“I didn’t feel guilty, you know? I always felt I was doing a good thing—we did a good thing. Give a poor mother a silver to feed the rest of the young ones at home. Perhaps even a few pennies to a peasant or a town whore so she could get boots for the winter or a warm blanket in exchange for the struggles of motherhood. It was a good thing, it was. Times were different then. But after…” She shook herself and met the man’s eyes. “It’s not like that. People are going to come searching for this one. Look at her.”

His smile fell a bit as he spoke with seriousness. The hush of his voice sent a chill through the hall. “No one is going to come looking for her.”

The matron’s brows puckered. She let the silence between them stretch. The window and rain beyond the closed door had a soothing, stifling effect on the room. Torches flickered, rain droplets continued to drip onto the floor from soaked clothes, thunder rumbled in the distance, and yet the matron stared.

“Will she be any trouble? With her lineage, I mean?”

“You’re asking me if she’s one of them?”

The matron said nothing.

He didn’t seem perturbed by the question. “Raise her however you want, and don’t let her give you trouble. When the time comes, sell her for a hundred.”

She reached a hand in close to touch whatever was within the bundle. Her fingers stroked a slow line along the unseen package. Nox’s fingers twitched from where she hid, aching to feel whatever it was for herself. “One hundred?”

The man’s wordless stare seemed to be the only negotiation tactic he required.

“I said I was done,” she repeated. Despite her words, it was clear she had already decided. Her fingers lingered on whatever or whoever was inside the basket. Her words came out nearly as a purr: “Turn fifty crowns into one hundred…or one thousand.” She finally lifted her eyes to the man, speaking with certainty. “Never again. After this, you don’t come back.”

He dipped his chin once in solemn acknowledgment.

The Gray Matron sent him a final, telling look before giving him a hushed command and pattering away from the large landing room. She headed up the stone stairs and down the corridor lined with doors to the children’s rooms. A moment stretched when the man watched after her, shifting his weight on the threshold.

The tether tugged Nox once more, and she obeyed its call.