He had barely even thought of her back then, never considered her potential, but he had long carried a sense of duty towards her, a sense of duty born the night that had irreversibly changed their lives. Cyrus knew there was little he could do to improve his own circumstances, but if he could improve hers in even a small way, it would be a first step down the long road to making amends for not protecting her that night as he, as her superior, ought to have done.

"I admit that I am rusty, insofar as teaching goes," he cautioned Miss Scott, "but I had a great deal of knowledge as Ephraim Belby—" the name felt strange and foreign to him "—and have gained more in the years since I left him behind. I am happy to impart as much of that knowledge as I can on you, though it will not be easy."