What would people do if they knew she was so close? What would they do if they knew that outside the fence there were states where lowborns did not live as slaves? Should she call out when she saw her sister? Should she tell her to try to escape?
No, her people were not interested in fighting. They were content to give up their first two sons and to go on with their lives.
She walked silently beside Lok.
The canopy of leaves above her wept.
The set-net site was empty when they arrived, and Repentance and Lok had no trouble finding a spot in the dense woods and undergrowth where they would be able to see without being seen. They couldn't see well—the fog was as thick as cotton—but she would be able to know if Comfort was well.
Repentance, squatting beside Lok, was overcome with homesickness so strong she felt like she might not be able to breathe. She longed to see Comfort again. To hear her laugh. To sit by the river while her little brothers swam and while Comfort sat nearby, drawing.
Sweat covered her scalp and face, and she struggled to breathe in the bag. She pulled the bottom of the sack open to let in fresh air, but the swamp air was hot and humid, and she gulped it in without feeling much relief. She was about to ask Lok if she could take the bag off, when she heard someone coming along the path.
Repentance heard Comfort's voice before she saw her.
"Why do they blame me?"
Repentance strained to see her.
"I'm sorry," Aggravation answered Comfort.
"You aren't sorry!" Comfort said. "You could fight if you wanted."
The two of them came into view, passing a few feet from where Repentance hid.
"I've got to think of my little brothers," Aggravation said. "If my family aligns with yours now—"
"It would prove that there's nothing to be afraid of. When people saw me keep my promise to you …. If you don't trust me, you who know me better than anyone, then no one will. I'll ride the slave cart."
"Someone else ... a fifth-year boy—"
"No one! No one will ever trust any of us. I'll ride the cart and so will both of my brothers."
"You can't blame me for that. It's Repentance—your cursed-from-birth, selfish sister. She's the one you can thank."
Repentance jerked as if she'd been slapped. No, no, she didn't do it to be selfish. She'd only wanted to save—
Lok grabbed her, maybe afraid she would jump up.
"I'm sorry," Aggravation said again. Then he fled like a coward, running away from the girl he had been promised to for years.
Comfort squatted and pulled the set net in, her tears falling on the fish as she picked them.
Repentance gulped and gulped trying to get rid of the lump in her throat and keep herself from breaking down sobbing. She wanted to go to Comfort. She wanted to wrap her arms around her sister as she had done through every crisis since the overlords took Tribulation. But all she could do was watch Comfort through the burlap and through the fog, knowing this picture of her sister crying over the fish net would haunt her for the rest of her days.
Finally, after eternity and more, Comfort threw her net back out into the river, picked up her pail of fish, and headed down the path.
Lok kept hold of Repentance, forcing her to remain still.
Pain thudded against the base of her skull.
The trees dripped.
A small animal splashed into the swamp.
Insects thrummed through the heat.
And Repentance sat in her burlap sack, quietly weeping.
After a few minutes, when no one approached, Lok released her. She followed him in silence. In shock. Oh, Dear Providence, what had she done?
If she obeyed Jadin, if she pleased the prince, she could keep them from taking Comfort right away. But in two years, Comfort would still make her way up the mountain in a slave cart—an unwanted, unbuttoned girl.
Repentance left Lok at the bottom of the porch steps. She pushed open the door of the healing house and stepped into the large room with the settee, where she had woken up earlier that morning.
A young woman—a beautiful, pale, overlord girl a few years older than Repentance—sat on the settee with a book.
She looked up and lifted her upper lip in a sneer. "How did you get in here?"
"I walked," Repentance said, still distracted by her worry over Comfort.
The girl's pale eyes—perfectly matched to the light blue of her satin gown—opened wide. "Did I ask for your sarcasm? Why are you here?"
Repentance dropped her eyes, not willing to anger any more overlords. "I'm looking for Jadin."
The young woman shook her head and her short blonde hair swung around her face. "You can't march in here like this. For the love of Providence, do we need to hire troopers to protect us, now?"
Jadin came through the archway. "Ah, you're back," she said to Repentance. "And you have seen that your sister is alive?"
Without waiting for a reply, she looked at the young overlord woman. "Tawnic, this is Repentance. Would you give her a tour of the place, please? And then give her the bed Mek vacated last week."
"A lowborn?"
Jadin winked at Tawnic. "Take good care of her. If she pleases the prince, he might leave you alone."
"The prince with a lowborn?"
"He does like his forbidden fruit, Tawnic. You know that."
Repentance shivered.
"Oh, well, then," Tawnic said. "I wouldn't mind a trickle of rest. In truth." She shot Repentance an ugly smile. "He's got more energy than a hyena, that one."
Repentance wasn't aware that hyenas were especially energetic, but she understood the point perfectly. She would have hated Tawnic, with her ugly smile and nasty personality,
