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“I’d hoped you’d say that,” Crescent murmured quietly from behind me. He raised his voice, “We’ll take him to the Shadow Gardens. No one uses them anymore. The Prince’s Paramour may keep him there, safely contained, and Nightclaw will have much more room to prowl.”
Rodrick grunted in derision. “The Shadow Gardens. Fine. Good luck finding him in there again.”
He fished for a key on his belt and began unlocking the cage. “I don’t wish to be present for this.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can only imagine why not.”
Rodrick glared, then began pulling open the gate. He positioned himself so that he was secured behind the gate and the wall–the spineless man.
Nightclaw was rising to his feet. I watched as the exmoor took a slow step forward, then another.
“You heard all of that, didn’t you?” I said encouragingly, meeting the feline’s amber eyes. “We’re not going to hurt you.” I glanced at Rodrick. “No one is going to hurt you again,” I promised. “You’ve been mistreated. Neglected. I understand. But your new life begins now. Today. With me. Will you come with me? Will you follow?”
I looked quickly at Crescent who seemed to understand.
“You follow me, and the exmoor...” He shrugged easily. “Well, hopefully he’ll follow us both. Yes?”
The exmoor was reaching the doorway of his cage. As he made to pass the old menagerie keeper, the creature paused then let out a long, low growl and bared his fangs.
I watched in amusement as Rodrick shrank back, pulling the gate of the cage more tightly against his body as a shield.
The exmoor shot the keeper a look of disdainful loathing, then padded towards me.
I looked at the feline’s back, the matted fur–and beneath that, telltale signs of old injury.
“You beat this creature, didn’t you?” I accused Rodrick. “No wonder he hates you. You beat him with that cane. Over and over, until you thought his spirits were broken. But you were a fool if you thought a man like you could ever break a creature like him.”
Rodrick glared. “Get him out of here. Go if you’re going.”
“I should let him at you,” I said, staring at where he cowered pathetically behind the cage door. “It’s the least you deserve. Tell me, did he take the chunk out of your leg before or after you struck him?”
Rodrick eyes narrowed but he said nothing.
“I’ll be telling the prince about this,” I said shortly.
It was one thing not to tattle on Lyrastra. This was quite another.
Crescent said nothing, simply led the way out through the courtyard.
I followed him.
And to my great gratification and not a little glee, Nightclaw followed us both.
