Olivian’s gruff baritone cut through the clink of dinnerware. “What in Zephyrine’s name?” He rose from his chair to glare at the windows.
The heat in my cheeks faded. Outside, the light had dimmed to a dusky caramel, but something purple glowed on the lawn. I laid an instinctive hand on Amryssa’s shoulder. I didn’t know whether I meant to shield her or reassure her, but it was just a raggedy little dog out there. A forked tongue hung from its mouth while two tails twitched behind. The puppy tottered across the lawn, glowing amethyst.
Ky went to the window. “It’s sick.” Wherever the poor stray had come from, it had picked up the rot on the way.
Olivian grunted. “Kill it.”
My heartbeat turned to mush when I realized who he’d directed the command at. “Who?Me?”
“Yes, you,” he snapped. “Unless you’d rather Amryssa do the honors?”
I found the hilt of my dagger and squeezed. This prick. If it was so easy, why didn’t he go? Not to mention I’d never killed anything before. Okay, maybe a few billion mosquitoes over the years, but never a diseased puppy. I probably would’ve had an easier time murdering a grown man.
Actually, I’d tried that once, hadn’t I? And look howthatlittle endeavor had turned out.
Ky glared at Olivian. “I’ll do it.” The words were clipped, not at all like his usual.
But the seneschal didn’t seem to notice. “Fine. I don’t care who snaps its neck, so long as the cur doesn’t infect the hens and leave us with poisoned eggs for breakfast.”
Ky opened his mouth, then reconsidered and whisked past me in a rush of cypress-scent and firesmoke.
My head whirled. Partly because of the onslaught of his scent, but also because he’d just volunteered to kill something.To murder a helpless animal. Maybe not because he wanted to spare me, but because he just...wanted to?
Oh, gods.
I pushed back my chair and hurried after him.
The dining room doors swung shut behind me. Down the hall, Ky pushed out through a side exit. Anger tightened his posture, and that, along with the heat and the horribleness of the day, squeezed my throat in a vise grip.
Seven hells, could Eliana have been right, all this time? Had I just refused to see it? Had I let myself develop all these capital-F feelings for a murderer?
I mean, not that Ihadcapital-F feelings. I just...
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I was wasting time.
I reached the door Ky had used and burst out into the muggy evening. He was already halfway across the lawn. When he reached the puppy, he scooped it up without slowing.
A whimper scalded my throat.
Ky hopped over the trench rimming the yard and ducked into the forest. Which made sense—he wouldn’t want to do this in view of the windows. But I needed to see. I had to know, once and for all.
I scrambled after him. At the lawn’s edge, I plunged into the forest, into an alien realm of violet trees and snarled underbrush. The smell of decay weighted the air. I squelched between the ferns and palmettos, one hand atop my dagger.
Ahead, in a clearing, Ky set the puppy down. I ducked behind a corrupted cypress and peeked around its trunk. The dog gazed up, its dual tails flicking, as if undecided on whether to wag or curl between its legs.
Ky knelt. He clamped a hand around the dog’s neck.
My heart plummeted, snagging my stomach on the way down. Shit. Shitshitshit. I didn’t know how best to save the puppy—use the dagger’s magic on Ky? The dog?
But it was already too late. His hand moved, and I winced against the inevitable crunch. When it didn’t come, I opened my eyes to find him...
...petting it?
I loosed the longest breath of my life. Ky ruffled the pup’s fur and, when it capsized in wriggling delight, scratched at its belly. The dog’s twin tails thumped against the ground.
“There now,” Ky crooned. “How about a bit of cheese?”
He dug in his waistcoat and came up with a chunk of white stuff. The dog snarfed the offering without a moment’s pause.
