The night had gotten dark and it was very late because it was the deep of summer. Kay thought that she heard a noise in the dark - a quiet grunt - and she held her breath, listening to be certain. She heard it again.

"Eugene?" The noises stopped and the dark silence surrounded her. "Eugene, is that you?" The groan turned into a sigh.

"Kay, what are you doing up?"

"I was waiting for you."

"I told you I'd be fine."

"You're fine, are you? Does the master know that you're crawling back into the house?"

"He just said that he wasn't about to carry me in. I think I'm fine."

"What did he do to you?"

"Oh." He groaned, "you know - the usual."

"No, usually you walk in." She said in her big sister voice. "Eugene, why did you do it?"

"Do what, Kay?"

"You know what. Eugene, you ran away. You knew that that nice man and woman were going to take you away from here. You watched them for a long time! You told me that they were wonderful, that they would give one of us a family and a home! Oh, why didn't you go with them?" She sobbed.

"Kay, I thought-"

"You can't think all of the time, Eugene Fitzherbert. None of us want you to leave."

"Well, that -"

"You let me finish. We still wanted you to go. We want you to be happy like all of us want to be. We want you to be loved, Eugene, because you deserve it!"

"Bobby is younger than I am, and he needed them more. And what about the rest of you, Kay?" He asked. She could still barely see him in the dark, and she didn't dare touch him for fear of hurting him more.

"What about us? We're orphans! We'd be fi-"
"No, you wouldn't."

"But-"

"I want all of you to be loved. I know how the master is. I just - I couldn't leave you guys all alone."

"Well, we would always have Flynnigan Rider."

"That isn't the same. I had an older brother once. It was a long time ago now, but I still know that he was important to me no matter how little I remember of him. I can't give you guys much love, I don't have much to give out. I'm just a selfish brat. But I will give you what I can."

"We'll never forget that, Fitzherbert." She whispered. "And you are not a selfish brat."

"Says you. Uh, Kay, you'd better get back to bed before the master hears."

"He must be sleeping soundly - or else you wouldn't have tried to come in." She strained her eyes to try and see what had happened to Eugene to put him on the ground like this, but she could still only make out his outline. "We missed your reading tonight."

"I'm sorry."

"I would like to hear you finish it just one more time, Eugene. You're just a little more than halfway through."

"Kay...what - what are you talking about?"

"I know that you've known for a long time, Eugene. I know that I won't live for long."

"Who told you, Kay? If it was that master, I'll - ugh!" He grunted in pain that punished his tensing muscles and he splayed himself on the floor again, collecting his breath in quiet, short gasps mixed with tears. Kay ran her fingers over his hair. She didn't dare touch him when she couldn't make out what the master had done to him.

"It wasn't him." She answered. "I came to realize it myself. One day... I just knew it."

"Kay, I'm sorry. I - maybe I should have told you what I knew."

"Eugene, we all know what the fever can bring. I was just too old, not lucky, I guess. I get to leave this place, Eugene. I'll finally see my family. Is that why you stayed?"

"Because I know that if I leave I'll never see you again? A little. Kay, we aren't even close to being related, but you're my sister just the same. You're the only family I've got, and now...now I...I'm going to lose..." Eugene couldn't go on. He had kept the tears within himself in the presence of any other human for more than a year. Now he cried, his voice cracking here and again, going low or going high; but Kay didn't laugh at any of it. She smoothed the hair on the back of his head like her mother had done for her. She would see her mother again, but Eugene would be left alone. She felt tears stinging her eyes for his loneliness and her hand moved down to his shoulders. In the same moment Eugene somehow muffled a sudden scream of pain while Kay nearly let out a scream herself, flinching so fast that she'd almost slapped herself in the face. Her fingertips were certainly wet, and she didn't need light to see with what.

"Eugene, what did he do to you?!" She demanded, trembling.
"He beat me."

"With a whip!" She almost shouted. "Do you have any skin left on your back?" Eugene moaned and didn't answer. Kay got down nearer to him and touched gently at his neck to start. She didn't think that she would have to go down very far before she encountered jagged, raw flesh; and she was right. She barely encountered it when she changed her direction to try and explore in the dark just how bad his wounds were. Eugene was barely thirteen. He should never have been beaten like this in a hundred years. He could easily die from these marks; whether from infection or possibly even blood loss if her fingers had encountered wet blood so long after his punishment.

"I'll get you my blanket."

"No, Kay..."

"You're right, its far too rough."
"Kay, what are you...?"

"Here. This is so much softer." She said as a delicate piece of cloth touched his shoulders. Kay still had a silk scarf from her home, one that she had been embroidering for some time now. Eugene realized in horror that that was the only thing owned by her or any of the orphans that could possibly be so soft.

"No! Kay, that's-"

"It's fine, Eugene." She chided him.

"It isn't going to wash clean, and after all the work you put into it!" He groaned.
"Well, this way I'll make sure I keep it, and then I can prove to the king's men that this master should be removed!"

"You know that they'll never believe us."

"Someone will have to one day." she whispered wistfully. Suddenly Eugene tensed, causing him to flinch which Kay did not see.

