For Darkness Shows the Stars

before taking out their grievances in a way that could get them hurt—or endanger our mission.”
    “Their grievances? Against Benedict?”
    “You are aware, I suppose, of some of the more . . . unsavory things that happen in the Post enclaves.”
    “More unsavory than human experimentation?” Elliot asked, her tone pointed.
    Felicia’s response was utterly serious. “Much more. Not all the stories about the Post enclaves are propaganda designed to keep estate Posts from running away. Some of them, unfortunately, are true. There are bad people there. People who take advantage of those who have no one to turn to. Benedict North is one of those people.”
    Something soured in the pit of Elliot’s stomach. And when Felicia went on, she found that she felt no surprise.
    Felicia led her over to the chairs set up against one wall of the porch. Nearby, a small table held a pot of tea on a sun-warmer, and Felicia poured them two cups. “I told you once that Andromeda Phoenix was not used to life as a Free Post.” When Elliot nodded, the older woman went on. “That’s because despite leaving her estate as a young child, she hasn’t been a Free Post for very long.”
    Elliot’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t understand. What does this have to do with Benedict?” Benedict, who’d proposed to her not an hour ago, who’d told her he wanted to support the Posts, who might be her only chance of rescuing the people she cared for most in the world.
    “The Phoenixes—they were Ann and Don then—they were children. They had nothing. They had no one. It was nearly impossible for Ann to find someone who would hire her. I’ve seen so many of these children, Elliot. They’ve made me desperate offers.”
    “You’ve accepted some of them!” Elliot couldn’t help but say. Felicia had experimented on Kai and the Phoenixes, and who knew how many other young Posts.
    Felicia nodded gravely. “Yes, I have. Everyone who came to me knew the risks of what we were doing, and the benefits if we were successful. It’s a dangerous job, but it’s not an exploitive one.”
    But she couldn’t be sure of that. None of them could. She might have doomed them all, unless they never married, never had children . . . Tatiana was right there. The Fleet Posts thought they were invincible. Posts always had Post children. But that was thanks to the protocols.
    And maybe Tatiana hadn’t been the only member of her family who was right. Perhaps her father had been right, too, so many years ago. The sourness in her stomach grew, like a bit of rot that could infest an entire bushel of fruit. “What was Benedict’s offer?” she asked Felicia, though she could already guess.
    “You must understand,” said Felicia, “Ann was very desperate. And her brother—he was so young—and he was starving.”
    She’d been so quick to believe Benedict when he’d said her father had made up everything about his banishment. It made sense. It was something she could easily imagine her father doing.
    But that didn’t mean it was true.
    “There is a house in Channel City,” Felicia was saying. “It is filled with young women. Little girls. Posts, mostly, but there are Reduced as well. Benedict worked there. It was his job to find new recruits.”
    Elliot shuddered.
    “He was perfect for the position. He was young, and handsome, and charming, and he pretended to be a Post, just like them. Called himself Ben.”
    “Stop,” Elliot whispered. “I don’t need to hear anymore.” Of course he needed her help getting the North workforce to stay. An eight-year-old rumor was bad enough. But news of this business?
    “Their work contracts, however, merely bonded the runaways into service to a new Luddite. And unlike the lords of the estates, these masters did not tolerate runaways,” Felicia finished, her face drawn. “Andromeda has never trusted a Luddite since.”
    “Though I seem to be alone in that,” came a voice from behind them. Elliot turned to see Andromeda in the doorway, her face pale and drawn, her glittering blue eyes red and swollen with tears. “First you send me off to tell my sob story to the dragon lady, and then you spill everything to the princess.”
    “Andromeda, I’m so sorry . . . ,” Elliot began.
    She snorted. “Pity from you? Save it. You’ve been harboring him a few kay away for a month.”
    “I didn’t know . . .”
    “No one knew,” said Donovan, appearing behind his sister. “Until the race, no