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I’d like to go to Tess and see to it that she’s all right, but she’s surrounded. Her friends are all pelting her with questions. I catch her eye and she gives me a tiny nod. She can manage this. I head toward Parvati and Livvy.
“Could the two of you come with me for a moment?” Perhaps I can thwart Inez in another way.
Parvati shies away from the hand I put on her shoulder. “Are we in trouble?”
“No, not at all. ” I give her a reassuring smile. “I just want to talk to you. ”
Last night we took up a collection of dresses for the new girls. Livvy, a short, buxom brunette, is wearing a pink and red plaid dress of Alice’s. I was rather surprised that Alice volunteered it—she’s not known for her charity—but Livvy looks well in it. I lent Parvati a navy-blue frock, but it hangs on her skeletal frame like a shroud. Mei’s a good hand with a needle; perhaps she can take it in for her.
I guide them upstairs to the room I share with Rilla and gesture for them to sit on my bed. Parvati perches on the edge of the mattress while Livvy kicks off her borrowed red slippers and curls up.
“Why does the headmistress want to see us?” Parvati’s hand trembles as she tucks a strand of black hair behind her ear.
“Because of your mind-magic. ” I drag the bench from the dressing table across the room and sit in front of them. “She’ll want to test you. ”
“Test us how?” Livvy frowns.
My shoulders go tight. “She’ll ask you to compel other girls. She asked me to make them walk from the sitting room to her office. ”
“Did you do it?” There are blue shadows beneath Parvati’s eyes.
I shake my head. “I wasn’t comfortable going into my friends’ minds without their permission. ”
“But you could have done it, if you’d wanted to? You did mind-magic at Harwood on the nurses, didn’t you?” Parvati presses, and I nod. “Will you teach me how? I’ve never been able to see my compulsion through. The laudanum, I think—it wouldn’t let me focus on anything for long. ”
“I will—though I hope you won’t have need of it. I don’t think compulsion is to be used lightly. But after—well, after what you’ve been through . . . ” I trail off, flushing. “If it would help you to feel safer—”
“It would help me to know that if I ever see Brother Cabot again, I could compel him to put a bullet through his brain,” Parvati says grimly. “I appreciate your delicacy, but Livvy knows. Everyone knows what happened to me and no one came forward to stop it. ”
“Parvati, I—” Livvy begins, leaning forward.
“I don’t blame you for it. ” Parvati turns to me. “I tried to fight back. Strangled him with his own cravat once, but he slapped me and got away while I was seeing stars. Another time I compelled him to blind himself, but he came out of it right before he stuck the matron’s letter opener in his eye. He beat me for it—but it was almost worth it. ”
“Oh, Parvati. ” Livvy tries to embrace her, but Parvati shrinks away.
“I don’t want your pity,” she snaps. “I want vengeance, like Sister Inez promised. ”
“Sister Inez,” I say quietly, “is not to be trusted. I understand that you must—”
“No,” Parvati interrupts. Her back is ramrod straight, her legs crossed delicately at the ankles, but anger fairly vibrates through her. “You cannot possibly understand. Not unless you’ve been there yourself. ”
I trace the blue pinstripes on my skirt, trying to redirect the conversation. “Inez is leading the Sisterhood into a war we can’t win. We’re powerful, yes, but we’re outnumbered. The prophecy says Tess can win the people to our side—but until then, we need to work with the more moderate Brothers to keep the peace. If Inez continues to do terrible, reckless things, compromise will never be possible. ”
“Good,” Parvati spits, her brown eyes narrowed. “I don’t want compromise. How can you expect us to work with Brothers after what they’ve done to us?”
“They’re not all bad,” I say, thinking of Finn. Always of Finn. He told me there are moderates within the Brotherhood, men like him who joined to protect their wives or sisters or sweethearts. “And if we don’t want inhumane treatment, we can’t dole it out. Even if Brother Covington and the others were wrongheaded, they didn’t deserve—”
“Wrongheaded?” Parvati leaps to her feet. “That’s what you’d call them? You don’t think they deserved what was done to them? Do you think I deserved what was done to me?”
“No! No, of course not. ” I jump up, flustered. “I misspoke. They were—are—cruel. But we’ll never gain the people’s trust Inez’s way. Lord knows what else she’s plotting. She’s such a schemer; I wouldn’t trust her to—”
“She’s a schemer?” Parvati plants her hands on her thin hips. “You called us up here to undermine her. I suppose you’re angry with her on account of what she and Maura did to your beau?” I can’t deny that—but it’s not only that. Parvati’s lip curls in disgust. “I can’t believe you were letting a Brother court you!”
“He wasn’t—you don’t understand,” I insist. “Finn isn’t—”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand. ” Parvati strides across the room and throws open the door. “You’ve been sheltered all your life. You put yourself in my shoes, and then you tell me what the Brotherhood deserves. ”
Blast.
Livvy stares at her red slippers. “I should—excuse me, Cate,” she mumbles, fleeing after Parvati.
Oh, hell.
I should have asked Elena to be here. She would have known how to finagle such a delicate conversation. Now Parvati thinks I’m a fool who sympathizes with the Brothers, and Inez will have at least one more witch with mind-magic on her side.
I pause beside the window, pushing aside Rilla’s yellow curtains and staring at the dreary gray morning. What’s happening out there? Are the Brothers already meeting to elect a new leader? A great deal depends on whom they choose and whether he’ll lead with vengeance or mercy. Finn predicted they might well vote to resurrect the burnings. I wrap my arms around myself, wishing he were here to comfort me.
I miss him already.
This fall, when I was in New London and he was still in Chatham, I hoped perhaps he was thinking about me, too.
Now he won’t even know to miss me.
I push those thoughts away. If I stop moving—stop doing—I’m going to fall apart. I can’t give Inez and Maura the satisfaction of that.
I have little faith in the Brotherhood these days, but I’ve got to believe most men wouldn’t vote to set me on fire if they knew what I could do. It’s one thing to lock a girl up in Harwood for the rest of her life; it’s quite another to burn her at the stake.
Isn’t it?
Are Parvati and Inez right? Will the Brothers go that far?
The prospect of going downstairs, sitting behind a desk, and taking notes seems impossible. How can I concentrate when I don’t know what the Brothers are doing or how the people have reacted to Harwood and the attack on the Head Council? I’m sure the Sentinel is painting both events with the same brush—dangerous witches on the loose. But what of the Gazette? Can Alistair Merriweather see the gulf of difference between what Inez did and freeing innocent girls?