It certainly didn’t feel like his house. Technically it was, even though it didn’t feel like it. Under Brech law, all of a woman’s possessions belonged to her husband. And Egeria had a great many possessions. The table that Zeah was sitting at, made of sturdy cherry wood brought all the way from Mirsanna and inlayed with jade and mother of pearl probably cost more than he earned in a year—than he had ever earned, in his best year. The teacup in his hand probably cost more than the table—at least the set that the teacup had come from. Another man might have been bothered by this feeling that he was living in someone else’s house, or felt a certain unease at owning so many things that didn’t feel like his own. Not Zeah. He had spent his entire life living in a home that didn’t belong to him, and even when he eventually had his own home, he had only lived there a week or two before he moved back out and began living out of a small room behind his office.

After Saba had dropped Iolanthe and her daughter home, she decided to take an afternoon nap, sleeping right through tea time. By the time she got up, most of the family had gathered in the parlor. Egeria had already brought the children home, and Augie was playing with his lead soldiers on the carpet, while Iolana read to Terra from Mrs. McKeeb’s Big Book of Childhood Admonitions. Mrs. Colbshallow and Cissy sat side by side, knitting. Even Yuah was present, slumped in a chair, drinking a tall glass of fortified wine. She looked sallow and drawn.