‘How am I to report that we are now paying for two women to travel with us?’ Brother Peter protested. ‘Known criminals?’

‘You could say that I need servants, and you have provided me with two bonny ones,’ Freize suggested, earning him a sour look from the clerk.

‘No need to report anything at all. This is not an inquiry,’ Luca ruled. ‘This is just the life of the road, not part of our work.’

Isolde put Ishraq into the big bed, as if she were an equal, spooned soup into her mouth as if she were her sister, cared for her like her child and sat with her as she slept.