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“It’s not just books, is it?” I asked.

Nessie shook her head. “Potions, too. Messages between healers. He helps keep a ledger, recording who lived and what treatments were given to them.” She caught my look and added, “Nothing seems to work.”

“That just worries me more,” I said. “So many villages are closed because of the plague, and Papa is exposing himself with these travels.”

Ernesta held the door open for me. “Who’s going to stop him? You?”

I sighed as I followed her into the butcher’s shop. Papa was stubborn.

“Ah!” Lorrina, the butcher, said, grinning at us. “My two favorite girls. Nedra’s back again! For good?” Her eyes darted from my sister to me and back again; she wasn’t sure which of us was which.

“For a bit,” I said.

Lorrina harrumphed, and I ducked my head down, pretending to look at a beef brisket as Ernesta ordered lamb for Mama’s stew. My parents and sister were proud of me for finally getting into Yugen, but many in the village weren’t as happy. Lorrina was on the Elder council; I knew there was gossip that I would leave and never come back home, ignoring the people I’d vowed to help with alchemy.

Lorrina slapped the wrapped lamb on her counter, but before Ernesta could pay, I slipped a silver coin from my purse.

“Ned!” Ernesta said, but both Lorrina and I ignored her.

“We’ve been praying,” Lorrina said in her deep voice, “everyone on the council. I don’t care if the cure for the plague comes from the city or from the healers here; I just want a cure.”

“Me too,” I said.

“We’re proud of you, Nedra,” Lorrina said. “We all are.”

Ernesta and I left the shop, the little bell clanking against the door as we stepped out onto the sidewalk. “Look at you,” Ernesta said, bumping into my shoulder and grinning at me with pride.

My cheeks warmed, and I looked away.

Ernesta stopped to stare at the big cake on display in the baker’s window, then turned to me with excited eyes. “So, tell me more about this boy,” she said. “The fancy one.”

“Grey’s nice.”

“‘Nice,’” Ernesta mocked me. “Handsome?”

I shrugged dismissively. “I don’t want to stab my eyes out when I look at him.”

“Oh, be still my heart!” Ernesta shoved against my shoulder. “So you really like him?”

I smiled. “I really do.”

But my sister caught the hesitation in my voice. “You really like him, but...?”

“But I should be working on a cure for the plague. He’s a distraction.”

Ernesta stopped in her tracks and turned around to face me. “Nedra Brysstain, I know you. And you always default to guilt. This plague does not rest on your shoulders alone. Your life is forliving.”

“You didn’t see it,” I said. “The pain, the suffering—the families torn apart. It’s awful, Nessie, and no one is paying attention. The poor are just... forgotten. The wealthy don’t care.”

“They can stay locked up in their houses until the threat is gone, just like that useless Emperor.” Ernesta rolled her eyes. “But you’re just one person. It’s not your job to save everyone. Besides, didn’t you say that the governor was helping out? And that there were others from Yugen working at the hospitals?”

“Yes, but—”

“So take a break. Just for a little while, give yourself some time to breathe. And if you’re not going to tell me more about Grey, then I’m going to tell you about Kyln.” Ernesta strode down the street, not looking back to see if I was following.

“Kyln?” I asked. “The fisherman’s boy?”

A group of children raced past us, shouting to each other.