“Any of them know which one is the father?”
The scathing look Gertrude turned on him implied they’d had that exchange before. “There are rumors. I don’t know if I should even tell you...” She paused in the middle of her thought. “It wasn’t enough for Sestinn and his son to hoard the daughters of their mistresses, was it? Wasn’t enough to sell their bodies to anyone with enough coin?”
“What are you saying?”
Jesstin’s blood cooled as he picked up enough to piece everything left unsaid. They were at the farm of his exiled father and brother. Sestinn and Castien had been breeding their mistresses for years and enslaving the daughters in their cellar, where the living conditions weren’t half as good as they treated their farm animals. Once the girls were a certain age, Sestinn sold their bodies to other men, night after night. If they fell with child, the girls were thrown into the same cycle, the boys sold at auction. And if the rumors Gertrude intimated were true, Sestinn and Castien had been partaking of their own daughters as well.
Jesstin had learned most of this after Gennady was dead, but the last part was new.
He’d never doubted their capacity for evil, but this was disturbing on a level he couldn’t fathom.
“Then I’ll take them all tonight, Gert. It has to be done. Pack nothing. I’ll see to it they have everything they need once they’re safe,” Gennady said. He shifted from one foot to the other, over and over. “What?”
“You do that, you condemn all of us to death.”
Gennady frowned. “Then why not come with us?”
“A whole staff? And work where? Who would take us in and risk the wrath of the Edevanes?”
“They’re not even in power anymore!”
“Power needs no honorific,” Gertrude said bitterly. “You have much to learn, Gennady, and I’ll not abide you doing so at the expense of others.”
Jesstin hadn’t realized how true it was before Gertrude framed it that way. Castien and Sestinn didn’t need to be stewards or reside at Summer Palace. They’d only gained in their retirement to private life, richer than ever before. Without the mantle of leadership to keep them somewhat in line, they could act however they pleased. They could be themselves.
“Just Bellessa then.” Gennady looked at her. “Don’t argue with me. Please. The apartment is ready. I have a family in Corncockle waiting to take her in as their nanny.”
“If you want to save one tonight, save one not so fragile.”
“Do you really believe she’d last another month, until I return?”
Gertrude’s silence served as her response.
“Then she comes with me tonight.” Gennady glanced at the sky. “Quickly, before the guard change is done.”
Jesstin had to lean against the manor. Save. Is that what Gennady had told this kitchen maid, that he was saving them?
Gertrude disappeared. A few minutes later, a young woman emerged from the cellar. Her timid eyes peeked from behind a man’s cloak, the excess of which she’d bunched into her fists at her sides.
“He’ll kill me,” she whispered dazedly and started to turn back. “They’ll kill me, Gertie. They’ll kill my sisters.”
“Hey, now,” Gennady said, gently grabbing her arm and lowering himself to her height. “They haven’t killed the ones we’ve rescued so far. Do you know why? They haven’t found them. They never will. I’ll come back for the rest. I promise.”
Bellessa’s mouth turned down as she sobbed. Gertrude gathered her in a firm hug from behind.
Jesstin was gobsmacked. Gennady had taken them from the boiling kettle and tossed them straight into the flames.
“You can have a life, dear, a real one,” Gertrude said, soothing her. “You’ve only walked this earth for thirteen years. Why, you’ve hardly broken a sweat, have you?”
“But my baby, how will I visit?”
Gertrude and Gennady shared a look over the girl’s head. “I shall put daisies on her grave every fortnight, just as you always did,” Gertrude said. “Now go. Go!”
Jesstin was so caught up in all the added details, he almost got left behind. He ran to catch up, so he could listen in on the muted conversation between Gennady and Bellessa.
“I should die. I want to die,” the girl said. “What family could want me like this?”
Jesstin was sick for her, for all of them. How had Gennady even got involved? Was he aiding Sestinn and Castien or using their crimes to create his own opportunities? Taking care of the damaged ones, offering a sliver of false hope before sending them to the netherworld? It was so much more diabolical than he’d ever guessed.
