"On the quiet days," Jasmine amended.
"And when one of them plants herself in front of a forge and won't leave," Lucille said, and her smile went slow and warm, "or takes a market ledger apart for fun, then we know what she is. And we feed it. Special education from there."
"But we have to be careful," Jasmine was already searching for vulnerabilities. "We shouldn't force a kid to become a farmer for life just because he liked how a cow sounds at age ten."
"Right, right," Lucille nodded along.
"When Quin hears of this, he's going to be smug for a week," Serika called from under her pile of children.
"He will be smug about it forever," Jasmine corrected fondly, "and fund it without reading a single page."
"And pamper us all with his overwhelming love afterward..." Lucille muttered, eyes dreamy.
"...Correct," the Villain's dutiful governor smirked, gaze hungry for the reward she knew she deserved.
...
