When Nisa held out her hands, Briar hesitated. She hadn't asked for her to grab anything, had she?

No, she wanted her hands instead. The maid placed them in hers and then lifted her head to watch her as she spoke.

"Thank you," she said first, voice quiet as she accepted the compliments scattered throughout. Then, "I'm sorry that you were made to be around a person like that. I hope that he gets all that he deserves, some day."

From the way the mistress spoke of her former husband, Briar suspected that his father perhaps already had... but there was nothing wrong in hoping for more. Suffering was as natural as death, and life, and some people deserved their share of it.