Lady Devein watched as the girl stiffened ever so slightly. It showed how well a mask Bella had learned to place that even she a fellow sufferer of unspeakable horrors had trouble seeing the signs that the girl was rather worried at the news, thought not in the way she had expected.

  "I see. Well, I will have to have a talk with the girls about maintaining secrecy, then we will only have one shot at snatching one of my father's ships. I would hate to do all this planning for it to bear no fruit because someone let something slip."

  Lady Devein felt herself freezing up hearing this. "Bella, tell me you're joking! This is far more than trying to get out from under your father's thumb. One could consider this treason against the guilds. Which almost always results in death for those involved."

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  "Lady Devein, I know what I am doing. Lady Devein, tell me: According to Naomi's decrees, what is the punishment for a head of house found guilty of abusing his charge?" asked Bella, her posture one of calculated calm as she sipped at her tea.

  "They are to be cast out to the wild beast of the land for if they harm their kin then they have surrendered the grace of the songstress in Naomi's eyes and have returned to the original purpose of the trickster to be mindless creations of war", answered Lady Devein, without a second thought.