"Hide." He gasped hoarsely, and she could finally see his eyes so intense that she obeyed him, slipping imperceptibly back to bed. At the same moment Eugene snatched the scarf from his back and hid it under the nearest mattress. He shuddered with a sudden chill and bit his tongue. Maybe the master was just making rounds as he did several times a night. He prayed that whatever the case that no talking had been heard. He thought perhaps to crawl back out, but he knew that he didn't have the strength to Go that far anymore. Instead the boy lay as still as possible, shivering and trembling, bracing himself and trying to rest all at once. It didn't really work. Behind him the door eased open. The master kept these doors well oiled and the floors of the hall well braced so he could come on anyone silent as death. Eugene felt his gaze sweep the room - and stop. The light went a little too far, and he knew it. It probably just hit the ragged hem of his trousers or possibly the heel of his foot. Either way the wretch had spotted him and although Eugene couldn't hear any movement, he knew that he was coming closer and that any moment he would either be suddenly dealt more pain or that the punishment would be preceded by a horrid curse. He closed his eyes tightly and bit his lip - but changed his mind and bit his tongue instead since it was a little harder to bite through.

"Eugene." He hissed, shaking his head. It was all Eugene could do to stop himself from whimpering at that sound. Now he leaned down beside him and put his mouth close to his ear. "You and I both know that your punishment wasn't over. I never said that you could come back indoors, did I?" Eugene just kept his breath even and refused to answer. "And you thought that by crawling into the wrong room would save yourself from me, didn't you?" Still Eugene graced him with no answer. He felt the cold, long fingers wrap around his arm and a second later his shoulder was almost dislocated and he was barely standing on his trembling legs. He couldn't tell if he had screamed or not and he couldn't see if anyone had been woken up by the commotion. "You will get what you deserve." He growled in the boy's ear. Everyone must still be sleeping. Eugene bit his lip again and bowed his head, letting the painful tears flow out of his eyes.

"Master Antoine?" The master's head snapped over toward the sound and Eugene was dropped almost to his knees as they buckled under him.

"Who is it?"

"It's I, sir. Kay. What is happening?" Kay was good at sounding as if she had just woken up. Eugene was thankful for that.

"Nothing, girl. Go back to sleep."

"Yes, sir. It's just that I thought I'd heard someone." For a second Eugene had thought she was going with a sympathetic routine - which would never work - but this might get him off...at the very least off of his feet.

"Someone who?"

"Just someone moving, I don't know who. I thought for a moment that was why you were in here."

"Tell me, why would someone be in this room, Kay?"

"I was confused, sir. At first I thought a thief - but there is nothing to steal here." She added the last part with a bitter chuckle. The look on the master's face was grim. One of them had to think of something fast! "Then I thought to myself it must have been a dream. But here I open my eyes to confirm it and I saw you. What has happened?" Master Antoine let Eugene drop without warning, knocking his head against a bed post. Kay started at the sound, but did not look away from the man as he came nearer, searching her innocent eyes. They were innocent. Lost, colored and whetted by sorrow - but not bitter. Never bitter. He saw that she spoke the truth, for she had. She had heard Eugene's crawling in a dream that had wakened her to the thoughts of thieves. She had opened her eyes to see the master standing and shaking her dear friend by one over-extended arm.

"It is perhaps the easiest room to enter." He muttered almost to himself. Kay wondered why that was. "And you did have a thief. I thief stealing the warmth from your room." Here he was about to lift Eugene higher, but remembered suddenly that he had cast him to the floor. He grabbed Eugene's arm and yanked him up by it with a terrible sound. Kay stifled a cry of terror and Eugene gasped, too surprised and terrified by a new pain to cry out. Antoine himself looked surprised. Indeed, he looked truly shocked. The boy's arm looked quite unnatural. This time the master had successfully dislocated Eugene's shoulder, and the poor thing stood there gasping and trembling, pushed too far to cry.

"Who is it? What have you done to him?" Kay demanded with a quiet sob.

"One of the impudent boys." He growled, not to be taken aback for long. "It is not your affair. To bed with you."

"If someone is hurt it is my affair."

"You? You are not a physician, Kay. Go back to bed." She didn't even look at Eugene again for fear of making his further punishment worse, but she felt his eyes pierce briefly into her heart, begging her to listen and save herself. She could fight another day.

"Yes, master Antoine." She replied, lying down and pulling the blanket to her neck. It was getting colder outside. She heard Eugene cough and then sob when his arm must have moved, but no footsteps receded. What on earth was the master doing? She didn't dare look up to find out. Finally she heard him whimper again and saw the light go out as the door was closed. She prayed that the King would come this time to visit instead of just his lenient, lying emissary. All of them were treated this way, but especially those who stood up for the rest of them. Certainly many of them had died of sickness - but that was often brought on by the master's cruel treatment of them. The king didn't know this. He didn't know any of this. He couldn't! But he was not often in his kingdom. He was searching high and low for his daughter, unaware of how the orphan children of his kingdom were treated. He would never approve of this, he couldn't! He was too kind, too gentle. He must be a good King, he just had to be!

Kay stifled a sob into her pillow and prayed that when morning came her brother orphan would still be alive.