“It’s not your fault. It was Orlanko who had us arrested. And you probably saved a lot of us from having a . . . a bad night.” Cora dipped her head. “Thank you.”

Marcus returned the nod, feeling himself blush a little.

“Cora,” Raesinia broke in, keeping her voice low. “What is going on here?”

Cora suddenly looked guilty. “Just the usual. Mrs. Felda—”

“Don’t give me that. You’ve got a hall full of Borels and Murnskai!”

Marcus, surprised, looked around the room again. Borelgai men were usually easy to spot by their full black beards and side whiskers, but there were only a few men in the room. On the street, Marcus might have identified Borelgai women by the fur-collared cloaks they wore, but here everyone was dressed in castoffs and rags. Even so, he did see a lot of pale, blond northerners, and the babble of voices, now that he was paying attention, had a distinctly polyglot air. There were a fair number of Vordanai, many of them maimed or otherwise unhealthy, but most of the room was full of women and children. They huddled together in small, nervous groups, mothers keeping their sons and daughters close.

“They didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Cora said.

“Where did they come from?” Marcus said. “I wouldn’t have thought there were many Borels left in the city.” What the mobs had begun, the Patriot Guard had finished. Even Vordanai with Borelgai ancestry had to fend off suspicion.

“That’s the problem,” Cora said. “After the revolution, all the Borel merchants and traders who could got out of town. The Murnskai did the same once the war started. But they left in a hurry, and they didn’t all bother to make arrangements for the staff they’d brought with them.”

“But how did you get involved?” Raesinia said.

Cora blushed. “A lot of them were on my payroll. You’d be amazed what you can do in the market with a little belowstairs gossip. A few of them came to me for help, and then . . . word spread, I guess.” She stared up at Raesinia, cheeks burning but eyes defiant. “Mrs. Felda said it was all right. She told me I ought to help them.”

“Cora . . .” Raesinia hugged the girl again, then pulled away and looked her firmly in the eye. “I know you want to help people, but this is dangerous. If the Patriot Guard find out, you know what they’ll say. A whole nest of Borelgai and Murnskai?”

“That’s why I couldn’t turn them away!” Cora lowered her voice. “You haven’t listened to them, Raes. It’s not just the Guard. If you’re Borel and you’re caught on the streets, anyone who wants can just drag you away, and nobody will lift a finger to stop them now that the Armsmen are gone.”

Hell. Marcus frowned. “It’s really that bad?”

Cora nodded.