He slurped the food up with a snuffle and a grunt.
"He looks for you every day," Shamed said, leaning over the stall door. "You've spoiled him with all the treats."
Repentance rubbed the yak's nose. "I have to bring Bramble treats. What good is it to have a friend in the palace, if she won't bring you tidbits every now and again?"
Shamed went back to work, and Repentance left Bramble and made her way down the corridor, petting noses and passing out treats. "Here you go, Thistle . . .. Now, don't be so impatient, Rose, I've not forgotten you . . .. Ah, Holly and Hawthorne, calm down you two, I'm coming."
She was at Barberry's stall, when the double doors at the end of the barn scraped open on their icy tracks.
Framed in the open doorway was Sober.
She could only see his silhouette because he was backlit by the sun and the glaring snow outside. Ducking into Barberry's stall, she hoped Sober hadn't noticed her. It would take his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim interior of the barn.
"Ho, Shamed," Sober called.
"Right here, no need to yell."
"I didn't see you hiding behind the bales. I've brought two wagons of greens this week. Do you want it all at this end?"
It was Friday! She'd forgotten.
Barberry ate his sweets and snuffled around Repentance's pocket looking for more.
She pushed against his wide nose. "I don't have any more, boy," she whispered.
He didn't believe her. He pushed against her with his wide forehead.
She stepped back to catch her balance.
He pushed her again.
"This end'll do fine," Shamed said. "I've been pulling the old greens forward to make room for the new."
Barberry gave a snort. He wanted more treats and he wanted them now. He pushed Repentance again.
She fell against the door, which unlatched and fell open. Stumbling into the corridor, she tried to catch her feet up to the rest of her, all to no avail. She landed in a heap in the center of the barn floor.
"Repentance?"
Sober stood over her, concern in his dark eyes. He reached down and helped her up. "Are you hurt?"
She pulled away from him, brushing off her work smock, avoiding his eyes. "I'm fine."
He bent and picked something up, then held out his hand to her.
Three gray buttons sat in his wide, calloused palm. They must have fallen from her pocket.
"Why do you keep these?" he asked.
She pocketed the buttons and touched his scarf. "Why do you keep that?"
"To remind me of home, for one thing."
"Same with me." She turned to leave.
"Repentance?"
She stopped.
"I shouldn't have spoken as I did the other day. I was surprised, is all. I thought you were a maid, and I was upset to find out you were a …. " His voice trailed off.
She faced him. "A whore."
He cringed. "Can you not forgive?"
"What good would it do? I'm still a whore in the end."
He looked away from her.
Her cheeks burned with shame. "You can't stand to even look at me."
She turned and left.
The king would be gone for a week or so. Business in the south, he said, and he didn't want to take Repentance out of school. The Moonlight Festival was fast approaching, and she needed all the help Skoch could give her.
He'd been feeling poorly, and Repentance suspected he might be going to the healing pool at Hot Springs. He wouldn't admit to it—he was always so worried about appearing weak.
Repentance followed him to the front steps to bid him goodbye. "Is it safe for you to go?" she asked.
He gave her a strange look. "Why the concern?"
"I'm afraid for you. What if the prince ... do you think the prince might try to take the throne from you?"
He grimaced. "He'd have done that long ago if he could have. He cannot. The people would storm the palace and kill him. My subjects love me, because I have always treated them fairly. The prince, however, is not well loved. He's in line for the throne, true, but if I die without handing the throne to him—without showing my confidence in him—it will not go well for my devoted nephew. If he wants to assassinate me, and I'm sure he does, he'll have to woo my troopers away from me and make my subjects hate me, first. And that will be a battle fought on uneven ground with me in the upper position."
Relief coursed through her. "Why do you travel with all the troopers, then?"
"Appearances." He sighed. "I must keep up appearances. Traveling with a full skein of troopers gives me power in the eyes of the people. It also keeps the troopers close to me. It keeps them loyal."
Relieved, she watched his skim coach wind down the drive. The prince thought he was smart, but the king was smarter. She offered a prayer for the king's safety, picked up her basket, and headed upstairs to her suncloths.
She was in one of the guest chambers, taking down cloth, when someone came in.
Twisting on the ladder, she looked over her shoulder at the doorway.
Lord Malficc.
She jerked and almost fell.
"Careful, my Lady," he said. "We can't have you breaking your neck just when I have such a wonderful proposal for you."
Repentance glanced nervously at the bed below her. The entire fifth floor was reserved
