he said to Gavin, who sat on the sofa, his own knuckles neatly bandaged. “He really can be an infuriating little man.”
Eleanor sat next to Gavin without touching him. Before the Seneschal’s men had taken him, the magus had lain unconscious in her bed for days. During all that time, she hadn’t heard him say a word, infuriating or otherwise. “What did he say?” she said now.
“Nothing worth hearing,” the Seneschal said, as pleasant as always. “Nonsense, mostly. Eleanor, will you be so good as to fetch some water and clean up this mess he made of my hand?” He lifted the hand as if he had no idea how it had become so battered. As if all of this were merely a chain of unconnected events, out of all control and most certainly not in his.
“No,” Eleanor said. “I don’t believe I will.”
Gavin’s mouth twitched at that, which was the closest he’d come to a smile in days. The Seneschal, though, merely blinked at her with faint surprise, said, “Very well,” and sat down.
In Judah’s chair. Eleanor felt a shivering wave of resentment crawl over her to see him sitting where he did not belong. Thinking of Judah brought her the same agonizing stab of disbelief as always, pain as blinding as the sun. If she went anywhere near that pain, she would not be able to keep herself from screaming, so she pushed it down and away. She was very good at pushing things down and away. She was also very tired of it.
“I’ve had him taken to Highfall Prison,” the Seneschal said. “I think perhaps it will clarify his memory of what happened in the tower. Perhaps it would jog yours, as well, Gavin.” Merely a suggestion, the Seneschal’s tone said; just trying to be helpful. Eleanor bit hard on the inside of her cheek.
Next to her, she heard Gavin take a long, steady breath. Then he said, “While having the deposed heir imprisoned would be a comforting nod to tradition, there’s nothing to jog. I remember everything. We were in the tower. Judah jumped.”
“If that were true, you’d be dead.”
With the same cool, blank face he’d worn for days, Gavin lifted one shoulder slightly, then let it drop. “Ask the infuriating little man. Before you cut his tongue out, ideally. He’s not what he claimed to be.” Gavin paused. Then, “He killed my brother.” For the first time, his voice was strained and tight.
The Seneschal’s watery gray eyes shifted to Elly. Who wanted to scream again, but who contented herself with the smallest shake of her head. She had seen Theron after the magus was in the tower. She had spoken with him. She didn’t know where Theron was, but he was somewhere in the House, and she didn’t know why Gavin believed the man who’d lied to them for so long in so many ways, instead of her.
With no emotion, the Seneschal said, “If I begin cutting parts of you off, do you think Judah will emerge from wherever she’s hidden herself?”
If he’d been hoping for a reaction, he didn’t get it. “I doubt it,” Gavin said. His bandaged hands slightly clumsy, he pushed up his sleeves. Eleanor gasped: his forearms were covered, front and back, with the same scratched symbol, over and over. Some of the scratches were bloody, some only pink. She didn’t know what the mark meant, but she could guess.
Where. Where. Where.
“So she’s ignoring you,” the Seneschal said.
“No,” Gavin said, steady as a clock. “She’s not here. She’s not dead, but she’s not here. I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s true.”
It didn’t make sense. The world was desolate and lonely and Eleanor didn’t understand what was happening, but she would not let herself collapse in a heap the way she wanted. With great effort, she kept her attention on the Seneschal. Whatever simmered behind that impassive face, she could feel the heat of it.
“You understand,” he finally said, “that I’ll tear this House down to the ground to find her, if I have to.”
“If you think that’ll work, go ahead. Give me a pickaxe. I’ll help,” Gavin said.
The Seneschal sat back. His expression was patient, even tolerant. “Do you realize the favor I’ve done you? You would have been a terrible ruler. Not just because you’re vain and selfish; because you’re weak. Power would have made you stupid. Some pretty little schemer would have led you into a vial and you never would have found your way out.” His