The plan had been Sanna's idea, which meant it was thorough.
The stable boy was called Pip, sixteen years old, entirely loyal to Meeka in the particular way of young men who had been given small kindnesses at the right moments and would remember them forever. Meeka had spoken to him four days before, quietly, in the language of someone asking a favor rather than giving an instruction. She had told him that their parents were arranging for the girls to visit their aunt in the northern quarter, a surprise visit, and that the carriage needed to be ready at the second hour past midnight without alerting the household. She had told him she needed him to drive them. Pip had nodded with the gravity of someone who understood that he was being trusted with something important and had asked no ques
