Minister Benedek Ashdale rode up to the Keep gate on Day 117 with his cloak buttoned to the throat and his face already sweating in the cold.
He did not look at the walls. He did not look at the yard or the thirty children lined up along the kitchen wall. He looked at the bread cart by the gate, where Liss was checking the morning loaves against the chit, and his nose lifted like a dog’s.
“Is that bread?” he asked.
“Yes, Minister,” said Calen.
“Then I will have one.”
Liss had already counted the loaves. She had counted them twice, out loud, before the carter’s wheels stopped turning. She looked at the Minister, and then at Calen, and then back at the loaves in their neat row on the cart.
“One,” she said. “Chit says one for the Minister’s escort.”
“The Minister is not the escort,” said Calen.
