Not for the first time, Gideon feels a pang of loss for Abigail and her kind-eyed husband, and shakes her head. "Maybe," she says. "What else could it be? It's not like Abigail and Magnus were stirring up trouble or posing a threat. They made us dinner and tried to help us all get along. There was dessert. It was nice."

She realizes, abruptly, that there are tears in her eyes, and blinks them angrily away.

"They didn't deserve what they got."