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“Intentions are fickle things,” Dante says. “I believe the Guild intended all their rules to safeguard against power struggles and war. If they carefully monitored and controlled the female population with a male government, things could be regulated. Boys with weaving ability remained untrained and away from looms.”
“Now the Guild tells us only women can weave.”
“Denying an ability doesn’t make it go away. More boys were born with the gift. Some went away and came back different. Changed,” Dante tells me.
“Is that why so many Tailors fled to Earth?” I ask.
“It’s safer for them here,” Dante says.
“Too bad it’s so much more dangerous for the rest of us with them here,” I say.
“Not every Tailor is evil, Adelice.”
“You aren’t,” I say.
Dante hesitates before he responds to this, running a hand over his cropped brown hair. There’s a pattern to his nervous habits. “I’m not really a Tailor. Not in my heart. I never wanted my skills.”
“Just like I’m not really a Spinster,” I admit.
“Exactly,” he says.
“You can warp, then?” I ask.
“No, that’s a Creweler’s skill,” he says. “I’m powerful, but not as talented as you are.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Good genetics?” He shrugs, giving me an awkward smile.
“So both Spinsters and Tailors need tools like looms to manipulate the weave,” I say.
“No, Tailors can’t work looms,” he reminds me. “Their power is more insidious than that. You know that the true nature of their ability lies in alteration.”
“Tailors alter objects and people physically. Spinsters use looms to weave and embroider.”
“Correct,” Dante says.
“Is that why the Guild is so afraid of Tailors?” I can’t imagine how dangerous that talent could be unchecked. Spinsters can be kept under control by preventing loom access.
“It’s certainly why they control them so stringently. But never forget that there are Tailors who go along with the Guild. We aren’t all bad or evil, but you can’t blindly trust us either,” Dante says. “If you suspect a man—or a boy—of being a Tailor, keep him at arm’s length.”
The warning isn’t as generic as he’s trying to make it sound. He’s telling me to keep one particular boy away, but while Dante may not have a reason to trust Erik, I do. I steer the conversation away from Erik, knowing things could get volatile. “How do they find Tailors? There’s no required testing of boys like there is for girls.”
“Once they understood the true nature of male weaving ability, they started cataloging boys born to parents who had been part of the initial experiments. Many didn’t come back. Cities were segregated so the Guild could attempt to control marriage, ensuring ideal female offspring.”
“They’ve been successful enough at keeping women under their control,” I say, not bothering to hide my distaste.
“Spinsters can be powerful, but they allow themselves to be controlled by the Guild. They resign themselves to patterns in return for privilege.”
Dante clearly doesn’t understand what it feels like to be dragged from your family. I acted out of fear for my safety. I let them cage me in the Coventry for too long because I thought they were in control. I didn’t act because I thought I didn’t have a choice.
“It’s not always easy to accept that you have power,” I say instead. “Especially when the world is dedicated to telling you that you don’t.”
“You’re an exception, Adelice,” Dante says. “And that’s thanks to your parents.”
His words are complimentary. He means them. But his mask slips for a moment, revealing his scars again.
“They understood,” I say, the realization hitting like a sudden gust of wind on a static day. “They knew what I would face, because of you. Because you ran.”
