If it came down to it, if they tried to drag her back… her jaw tightened. She would rather perish in the sea, and she meant that.
Because going back home wasn’t living, it was surrender, it was a cage and a life sentence. Her family had never cared abouther,only what she represented. Political alliance, merging of bloodlines. Her father spoke about legacy more than he ever spoke about love and her mother… Edith swallowed hard. Her mother had simply stood there and allowed it all to happen.
Allowed them to promise her to a male with a poor reputation when it came to females, whose view were, “a woman should been seen and not heard,” or, “only one use for them,”.She remembered him too clearly. The way he smiled without warmth and the way servants flinched around him. The stories whispered quietly by younger females who thought no one was listening. Bruises hidden beneath sleeves and broken bones explained away as accidents.
They had expected her to walk willingly into that life. “No,” she said again, firmer this time.
Bas’s ears twitched slightly at the tone.
But before anyone could ask, Edith stood abruptly. The room tilted faintly. Her human balance was still deeply unreliable.
“I’m fine,” she said quickly before Jessica could move.
“I didn’t say anything,” Jessica replied.
“You were about to.”
“Fair.”
Edith rubbed at her arms, trying to chase away the cold creeping under her skin. Because that was the worst part. Not the hunters or the fear they had instilled, it was the fact that for the first time, she finally felt she was home, and now that place was at risk because of her.
Binky finally looked at her properly then, some of the theatrical annoyance slipping slightly.
“You really think they’ll take you back?” he asked quietly.
Edith laughed once, a small, humourless sound. “They won’t stop trying,” she said.
Silence settled briefly around the room.
Even Bas stopped looking smug as Jessica stood slowly, moving closer.
“Then they’ll have to go through all of us first,” she said simply.
Edith looked at her friend, really looked at her this time, at the certainty there and the complete lack of hesitation, and something in Edith’s chest nearly broke apart all over again.
Her voice came out quieter than she intended. “You don’t know what they’re capable of.”
Jessica’s expression hardened slightly. “Neither do they,” she replied.
17
“This meeting will now cometo order… BELLEND.”
“It’s three in the afternoon.”
“Emergencies do not respect schedules, Bas.”
“They should.”
Binky ignored him with the dignity of someone deeply committed to leadership, despite overwhelming opposition. Which, frankly, was most days.
Perched atop an overturned barrel in the loft of the Ferret’s Mott, Binky surveyed the gathered familiars with all the seriousness of a wartime general, or at least hewouldhave, had Grundlepus not been loudly snoring beside the small log burner that had recently been installed.
“This is a disgrace, ARSE,” Binky muttered. Grundlepus opened one eye, narrowed it a little, then closed it again, clearly unmoved by the political crisis currently unfolding.
Bas lounged across the table, tail flicking lazily as he cleaned one paw. “I still think this is stupid,” he said.
Binky puffed his feathers irritably. “It is not stupid. It is procedural… TWAT.”
