Lena returned a moment later with a fine guest robe draped over her arms and refreshments prepared with surprising care.
Joji had already warned her to be careful around the Lady of the Swamp. Schemes were useless against someone who could peel open a mind, so Lena did what clever servants and clever performers alike knew how to do.
She smiled, entertained, and kept her thoughts stripped down to the task at hand. No plotting. No idle wandering. Only the work before her. The witch seemed to notice and appeared quietly pleased by the little maid's diligence.
Joji, meanwhile, found himself troubled by a discovery of his own. A memory had stirred from the body he now wore, something that did not belong to him and yet lived inside him all the same.
When the original Joji had still been young, he had once glimpsed Duchess Rosalind in a private moment he never should have seen.
