He looked at the sketch for a long moment.
“Proof that the room had never been in control.”
My Mark moved under my sleeve.
The covered basin clicked in the corner.
Rev’s head turned toward it.
“That’s charming.”
Aldric put one hand flat on the folder.
“Do not touch the basin.”
“I wasn’t planning to touch it.”
“LeJoi, be quiet for once.”
Rev shut her mouth.
“Article Seven,” I said.
Aldric looked back at me.
“Cosima told you.”
“She told me the name. She didn’t tell me what it did to my mother.”
He drew in one slow breath.
“It took her out of public procedure. That is the point. A formal has witnesses. Article Seven has records.”
“Records can be changed.”
“Yes.”
“Witnesses can lie.”
“They can. But they have faces. Names. Friends who remember what their mouths said before fear improved their words.”
Rev looked at the door.
Sadie’s name sat in the room without anyone saying it.
Delphine’s too.
I looked down at my mother’s report.
“What happened after Article Seven?”
Aldric’s jaw tightened.
“She survived the refusal.”
The words went through me slowly.
“For how long?”
