quality in his tone surprised Teesha.
"Woman," Parko repeated.
"He does not need your warnings," Corische said, removing his cloak, "and you forget your place."
Rashed stood and stepped back. "Yes, my lord."
Corische then turned to Teesha. "I am not cruel. You may rest for a night or two before taking up your duties."
"Duties? What are my duties?"
"Acting as lady of the keep." He paused for a moment, then laughed as if he'd finally understood some elusive joke. The sound brought Teesha's dinner to the base of her throat.
"If I am to be lord here," Corische continued, "I must have a lady, even a floor-scrubbing tavern wench like you."
That was her first hint that Corische harbored no desire to play lord of Gäestev Keep. Most feudal overseers were assigned fiefs as gifts from nobles wealthier than themselves or from their own liege lords. But what did Corische want from her? She knew nothing of ladies or playing at nobility. She looked again at Ratboy and Parko in confusion. If Corische surrounded himself with lowly creatures in order to feel more important, then why enlist someone like Rashed? And why bother with a woman to play at being lady of the house?
She was locked in a filthy tower room that night and left to shiver with no fire and only a thin, moldy flannel sheet as a blanket. No one came all the next day, but the following night, she heard the door unlock and was caught between relief and terror. Rashed entered with a tray of tea, mutton stew, and bread, and he carried a cape over one arm.
"It's freezing in here," she said.
"Put this on." He held out the cape as he set the tray on the floor in front of her. "The keep is ancient. There are no hearths, only a fire pit in the main room. I found wood and lit it. Some heat might rise, but do not go down there without the master or myself."
She couldn't tell if he was being kind or just instructing her in one more rule of the house. Then she realized it didn't matter. He seemed the closest thing she had to a friend in this vile place. Unwanted tears ran down her cheeks.
"What about Edwan?" She stood, taking one step closer to Rashed. "Will he be released soon?"
Rashed was silent for a moment, not moving, his eyes staring at the wall behind her.
"Your husband was sentenced this morning and executed at dusk." He said it without any change of tone in his voice.
He turned toward the door, preparing to leave. "Do you wish to sit by the fire?"
A kind of madness tickled Teesha's brain.
"Do I wish to… ?" She began laughing. "You bastard."
For nothing—she'd come to this nightmare pit for nothing, and Edwan, who deserved a peaceful life more than anyone she'd known, was dead simply because some twisted lord fancied his wife. The vicious comedy of it all became more than she could bear. Death was far preferable to this existence.
She bolted past Rashed, running down the short hall. She didn't know if Rashed pursued her or not as she ran down the stone steps to the main room. Lord Corische sat at the cracked table writing on a scroll with a feather quill. Teesha ignored him and ran for the great oak doors.
As she reached out for the iron latch, Parko sprang in front of her as if sprouting from the earth, snarling and sucking in her scent. She staggered back in reflex, but did not turn around, her eyes focused watchfully on the disheveled figure in front of her.
"Let me out of here!" she ordered Corische. She had nothing left for him to take, nothing that mattered to her, and so no more reason for fear.
Then she saw the enormous iron bar across the door. She hadn't even noticed it while rushing to escape. It was wider than her own upper arm and so thick and heavy it didn't seem possible that any one person could have lifted it alone. It was most certainly impossible for her to do so by herself.
"Take this down," she said, her back still to Corische. "Our pact is over."
"Rashed put that bar up. Even I would have difficulty removing it. Did you enjoy dinner?"
Hatred was a new emotion for Teesha, disorienting, and it took a moment to think through Corische's insulting chatter.
"If you wanted a lady for your house, why didn't you find one? Are you afraid she would detest your crude manners