collar on you."
Isana swallowed and couldn't stop the chill that went down her spine.
"After dinner," Aric said. He slopped more coals down. "It's like a celebration for him. He's handing out wine."
"Aric," Isana said. "It isn't too late to do something."
Aric pressed his lips together. "It is," he said. "There's only one thing left now." Without speaking, he finished carelessly dashing coals onto the ring of fire around them.
Kord's entrance was presaged by a low tremble in the floor of the smokehouse. Then the big Steadholder banged open the door with one fist and stepped inside, glowering. Without a word, he cuffed Aric's head, hard
enough to stagger the younger man against the wall. "Where is that tar, boy?"
Aric left his head down, his body held in a crouch, as though expecting to be hit again. "I haven't got it done yet, Pa."
Kord sneered at him, placing his fists on his hips. Isana noticed the drunken sway to his balance as he did. "Then you can just get it done while the rest of us eat. And if you fall off the crows-eaten roof in the dark, that's your own affair. Don't go crying to me about a broken leg."
Aric nodded. "Yes, Pa."
Kord growled something beneath his breath and then turned to Isana. "Better get that other glass of water before my new whore figures out it's there."
Odiana let out a soft noise, curling in on herself. Kord watched her with a smirk on his face. Isana saw the ugly glitter in his eyes as he prepared to speak again, and interrupted him. "Kord. She's nearly dead as it is. Leave her be."
Kord narrowed his eyes at Isana, lips lifting away from his teeth. He took a lurching step closer to her. "Still giving orders," he murmured. "We'll see. Tonight, after I'm done with that one, we'll see what it's like. We'll see who gives the orders and who takes them."
Isana met his eyes steadily, though his words made her heart thud with dull, exhausted fear. "You're a fool, Kord," she said.
"What are you going to do about it, huh? You're nothing. No one. What are you going to do?"
"Nothing," Isana said. "I won't have to. You've already destroyed yourself. It's just a matter of time now."
Kord flushed red and took a step toward Isana, his hands clenching into fists.
"Pa," Aric said. "Pa, she's just talking. She's just trying to get to you. It doesn't mean anything."
Kord rounded on Aric and swept his fist at him in a clumsy swat. Aric didn't dodge the blow, so much as he let it catch his shoulder and throw him to the floor.
"You," Kord growled, chest heaving. "You don't tell me. You don't talk to me. Everything you got, you got because I gave it to you. You will not disrespect me, boy."
"No, sir," Aric said, quietly.
Kord got his breathing under control and shot Isana another glare. "Tonight," he said. "We'll see."
The ground shook again as he turned and lumbered out.
Coals sizzled in silence for a few moments. Then Isana turned to Aric and said, "Thank you."
Aric flinched at the words, more than he had from his father's blows. "Don't thank me," he said. "Don't talk to me. Please." He gathered himself to his feet and picked up the bucket. "Still have to lay out the tar. The ice didn't stick to the roof, but I have to tar it tonight or he'll feed me to the crows."
"Aric-" Isana began.
"Be quiet," Aric hissed. He shot a glance at the door. Then said, to Isana, "Snow's starting up again."
He left, and bolted the door behind him.
Isana frowned at him, trying to puzzle out his meaning. She took the second cup of water and took a bit more for herself, then gave the rest to the semiconscious Odiana.
Outside, the wind rose. She heard men moving around the steadholt. One of them walked past the smokehouse and banged on the walls, letting out a few crude phrases. Odiana flinched and whimpered. More raucous talk and rough laughter went up from somewhere nearby-probably the steadholt's great hall. What sounded like a fight broke out, ending in cheers and jeers, and all the while it grew darker, until only the red coals gave any light to the smokehouse's interior.
There came a bang against the wall, wood against wood. Then steps. Feet on a ladder. Someone set down a weighty object on the roof, and then hauled himself onto it.
"Aric?" Isana called quietly.
"Shhhh," said the young man. "This is the