown too old to be useful and then they are left in the labyrinth as fodder for the sluag.”

I shivered, the memory of my own flight from the sluag fresh in my mind. I had always had the hope of getting out – I could not even fathom what it would feel like to know that no matter how fast you ran or how well you might hide, escape was futile. For trolls, there was no way out.

“Some don’t even last that long,” Esmeralda said softly. “I’ve heard of girls as young as fifteen sent to their deaths for spilling soup on their lady’s skirts.” She pointed a finger at me. “The Montoya family is wealthy and powerful. I will not stand by and watch while my sister’s daughters are relegated to the servant class, or worse, food for an overgrown slug, because of antiquated perceptions.”

“I can understand that,” I said, crossing my arms against the chill. “But I don’t understand what you expect me to do about it. I have no power here.”

“The very fact that the trolls have allowed one of their own to bond a human – and a Montigny prince at that – is coup enough in itself. Not for five centuries has a human held any position of power with them. And you, you will be queen one day – your half-blood children will be the heirs to the throne.” Her eyes glittered with excitement.

I had precisely zero intention of letting matters get that far, but Esmeralda was the first person I’d met in Trollus willing to give me straight answers, so I was more than willing to hear her out.

“I don’t see how you have any hope of changing things,” I said, hoping my dismissal of her plans might force her to reveal more. “What can a handful of mixed bloods and a few humans do against that kind of magic?”