Did he really want her to wait for the first soldiers to come? That could take hours. And without a chore to do, since the tables were done, she would have nothing to do for all that time. Maybe he could give her another task to do while she waited? She decided she might as well ask. Since the soldiers weren't coming for hours, it wasn't like she'd miss any of them while she was gone.

But Gregor and Mir were no longer in the kitchen.

"Upstairs, then?" she asked the empty room, softly. They'd probably gone up to see Venessa. She headed for the stairs and received her answer - Mir's voice floated down the stairs. What he said made her pause.

"They can't keep hiding this from Ruth."

"They're trying to protect her." Gregor cautioned. "She's a young girl."

"She's not too much younger than me." Venessa's soft voice barely carried down the stairs and Ruth crept closer to hear. "And she seems like a smart girl."

"Smart, sure, but also naive." Gregor reminded them. "Don't forget how easily she was swayed by those school girls."

"Well, she's away from them now." Mir pointed out.

"So someone else will take their place." Ruth's employer insisted.

But her soldier friend wasn't giving in. "The thing is, she already knows so much."

"So much? Like what?" Venessa sounded worried. "And how does she know so much?"

"She knows that her parents aren't around much and that they're doing something secretive." Mir started to explain.

"And she knows what we're talking about, since she's standing outside the door." Gregor interrupted, calmly.

"She is? Ruth?" Mir hurried into the hallway. "Oh, Ruth."

Ruth followed him back into the bedroom and just stood there, trying to decide how to react. They stared back at her, perhaps having the same thoughts. Mir looked disappointed and torn. Venessa had a small smile on her pale face. Only Gregor frowned.

"Are the soldiers here?" he asked.

"Of course not." Ruth spoke more sharply than she'd intended, but she knew he already knew the answer.

"Then why are you back in my house." her employer's voice had traces of anger and frustration.

"Because I was going to try to help! I was going to offer to do more work for you - to try to make things easier for you! Little did I know that you were up here, betraying me!"

"No one is betraying you, Ruth." Venessa said, gently. "We're trying to make things easier for you, too."

"Easier for me?" Ruth stared. "How in the world has this been easier for me?"

"You've been able to go to school, see friends, enjoy yourself..."

"All the while feeling like I'm being left out of something. All the while getting people furious with me, just for going to school and doing what they say!"

"Nonetheless, you were safe and happy." Venessa insisted, her voice firm but kind.

"Not as happy as the rest of you!" Ruth shot back, angrily. "Sitting around, having your little secrets and - "

"Do you think I'm happy?" Her calm manner shattered, Venessa's voice wavered. "Can you honestly think that I'm happy?"

"Well, aren't you?" Tears of frustration and unhappiness flooded Ruth's eyes. She felt like she was losing a friend here, but couldn't hold back her emotions.

"Oh, because it's so enjoyable to be raped!"

Ruth froze. "To be ... what?" she finally whispered.

"To. Be. Raped." the woman repeated. "I was raped. Attacked and raped by one of Trillagla's precious soldiers when I took a walk in my own backyard! The injuries have left me bedridden! I can't work, I can't do anything! My attacker has never been caught - or at least never officially. I'd give anything to live that life you seem to hate, but it was taken from me. That's why we're all here."

"My God." Ruth shook her head. "I... I didn't know."

"There's a lot you don't know. You don't know that Mir is my brother, do you? You don't know that your aunts - on both sides of your family - are among Trillagla's greatest heroes! You don't know - "

"Venessa." Gregor's quiet voice silenced his wife's tirade. "Enough."

She quieted and took a deep breath. Then, "You can't honestly mean to keep it all from her now, do you?"

"Oh, we'll tell her." he agreed with a sigh. "Just not like this... Ruth, sit down."

Ruth sat on the edge of Venessa's bed, trying to sort out all this information. She'd been annoyed that they were keeping things from her, but she'd never imagined it was like this.

"Okay." Gregor took a deep breath and prepared to speak. The sound of his front door slamming open shocked him into silence.

A moment later, Ruth's father barged into the room. Wide eyed and panicked, he ignored his daughter and blurted out, "Grace Ann has been arrested!"