Fae called a taxi to bring her from the hospital to the town house. They could have had Khabir’s car and driver, but they were both feeling the desire to avoid Khabir’s largesse. Briefly dependent on the arms of a stranger, Miranda let herself be half carried up the steep, uneven stairs and over the threshold and put into a wheelchair—not the ample one she used at the villa, but a smaller flimsy folding thing on loan from the hospital. She slowly wheeled herself farther in and looked around at her once tidy home, now dusty with neglect and littered with scattered books and papers. Fae’s expression was sheepish.

“I didn’t have a lot of time to clean up, but I got the kitchen done at least,” she said, pushing some of the books under a table with her foot. “I made lunch; do you want some?”

“Not yet,” Miranda said briefly, biting back criticism. “I’m not hungry, and Priya and Kieran will be here soon.”

She tried to move around. Fae hustled to clear obstacles from the wheelchair’s path, but even without the additional debris it felt like the doorways were too narrow, the turns too sharp, the corners too angular, and the furniture completely in the way. It made Miranda irritable, but she eventually parked herself at the table in the center of the living room, forced herself to keep quiet, and accepted the conciliatory cup of hot chocolate Fae made for her.

She sighed and looked around again, wondering how long it would take to catalog everything, pack what she wanted, dispose of the rest. Something tickled her ankle, and when she drew back to look, she saw a fat, comfortable spider sitting undisturbed in a well-established network of webs under the table. She snapped.

“How can you not see this? What have you been doing that leaves you so little time to dust?”

Fae snapped back, “I’ve been writing and researching—and taking care of you.”

Miranda’s breath stopped. Fae stared at her, looking as if she wished she could take back the angry words, but they were there, tainting the air.

The doorbell rang. Fae escaped the room. Miranda exhaled. She managed to smile brilliantly at Priya and Kieran as they came in and greeted her, and her voice did not shake as she invited them to sit and be comfortable.

“Is everything fine with your apartment, Kieran?” she asked her tenant.

He nodded vigorously. “Fantastic. Don’t worry about a thing. Priya’s been taking good care of me.”

“And she told you what this meeting is about?”

He nodded again. “To arrange about the rent when you leave the City.”