“Poor girl,” Kelela added, her tone melting with disingenuous sympathy. “You eat like you’ve never tasted food in your life.”

“It’s a compliment to the chef,” said Esjay, swallowing before continuing. “Peggy sure can cook. I feel like this is the best meal I’ve had all day.”

Peggy had made this? Not likely. She had made the mush this morning, but she wasn’t capable of this. She was a dull, soulless human being, and it was clear she couldn’t season food if you paid her.

“You’re either younger than we think or malnourished,” said Kelela suddenly, without questioning it. “You can’t be any older than eighteen.”

I took a moment to swallow my giant mouthful—no one was going to shame me into not eating everything on this plate. “I can, actually,” I said simply.

“Still, you’re incredibly young to be a working debtera. You can’t possibly have had enough experience to be any good.”

Esjay placed his hand over his sister’s briefly. “Andromeda has an excellent résumé, Kelela. If she had been on the official list she would’ve been the first debtera I would’ve contacted.”

He smiled at me, as if bestowing a compliment.

“Not on the official list?” Kelela squared her gaze at me, her shock as fake as her hair color. “So, you’re unlicensed?”

Poor sweet Esjay, with his cursed good intentions. All he’d done was given Kelela more ammunition to use against me. “My skill speaks louder than a piece of paper could. Magnus can vouch for the stairs I cleansed this afternoon.”

“I have yet to see anything remarkable,” Magnus said, knocking a candle off the table like an attention-starved cat. I felt a vein in my temple tic.

“You’ve started work already?” Esjay asked, wiping his hand on his cloth napkin. “We haven’t gone over the contract.”

“I read it over last night,” I said, looking down at the candle Magnus had knocked over. It was still lit, somehow, but the flame stayed on the wick, rejecting the hardwood floor. I suppose it wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d seen in this house. “The terms are fine.”

“You must really need this job,” Kelela said.

Magnus smirked, and looked off at the wall.

Esjay seemed the only one to miss the sarcasm. “What an honor it must’ve been to be selected to train with Jember.”

Not selected so much as bought was the honest answer, but it was more information than these rich snobs deserved. “A true honor. He’s the best there is.”

“I’m dying to meet him and ask him a few things. I keep trying to invite him for dinner but can never seem to get ahold of him before or after church.”