Katrina rolled out her page once more, glaring at the list of names again, trying to ignore the quantities listed next to them. 'Innocent people, now reduced to a number.' The majority were aliases or pen names, or possibly corpses. Some were recognizable but most were a mystery. John Welter, Port Westry, 38; Marion Hwyl, Sanlow, 18; Fredrick Thrutch, Coviria Nuevo, 65; Raven Ryder, Port Westry, 50; too many names to count, and too many lives ruined by each one. A list of those who gladly sold souls to Saizah. It made her stomach roll and her blood boil. Though, one stood out among the others, written in bright red ink. A name she had seen many times in her youth under Cassius' care.
Amaranth Marlet, Coviria Nuevo, 306.
It was a name that promised refuge and security in tough and troubled times, and friendship when her father had nowhere to turn. William Valentine had offered his assistance with information, and evasion; when someone questioned her father's story, the noble would gladly saunter up to his side, chuckling about the absurdity, adding plenty of validity to the tale. He honored her father's work, echoing his thoughts to many around them.
But now the fury was barely restrained in trembling fists, threatening to send everything on the desk careening into the wall. She hadn't seen the name when she swiped the document from the scum who tried to chain her and Vega, and now she will never be able to erase it from her memory. The enigma of the disappearing lower class populous was obvious now; for almost a year and a half, she had heard worsening tales of the homeless and poor vanishing in the night, entire families ceasing to be by daylight. It threatened the urchins and orphans that plagued the city, yet the nobles were hardly concerned, believing they were simply leaving or bettering their lives.
Now they would have a new course set for them; Coviria Nuevo, to face the man her father once called friend. The man she now called traitor.