"Breanna, have you had any luck with that key the peddler gave you?"
Breanna rolled over in her bed and peered at her father with bleary eyes. "Wha-a-at?" she asked, her muddled brain still waking up.
"The key. Did you learn anything?" His gaze shone with a bright curiosity she recognized. Ever the scholar and mild adventurer, he never did have his priorities straight.
"Nope. I met my sister instead, and her family by marriage."
"Really," said her father nervously plucking a thread on his vest, suddenly unable to meet her eyes.
"Aren't you going to ask me how it went with Samantha yesterday? You know, the daughter you abandoned." Breanna felt bad the moment the words came out of her mouth, especially when she caught the flash of pain on her father's face.
"I assumed you'd tell me. Is
