Sahar growled low.Ratter had unwittingly putthe one man she had no desire to lay eyes on ever again, despitehis rugged good looks, right next to Lasair’s stall, where she wasbound to run into him.
“When did Munir decide to race?”Sahar said,rubbing her temples.“He did not stand in the line of riders lastnight.”
“When yer father the king asked ‘im to lastnight after the feast.”
“To watch over me.”A girl who could not betrusted to take care of herself.
CHAPTER 3
Kiska
“Well now.”Aleksi picked up the scragglyball of gray-striped fur that had wandered into Zolotoy’s stall andheld it up for inspection.
“Who are you, little one?”The kitten fitinto the palm of his hand and was no more than two moons of age,its gray-green eyes and white-tipped ears too big for its face.Flipping the kitten onto its back, he saw that it was girl.He rana finger over its protruding rib cage and sunken belly and rubbedits fur back, exposing fleas that weighed more than the kitten.“Have you lost your mama, littlekiska?”
The kitten let out a pathetic mew andsnuggled deeper into Aleksi’s warmth.Having spent the past ten andthree years living and working in his father’s stables, he was asfamiliar with stable cats as with horses, and next to horses, catswere his favorite animals.
Glancing around the cramped antechamber, hethought out loud.“First thing we need to do is feed you, and Ihave some jerky in my pack.”He tucked the kitten into the crook ofhis arm and pulled the jerky out with the other and bit a smallpiece off.Chewing it until it softened, he offered it to thekitten, who practically took the tip of his finger off along withthe proffered jerky.“Easy my littlekiska, your teeth arelike needles.”
Once he was satisfied that that the kittenhad eaten enough, but not too much, he pulled a bar of soap fromhis pack and tested the water in his wash basin.
“It is not so warm,” he told the kitten, “butneither is it too cold, and I need to drown those fleas off of youbefore they take what little blood you have left.”He took a dryingcloth off a peg on the wall.“I promise you will like being rubbeddry.”He imagined washing and rubbing another black haired,green-eyed kitten.“She would bleed me dry if I so much assuggested it,” he chuckled.“And burn me to ash for goodmeasure.”
The moment Aleksi set the kitten in the basinit let out a yowl that echoed through the entire stables, and keptup a pitiful mewling as he soaped and lathered its flea-ridden fur,turning the water in his wash basin a filthy brown.He carried thekitten into Zolotoy’s stall and dunked it neck-deep into thestallion’s water bucket for another rinse.The kitten let out adeafening howl that sent the horse pressing against the wall.
“Such a big brave stallion you are,” Aleksichided as he fingered water over the wailing kitten’s head.“Afraidof a tiny little kitten.”
“What do you think you are doing?”a low,smoky familiar voice accused from over the stall gate.“Are youtrying to drown that poor kitten?”
Aleksi straightened and stood eye to blazinggreen eyes with Sahar as the kitten dripped and squirmed and wailedeven louder in his hands.She had changed from her riding leathersto the marigold tunic and ocher skirt she had worn the first timehe had seen her, and strands of her thick black hair had escapedher colorful headscarf and curled around her long, tawny neck.
“I am trying to drown its fleas and save itslife,” he told her.He pulled the drying cloth from around his neckand bundled the kitten up in it.“If that is all right withyou.”
“Oh.Of course it is.I thought…”
“It is common for kittens to be drowned inyour royal stables?”
“No, of course not.”
Aleksi grinned as gold sparks flashed in hereyes.“Then it’s me that you would suspect of such cruelty.”
“No.I…”
He had her flustered, and found that heenjoyed seeing her so.He held the kitten up and nuzzled its nose,which was all that was visible from under the cloth.“PrincessSahar thinks I would drown you, my littlekiska.What do yousay to that?”
He turned the kitten’s face to Sahar, its bigeyes and pink nose peeking out at her.The kitten meowed, subduednow that it was safe and warm, and Sahar smiled and reached out totouch its nose.The kitten bit down.
“Ow.”Sahar jerked her hand back, bloodwelling on her finger’s tip.She stuck the tip into her mouth andsucked it, and Aleksi’s blood heated instantly.
He coughed and shifted the kitten to hischest, holding his injured finger up to Sahar.“I should havewarned you, Kiska is a bloodthirsty little girl.”He grinned widepurposely.“But as you know, I like kittens that are not afraid touse their sharp points.”
Sahar opened her mouth and then snapped itshut, spun on her heels, and stomped the three paces to her horse’sstall, throwing open the gate and slamming it shut.Aleksi chuckledas he tucked Kiska into the crook of his arm and left Z’s stall tostand at the gate to Lasair’s, watching Sahar brush the mare’s longflowing mane and waiting for her to acknowledge his presence, whichshe stubbornly refused to do until at last Lasair whinnied andstepped up to sniff at the bundle of cloth and kitten in Aleksi’shold.
“So,” Aleksi said.“It seems we areneighbors.”
Sahar glared at Aleksi.“You knew we were,”she said.“I would not put it past you to have bribed Ratter intosituating it so.”
“Actually, it was the Wolf who tried to bribeRatter into situating him next to you, but I get the impressionthat Ratter cannot be bribed if he does not wish to be so.”
