"The Captain of the Ninth's guard," says Gideon. "Aiglemene." There are a lot of things she could say about Aiglemene—that she would be ashamed of soft Gideon was being with Tally; that she would kill Gideon on sight for leaving Harrow's side, magical kidnapping Mansion be damned; that she was the person who showed Gideon the closest thing to love she'd ever had, just by giving her an inch of freedom and control. "Fanatically devoted to the House, about two hundred years old,¹ but damn can she swing a blade."

¹ She's eighty.