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“Too delicate?”
“It’s a weed.”
She laughs, then presses her left arm closer to her ribs.
Perkele. I wait beside the hearth until she takes another breath.
“Lord Buttercup, then.”
The other ear goes flat.
She’s still smiling when she takes a mouthful. I stay where I can see her face, holding a bowl of dirty linen.
I want the next name.
I turn toward the passage. “Enough. Eat.”
She taps the spoon against her bowl. “Whatever you say, Buttercup.”
Both my ears turn back toward her.
Chapter 7
I count the scratches beside my pallet with my thumb.
Eleven, and a space for the one I’ll make tonight.
The first sits crooked against the next, cut into the stone the evening he brought out the bolt. I could barely hold the sharp little flake then.
I rub stone dust from my thumb and tuck the flake beneath the fur.
The daylight above the passage has faded to a narrow strip. Across the hearth, he lifts the pot off the coals, and I get up. He always does that before taking me out. The first evening I needed his arm to reach the passage, and yesterday I walked the length of it twice while he stood outside listening.
Today I intend to get farther.
I bend to tighten the soft leather wraps around my feet. He cut them from his stores after I complained about the cold stone. They’re thin enough to feel every ridge underneath, but they stay on when I run between the pallet and the hearth. I’ve tested that while he’s out hunting.
My shoulder has stayed dry for three days. The skin still pulls if I lift my elbow too high, so I keep it low and reach for the loose tie with my right hand.
I straighten and find him watching. “Ready, Lady Fluff?”
One rounded ear turns away from me.
I step around to address the other one. “I asked you a question.”
That ear goes back too, flattening into his dark hair.
His lip lifts off one fang. “They’ve both heard enough.”
“Then you should’ve answered with the first one.”
He looks down at my feet. “The left tie’s loose.”
I wiggle my toes inside the leather. “You’re changing the subject.”
“You’re standing on it.”
I lift my heel off the end of the tie.
