Her brother and the Wise Men sat at the high table—at least she assumed they were the Wise Men; most of them were old and decrepit and tucking into their food like ill-mannered children. She recognized a few: Lord Veredith, the law expert from the courtyard, and Lord Redding, who had dandled her on his knee as a toddler. Lord Farley had been a newly wed young man when she had left, but now he sat stoop-shouldered and alone over a bottle. Others had clearly risen through the power vacuum created by the Pestilence—most of them strangers. And her father was there too, his horrible physician in the brown coat standing over him as he picked unhappily at the food on his plate, his eyes darting around in confusion. The only free chair stood next to her father’s, her brother on the other side, Lord Veredith opposite. Lord Irvine was a little way down the table.

As Constance walked down the aisle at the center of the hall, people stopped talking, conversation thrumming into silence. She took her seat, forcing a wide, pleasant smile. But as she turned to face the room, she noticed a conspicuous absence: the Justice.

Well, I suppose I can’t force him to celebrate my return, she thought. Besides, it looks as if he’s sent his creature as a spy instead. She shot a sharp glance over her shoulder at Dr. Thorn, who was now serving her father wine from a dull pewter jug, and she remembered how he’d hurried to fetch the Justice upon her arrival. The physician sank into the shadows as he noticed her gaze, cradling a goblet of his own, and nodded at her calmly. I’ll give him something to report, she thought, with a tiny smile.

She stood and turned to face the rest of the hall, forcing her unease down into the bottom of her stomach. “I am so glad to be home,” she said simply, her voice carrying easily in the quiet. “Thank you all for your warm welcome. You are probably wondering where I have been all this time. I expect there have been many rumors about my disappearance. And now you must be wondering why I have only just come back.”

Winton was gazing up at her especially intently.