She held him until he stopped crying then set him down and sent him into the washroom. He came out two minutes later. His eyes were still red and teary. Shortly after that a man and woman entered the room. They were both large and dressed in expensive-looking clothes. The woman hugged Sofia. “We just heard your story,” she said. “How horrible.” Gideon was standing on the chair next to the washroom door playing with the lock. She walked over to him and hugged him too. “You poor, poor boy,” she said. The man asked Sofia for the card she was given. She handed it to him. He studied it and put it in his breast pocket. “You’re safe now,” he said. “Here, the Czar’s cousin has as much power as a flea.”
The man and woman took Sofia and Gideon to an Inn. There the two bathed and ate dinner and slep
