For Darkness Shows the Stars

wondered why Benedict had chosen now to come home. It wasn’t that he needed the money—whatever job he’d had in the Post enclave had made him wealthy. He didn’t seem to care at all for Luddite prestige. And despite appearances, he had no interest in reconciling with his uncle.
    Now she knew. It was the reopening of the shipyard. Benedict had come for that. He’d pressed her to take a tour of the Boatwright estate the day of her grandfather’s stroke, and now that it was clear the Boatwright estate was not automatically his, he’d come to stake a claim to it—through her.
    “Marry me, Elliot.” He leaned in to kiss her.
    “Stop!” she shouted, raising her hands to block him.
    “Not on my account, surely,” said a voice by the door. They turned to find Tatiana standing on the landing, her face a mask of disgust. She was still clad in her blue dress, but her ribbons had drooped significantly. “You have to have everything, don’t you, Elliot?”
    “Tatiana,” Elliot said, pushing Benedict aside. She’d deal with him later. “Did Father tell you? He’s making me leave the estate.”
    “If you don’t give your inheritance to me, yes.” Tatiana nodded, and shot a withering glare at Benedict. “I think it’s rather silly, myself. Did he really expect you to take that offer? What do you care if you leave here, if you have an estate of your own? You’re better off.”
    Elliot was surprised by Tatiana’s frank assessment. She said it with no malice. It was a simple statement of fact. Benedict had moved away from her and was standing by the desk, glancing back and forth between the two sisters.
    “And you’ll certainly be happy there now with your Post friends,” Tatiana added. She looked out the window. “You should be leaving now, I think?”
    “I’m waiting,” Elliot said.
    “For what?”
    “Nothing.”
    Tatiana smiled. “For your little Reduced friend? Or that pregnant foreman and her son? Or both?”
    Elliot took a breath. What was the point in lying? “All of them, yes.”
    Tatiana gave her a pitying smile. “That’s not going to happen, Elliot.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Don’t you know our father at all?” Tatiana asked. “They’re leverage.” She pointed out the window.
    Elliot rushed over. Outside on the lawn, Baron North stood by the gate. In one hand, he held a pistol. In the other hand, he held tight to Ro’s arm. “No,” she whispered. “What is he doing?”
    It was a foolish question. She knew the answer.
    A few moments later, she was out on the lawn. She didn’t see Jef anywhere, but wasn’t sure if it meant that the baron didn’t have him, or if he’d just chosen Ro to make an example of. “Let her go.”
    “Oh, I don’t think so,” said her father. “I have provided for this laborer her entire life. I have provided for all of them. Too many have walked off my lands with no repercussions. It ends here. Today.”
    With Ro. Elliot shook with a rage she hadn’t known she’d possessed. Ro was Reduced, but she was a person , not a pawn. “Let go of her, Father.”
    “Happily. She’s so dusty. Simply sign over the Boatwright lands to your sister.”
    He’d always controlled Elliot by threatening the Reduced and the Posts. If she gave in this time, she’d never be able to help them again. “No.”
    The baron shrugged. “You will not take her with you. You will never see her again. I will establish myself on the border of our lands and shoot any servant who tries to cross.”
    Elliot’s heart constricted. He wouldn’t. Would he? Ro wasn’t even squirming in his grip. Just standing dejected, limp, flinching a bit every time he spoke. Her face was turned to the ground. Elliot longed to call her name, but she was afraid it would give her hope.
    Tatiana and Benedict emerged from the barn and met them by the gate. Tatiana carried Elliot’s bag. “Are you taking this, Sister?”
    “Tatiana,” said Elliot, gesturing at Ro. “You know this is wrong.”
    Tatiana held out the bag. Her face was impassive. “That we don’t want you to steal the workforce keeping our estate alive? The one we’ve protected and cared for, for generations? No, Elliot, I must say that I don’t.”
    “Last chance, Elliot,” said the baron.
    Elliot looked at Ro. The girl still wouldn’t look up, but tears dripped off the edge of her nose. On some level she understood. She must. “Ro, it’s going to be all right,” she said, as if she could convince them