“Another job for the Witch Committee,” I said, adjusting the strap of my satchel.It was rather heavy now that my entire life had been packed into it.
“But I thought you weren’t a part of that anymore,” Maddox said.“You quit last spring.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t have much of a choice anymore,” I said, pressing my palm against my forehead.
Across the street was the little inn where I took my meals, and also where Mrs.Lewis had sent me to steal soap.Perhaps they had rooms available, at least through the weekend.Luckily, I had enough coin to survive for two days.
“Let’s go to Greenwood Abbey.My horse is at the nearest stable,” Maddox said.
I blinked.“I can’t.I’d be imposing.”
Maddox hooked his thumbs into his coat pockets and shrugged.“You won’t be.We have fifteen unoccupied bedrooms.”
We began walking down the street toward the stable before I could think of anything to say.The stableboy saddled Maddox’s horse, a glossy black gelding, and Maddox led it back out into the street.He mounted with one smooth motion and held his hand out to me.
“You’ve ridden before, right?”
“Only once.”I looked down at my skirts.Two rows of buttons held the front panel in place.I began undoing them.
“What are you doing?”Maddox sputtered, shielding his eyes.
“You’re lucky I’m wearing split skirts,” I said, looking up at him.“Because riding astride behind you in regular skirts would be far more scandalous.”
He muttered something under his breath that I didn’t quite catch.I stuck my tongue out at him, though I was secretly pleased that we were back to our bantering.At least something was back to normal.
Once I had converted my skirt to wide-legged trousers, I settled on the saddle behind him, though it took a few tries.The sky was overcast and gray.Luckily there were only a few passersby about—the fewer people to witness this, the better.
“Alright.Hang on,” Maddox said.
I gingerly held onto his shoulders, then we broke into a canter.
The motion nearly threw me to the pavement.I lurched forward and wrapped my arms around Maddox’s waist.He smelled faintly of straw and honeydew.I thought I heard him chuckle, but I couldn’t tell with the wind rushing past my ears and the clip-clopping of hooves on cobblestone.
***
GREENWOOD ABBEY WASfar draftier than Mrs.Lewis’s building, though it was probably due to the gaping holes in the stone wall where windows ought to be.
“We’re renovating,” Maddox explained as we climbed up a winding stairway, his voice echoing in the cavernous stairwell.“Narcissa wanted bigger windows.”
I shivered as a gust of wind blew in.“I thought she moved into the palace in the summer.”
“She comes back from time to time,” Maddox said.“Besides, she can’t have all nine of her cats in the palace for fear of gossip, so three of them stay here.”
“Likesixcats would be any better for gossip,” I said, raising my brows as a cacophony of meows sounded from the chamber above.
When we reached the top of the stairs, Maddox knelt to greet three kittens, one a gray tabby, and the other two black as night.“Meet Sol, Stormi, and Dima,” he said, pointing to each one respectively.“Greenwood Abbey’s current wards.You’ll be joining the ranks.”
“Until Monday,” I said.I knelt beside him and surveyed the felines.“So are these Narcissa’s least favorite or what?”
Maddox gasped and covered Dima’s ears.“Not in front of the kittens!”
I rolled my eyes as Maddox scooped two of them up.He plopped the third kitten onto my lap, which I had already forgotten the name of.
“Let’s get you to the nursery,” Maddox cooed at the creatures.
It seemed that Crown Prince Bennett hadn’t been the only one affected by Narcissa’s kitten infestation.
I took the remaining kitten and followed Maddox into a pastel room that looked very much like a nursery, but was apparently for cats.
