Breakfast was eggs, bread with oil, and a plate of sliced fruit.
Katarina waited until Seris was on her second cup of tea. Timing mattered. First cup was autopilot. Second cup was when Seris actually started thinking.
"Mama, didn't the Parenna family used to sell wine independently?"
Seris looked up from the trade circular she'd been skimming.
"They did, yes. Years ago."
"How come they only use one distributor now?"
Easy. It was the kind of question a curious kid would ask. The kind that had a very simple, very ugly answer if you followed it far enough, but on the surface was just a child piecing together things she'd overheard.
