black square in the grass. The air still reeked of ash, but a few green sprigs were already fighting their way up through the char. “The kennels,” Judah said with the same surge of satisfaction she always felt. “Elban’s hunting hounds were kept here.”
Surveying the ruins, the magus said, “The guards burned it down?”
“No, I did,” Judah said cheerfully. “Of course, Elly took the rest of my matches away afterward, but it was worth it. My only regret is that the hounds weren’t actually inside at the time.”
The magus’s eyes widened. “You must really hate dogs.”
“They weren’t dogs.” There was no reason for her to tell the story, but there was no reason not to. “And they killed my mother.”
The magus froze. His cheeks went pale. “The hounds did?”
“Death by hound: one of Elban’s favorites. The guards locked her in with them and they tore her apart. She was pregnant with me at the time. The hounds would have torn me apart, too, except—” Except that Darid had found her, and saved her, and twenty-two years later been executed for trying to save her again. Darid was a step too far. Darid was none of the magus’s business. “Except they didn’t.”
He swallowed hard. “That’s—that’s horrific,” he said, and his voice was rough with emotion.
“I don’t remember it.” She didn’t know why she’d brought it up in the first place. “Obviously. So, the stables?”
The sheep were grazing in the paddock where the colts had been weaned. When Judah and the magus approached, they made their way to the fence to see if the humans had brought anything interesting. The magus let them sniff his hand.
“The big one’s Cheese. The little one’s Warm Socks,” Judah said.
Scratching Cheese behind the ears, he said, “Clever. I’m guessing the stable looks like a stable inside, stalls and mangers and so forth. Smells strongly of horse.”
No, the stable smelled like Darid. Or it had, the first time she’d been there after the coup. She’d had to step outside, then, and lean against the wall until she found her strength. Now the stable smelled different, and she minded it less. “More like sheep these days. But if we go in, these two will expect to be fed.”
Cheese butted him firmly through the fence. “They already expect to be fed. What’s the building in the back?”
It was the barracks, where Judah had never been. The magus wanted to see where the stablemen had lived, so she took him into the long building with its low ceiling and rows of hard narrow beds. Over every bed, a single nail had been hammered into the whitewashed wall; the day of the coup had been warm but only one coat hung there, too threadbare to bother stealing. Darid would never have allowed one of his men to wear something so tattered, but Darid hadn’t been in charge by then.
“The staff must be out in the city now, too, aren’t they?” Judah said, stepping over one of the small wooden chests staff were given for their few possessions, which had been emptied when the stablemen vacated and left where it lay.
The magus nodded. “The Returned. Most of them went back to their families. Any of them who wants a job in a factory can get one for the asking. In some ways, they’re better off than anyone else, because the Seneschal is determined to make a big show of treating them well. Don’t tell him I said that.”
“Don’t tell him about Cheese and Warm Socks. Elly’s afraid he’ll take them away if he finds out about them.”
“He probably would.” He gazed around the dingy room, where nothing remained to say anything at all about the men who had lived and died there. Then he shook his head and sighed. “Maybe you should burn this one down, too,” he said.
“Maybe I will,” she said.
* * *
She and the magus parted ways in the courtyard. The huge doors leading into the grand foyer were heavy, and she had to strain to push them closed. Turning then, she saw Gavin sitting on the broad marble staircase, watching her with amusement. His hair grown long and his shirt half-buttoned, he had never looked quite so much like a courtier to her. A little kohl, some ostentatious jewelry, and he wouldn’t have looked even a bit out of place stumbling into one of the retiring rooms for coffee in the morning.
She wasn’t surprised to see him. Since the coup, whenever they were together she’d noticed a weird