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.Gloria stood at the stove.She had changed into jeans and a long, soft golden sweater, and pulled her hair back into a single ponytail with a gold band.Most people wore the color of their house.Since she was a doctor, it only made sense that she would wear white for the House that controlled medical.But she made her legitimate credits selling books and merchandise, which meant she had to be claimed by the House she reported her income to.The soft gold meant she was claimed by House Gold, Money.The House that handled credit, monies, and the transfers and tracking of such.“Morning,” I said quietly as I entered.She glanced over her shoulder.“Good morning, Matilda.How do you like your eggs?”“Cooked,” I said.“I’m not picky.Can I help?”“I think I have it under control.Coffee? Tea?”I pulled a mug out of the cupboard.“Tea, thanks.” She went back to stirring the eggs while I poured hot water from the kettle into a strainer of leaves.“Abraham woke up.” I leaned my back against the counter and blew the steam off my mug, my hands wrapped around it.“Was he aware of his surroundings?”“Yes.I’m pretty sure he was.”“Did he speak? Did he track your movements?” She pulled a plate off a stack near her and filled it with eggs, and toast that had been grilling in what smelled like garlic and butter.“Fruit is on the table,” she said.I took the plate.“Thanks.” It might have been only a few hours since I last ate, but this constant threat of death was hungry business.“Abraham got off the table.”“Oh?”“He had some idea that he could go kick my brother’s ass.”“What?” She turned, spatula poised in one hand, a look somewhere between anger and confusion on her face.“What could he possibly be angry at Quin for?”Quin.I hadn’t heard anyone call my brother that since my parents had died.It was his nickname, but after our parents were killed, he’d insisted I should use his full name at all times.I never minded, and always supposed his nickname reminded him too much of his time with Mom and Dad.“Quin?” I said.“He lets you call him that?”“Quinten,” she corrected herself absently.“Why is Abraham angry at Quinten?”“Mostly because my brother killed his best friend.”At her startled look, I added, “It’s complicated, and it wasn’t done on purpose.This mess.the Houses, the gathering.It’s just.”“Complicated,” she agreed.I nodded and took my plate and tea to the table.Another sip of tea sent across my tongue a burst of sweet mint leaves that reminded me of spring blooms and rain.I closed my eyes for a moment, losing myself to that sensation.“I’m impressed he was on his feet,” she said after a bit.“Once you meet him, you won’t be.Stubborn as a rock.Tough as a rock too—diamond.Annoyingly pigheaded when wounded.” I dug into my food before it got cold.So good.Then I plucked an orange the size of a grapefruit out of the fruit bowl.“Why did you save him at the gathering and bring him with you?” she asked.“Abraham?” I stuck my thumbnail into the orange skin and a burst of ripe juices filled the air with citrus perfume.“He was dying and falsely accused of murder.”“So you saved him out of a sense of justice?”Her back was still turned to me, but from the way she said that, she was fishing for something.“That’s a nice sweater,” I said.“Gold.”Yes, I was basically asking her if she was spying on me for House Gold.It was rude of me, but I’d recently discovered my farmhand had been a spy for House Silver for two years, and the woman I’d trusted enough to let care for my grandmother while I was gone also worked for House Silver.It wasn’t so strange to think the good doctor, and maybe girlfriend of my brother, might be working for another interest on the side.“It makes the customers comfortable,” she said.“They’d rather see a woman working for House Money than the rebellious House Brown.And I can’t let just anyone know I am a doctor.The Houses have eyes.You know my heart is House Brown, Matilda.” She smiled over her shoulder.“I’m opening the shop in an hour or so and I didn’t want to have to change.”“I know.Sorry for accusing you, it’s just been—”“Complicated,” she said again.“No apology needed.I just didn’t know if Abraham had some other kind of hold over you.Blackmail or something you couldn’t see a way out of.”“No,” I said.“Nothing like that.” I popped a section of orange in my mouth.The explosion of sweet juice was enough to make me moan in pleasure.“Oh, my devils, this orange is good.”She turned off the burners and set a lid over the food to keep it warm.“They still grow fresh out here.I forget you can’t get them this ripe back East.” She carried her cup of tea and plate with a single slice of toast over to sit across from me.“I take it your brother never told you about us,” she said.I shook my head.“He’s always been private about private matters.Especially when I was younger.And then he was gone for a year at a time.I always felt like he was unpacking one bag while packing another.We didn’t get a lot of chances to catch up.Do you.care for him?”She took her time finishing a bite of toast, then sat back as if the breakfast was flavorless, which I knew very well it wasn’t.“I do,” she said.“I have.Very much.But he’s changed.Life has changed him.”“Life changes us all.”She sipped tea.“He thinks he can change the world, Matilda.Not with some vague, random campaign or pipe-dream notion.He thinks he alone has his finger on the pulse of the world.And with one press he can change the rhythm of its heart.”From the sound of it, he hadn’t told her exactly what he planned to do: control time.I wondered why he wouldn’t want her to know his plans.But as I’d said, private is private for him.“He’s always aimed high with his goals,” I said.“I’m not sure.”“Of his aim?”“That the world needs to be changed,” she said.I ate the last of half the orange, then separated the sections of the remaining fruit while I thought about that.“You don’t think things could be better for people?”“I do think some things could be better.But it seems that what actually happens when someone manages to change the world is that things are just different.The head of House Gray is dead.Another member of that family will rise to take his place.Things will be different.But it won’t really change.The world won’t change.House Gray will still be House Gray.House Brown will still have no voice to fight for people’s rights.“But Quinten can’t see that.He’s trying to sweep starlight with a broom.Nothing he does.nothing any of us does, no matter how great or small, will ever leave a lasting impact.It’s just.impossible.”I popped another slice of orange into my mouth and brushed my fingers on my pants.“I see that you’ve never met my brother.There is no impossible thing that he isn’t determined to conquer.Doesn’t matter how long it takes him to figure it out, doesn’t matter what or who he has to give up to get it done.Home.Family.Sister.Girlfriend.” I paused at that, and let that truth hang between us.“When Quinten’s caught up in an idea, he rides it like a demon into the pits of hell.”“I know he’s determined,” she said.“That doesn’t mean he’s right.”“He hasn’t been wrong yet.Not when he saved my life when he 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