Regeneration by Stephanie Saulter

something like a criminal conviction and prison can happen to her.”
    “So she’s having to deal with being the same as everybody else. It’s about time.”
    “I wouldn’t go that far. She still sees herself as different. Better. Distinct from the rabble.”
    “Which she is,” Eli said. “Different, I mean, and by a number of objective measures, whether we like it or not. And now that wealth and status don’t elevate her anymore, what will she turn to?”
    Bal’s jaw tightened. Gaela said, “You think she’s going to be . . . looking for something?”
    “I think she’ll need to,” Aryel replied. “She said she was planning to go home, ignore the world, and wait out her sentence. I didn’t believe it for a minute, and apparently the psych reports don’t suggest that either. I gather they’re troubling, but not definitive enough to keep her in high security.”
    “What do we need to do?” Gaela could feel a buzzing behind her eyes; the stress would lead to a headache if she wasn’t careful. She took a couple of deep, steadying breaths, and leaned into Bal’s solid bulk. “Aryel, you need to tell us: should we leave again?” She felt Bal tense up.
    “Absolutely not.” Aryel’s response was reassuringly firm. “She’ll still be confined for many years, and I doubt she’d stroll around the Squats even if she could. You don’t need to do anything other than continue to keep a low profile. You and your children, along with Rhys and Callan and a few others, are among the topics redacted from her stream access, but she doesn’t have a list of what’s forbidden. She knows it’ll include victims and their families, and the trial established Gabriel as one of those victims, so even if she notices a Gaela-, Bal- and Gabriel-shaped hole, she won’t put it down to anything more than that. Public figures like Mikal and Sharon can’t be redacted, though, so you’re right to keep Eve away from Misha and Sural when they’re in the spotlight.”
    She ruffled her wings slightly and walked over to look down at the garden. “I’m not saying she won’t use whatever means are at her disposal to search. She’s already tried, even though she knows it’s pointless—she’ll never be allowed to reclaim the child Ellyn carried. I think she’s had enough of feeling frustrated. My suspicion is thatshe’ll focus her energies on something that gives her some gratification.” She turned away from the window. “And maybe lets her believe that one day she’ll be able to try again.”
    “How?” Bal had relaxed a little as Aryel was speaking, but his voice was still tight around the question. “She won’t be able to deceive her way back into the kind of position she had before. Mind you, she’s got a bunch of followers waiting for a leader—think she’ll try to hook up with them?”
    “I’m not sure. I pressed her on it, but it didn’t sound like she takes the Klist Cult seriously. I know”—as Eli looked skeptical—“she’s perfectly capable of hiding them in her pocket while pretending they’re beneath her notice, and I did get the impression she’d thought about them more than she was willing to let on. She changed the subject, which is odd for someone so narcissistic.” She perched again, this time on the arm of Eli’s chair. “There was also the fact that, apart from a couple of snide remarks, she didn’t want to talk about Bel’Natur—she didn’t try to get any information out of me, although she’d ranted about not being allowed to engage in business. That surprised me.”
    “You think she’s going to try and find a way back in?”
    “I’ll bet she’s already working on it.”
    “So she’s not concerned anymore with—?” Gaela looked toward the window. She could not bring herself to say her daughter’s name.
    “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all.” Aryel looked down at her hands resting on her knee, as though an answer she preferred might be found there. “The