color, eyes fixed on what lay beyond in the stall opposite. The one belonging to Malahi’s mare.
Swearing under his breath, Killian strode down the aisle and looked inside, barely keeping the contents of his stomach in check at what he saw.
“She was fine last night, my lord,” the boy blurted out. “I swear it.”
“This isn’t your fault.” Taking the boy by the shoulders, Killian examined his face. He and Malahi had cleaned the mare up in a spring prior to bringing her back in the city, but this boy was with these horses constantly. If he’d been infected … “Do you feel sick? Any symptoms at all?”
The boy shook his head rapidly. “No, my lord.”
Thank the Six. “Good. That changes, you come to me directly. Now I need you to run to Hegeria’s temple. Tell them I sent you and ask to speak with the Grand Master. Explain to him that we have a horse infected with blight. Tell him to come immediately.”
The boy sprinted out of the stables.
The other horses were turning circles in their stalls, ears pinned and eyes rolling, so Killian swiftly turned them out, all of them galloping to the opposite side of the grounds before turning to stare back in his direction. They knew.
Then, taking a deep breath, Killian went back to the mare’s stall. She lay on her side in the straw, flanks rising and falling rapidly, nostrils fluttering as she struggled. Her eyes were glazed with pain, but as he knelt in the straw to stroke her cheek they focused on him. She’d been with him since she was a yearling. He’d trained her, taken her with him nearly everywhere he’d been for the last three years. She’d been one of the few horses to survive the battle at the wall, having carried one of his men in their wild dash to safety despite having been injured herself. She was one of the best mounts he’d ever owned, and it had only been because Malahi had fallen in love with the mare that he’d gifted her to the Princess.
And now she was dying.
Steeling himself, Killian forced his eyes away from the mare’s face to her forelegs. Her hair had fallen out, the skin beneath a strange grey. Pulsing black veins rose up her shoulders, the same way the blight crawled across the landscape, but a thousand times more sickening, because there were places where the skin had ruptured, black sludge dripping into the straw. And the smell … never in all his life had he experienced anything like it.
Heels clicked against the stone of the stable aisle, the measure deeply familiar. Scrambling to his feet, Killian stepped outside the stall, pulling the door shut behind him and stepping in Malahi’s path. She’d clearly dressed in a hurry, her hair still tangled from sleep. “It’s bad, Malahi. You don’t want to see this. I’ll take care of it.”
“She’s my horse.”
“All the more reason for you not to see.”
Malahi’s face was blanched, but she shook her head. “Let me pass.”
Wishing he could force her to see reason but knowing it wasn’t right to do so, Killian opened the stall door.
Malahi’s shoulders rose and fell as she took a deep breath; then she rounded the corner and stepped inside. A soft gasp of horror tore from her lips and she swayed. Killian reached forward to steady her, but she only brushed his hands away, going to kneel next to the mare’s head.
The night guard had followed Malahi in, and even Sonia’s russet skin seemed waxy and pale. “All of you out,” he ordered. “You too, Bercola. I’ve sent the stableboy for Quindor. If he isn’t here in the next half hour, you fetch him yourself. No need to prolong this.” Then he went inside the stall.
Malahi was stroking the mare’s cheek, murmuring soothing words.
“She needs to be put down.” He knelt next to her. “I’ve sent for Quindor. If the blight can do this to a horse, it can do it to a person as well. The healers need to be prepared. But—”
“I know,” Malahi interrupted. “I know he won’t expend the energy to heal a horse.”
“I’m sorry.”
A tear dribbled down her face. “It’s my fault. If I’d been paying attention…”
“I brought you out there.” And he was the one who was supposed to have been protecting her.
Soft footfalls echoed through the stables, and a heartbeat later Quindor appeared in the entrance to the stall. His brow furrowed at the sight of the horse, and he