They were standing in the foyer, along with a girl I’d never met. She looked as clean and sharp as Esjay in her fancy green wool coat. She had ample curves, somehow thick and delicate at once. Her hair was long and wavy … and blue. But the color didn’t look odd on her—it suited her deep skin perfectly, enhancing her beauty rather than distracting from it. It was almost intimidating how pretty and put together this woman was.

I was getting the sense that the weapons of this world were different from the one I was raised in. There it was a matter of stealth, knives, fists. Brutal, but straightforward. Here, the animal with the grandest display won the dominance. You don’t have to be big to take up space, Jember always used to tell me, which was easy enough for a tall person to say. But someone must’ve given this woman the same advice. She had claimed her territory simply by entering it.

I was more thankful than ever for Saba’s dress.

She was the first to notice me standing on the stairs, and too many emotions flashed over her face to keep track of. Surprise, scrutiny, skepticism. And something else. Something like—well, disgust seemed a harsh term, but it felt the most appropriate.

She didn’t think any better of me than Peggy did.

“Andromeda.” Esjay held out his hand to me, as if to welcome me into their circle of snobbery.

“Where did you get that dress?” Peggy demanded, looking me up and down.

“I didn’t steal it,” I said, and she had enough humanity to become red-faced with embarrassment before storming away.

“You’re the new debtera?” said the woman in the green coat, pressing her hand against her chest. “Are we just hiring children off the street now?”

“Kelela,” Esjay chastised. “Andromeda is of age. She’s a professional.”

“Really? Because her eyebrows are crying out for some hot wax.”

“Kelela.”

“Sorry, brother. I suppose it’s a nice change from all the old men we’ve had to entertain before.” She looked over, attempting a smile that barely passed as genuine. “Are you named after that beautiful princess who was chained to a rock?”

Esjay looked politely curious, but Kelela was testing me. Laughing at me. She knew I wasn’t beautiful, or anything close to royalty. I was nothing, at least according to her. Thankfully, I’d probably never have to deal with her again after tonight, so I took the high road and said, “I’m named after the plant.”

Not that that was true, either. I didn’t know if it was the woman who bore me or Jember who’d given me the name, but it didn’t matter—it was only a name. I could move to another town tomorrow and change it, and no one would care.

Kelela raised her eyebrows. “Lovely.”