The estate of Lady Selene occupied the quiet end of the Silver Quarters, where the capital's noise dissolved into gardens and the kind of old money that did not need to announce itself.

Aria had claimed the eastern wing as her operational base during this visit, a suite of rooms that had once belonged to a diplomat who died in his sleep and was therefore considered lucky.

She stood now in the center of the sitting room, still in her raid gear, watching three children eat soup at her dining table with the ferocity of small animals who had learned that food was not guaranteed to exist tomorrow.

They had...