She gulped.
“Aren’t you…” Lady Blackfell squeaked. She trailed off. He raised his eyebrows at her. “Aren’t you going to… didn’t you call me here because of what I said?”
He had to think for a moment.
“What, about me being a traitor?” Niel frowned. She nodded again. “I know what I am, Lady Blackfell,” he drawled. “I hardly care whatyouhave to say about it. Now, your husband: does he have the old blood?” Magic sprung up every few generations in the old noble houses, from long-past marriages between humans and the immortal Hulder.
“No,” she whispered, and scratched at her skirt with one thin finger.
“Does he command any soldiers beyond the force that rode out with him?”
She blinked up at him, her gray eyes wide again.
“We have to have guards,” Lady Blackfell told him. “There’s monsters in the mountains.”
“But did all the guards go with him?” Niel asked, leaning forward and settling his elbows on his knees.
She blinked at him.
“When he rode out?” Lady Blackfell asked uncertainly.
“Yes, when he rode out,” Niel snapped.
She was odd. There were moments she didn’t seem dull at all. The way she’d been speaking when he stepped inside the kitchen; the way she’d immediately asked about her servant’s safety when he took hold of the castle. But in the conversations he’d had with her… writing the letter, and now… she blinked up at him with a confused look in her eyes.
“Uhm…” she glanced away, pink lips screwing up to one side. Niel sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“Warriors,” he said, fighting to keep the frustration from his voice. If shewasthis easily confused, she hardly deserved his anger for it. “Were there men on patrol when I arrived? Did he send bannermen to the Queen for the war; are they headed back for the winter?”
“We sent banners,” Lady Blackfell said slowly. “My lord’s cousins are knights of Blackfell.”
“How many men, and to which outpost? Varos Himrek or Ironcliff?” He named the northern passes where the fighting had been most violent that summer.
“How many men… rode out with him? They’re back in the town now…” her forehead creased as one hand worked itself into her hair, twining one of her waves around her finger.
“No, the men who—the knights—never mind.” Niel sighed. He’d get further questioning the servants. “How many knights are sworn to Blackfell?”
“My lord was a knight,” Lady Blackfell said happily.
“And his cousins?”
“Yes,” she agreed with a smile.
Niel leaned back, gripped the arms of his chair tightly, and contemplated whether he really wanted to jump out the window when there was a nice, sturdy wall to bash his head against so much closer.
“Doyouhave cousins?” she asked him.
He looked up at the ceiling and tried to think if there was any way to make use of what she knew before he returned her to her husband. Perhaps she might give him information without meaning to, if she didn’t realize the importance of the question.
“Where’s the tunnel that leads in and out of the castle?” he asked quickly.
“I go through the gate when I leave.”
“The escape tunnel below the castle. Where is it?” He tried again. Not all castles had them, but if Blackfell did, it would be a sure way for the enemy to get inside. Just because the castle’s former lord hadn’t tried yet didn’t mean he wouldn’t. It would be pathetic if Niel was stabbed in his sleep the night before leaving the castle.
But Lady Blackfell only blinked her wide gray eyes.
“Is there one?” she asked, her voice wavering. “I… I don't know that.”
