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.“Not yet.” Mathin said quietly.He wouldn’t have Andrea pressured into an attempt to conceive.A grunt expressed Tomlin’s thoughts on that.“Pity.One of your more hotheaded cousins has stepped forward to assume the roll.Although no one’s officially endorsed his claim, none have refuted it.He’s made much noise about assuming your duties in your absence.We expect him to make a show here before the storms hit.”“Do you?” Mathin asked, very softly.Instead of backing down, Tomlin looked him full in the face.“There were some who doubted you’d come, but I sent for you.It’s fortunate for us all that you came before he got entrenched.”“You couldn’t have closed the citadel against him? Are you not my caretaker?” The conversation was making Mathin angrier by the minute.How difficult was it to enter the citadel, lock the gate and raise the shield?“By myself?” Tomlin stared at him in challenge.“Your father left the people with a bad taste for the lordship, and you never stayed to change it.For all they know you carry his seeds, just waiting to bloom.Don’t expect an overseer to change what only you can do.”Andrea froze.Mathin was so still he might have been carved of ice.“No time like the present,” Mathin finally said in a dangerous tone, his temper barely in check.He walked away.Andrea watched him stalking down the lane of bushes and trees, seemingly intent on inspecting the picker’s progress.Concerned for him and disliking Tomlin’s attitude, she demanded, “What does his father have to do with anything?”Tomlin wouldn’t look at her.“You’ll have to ask him, milady.”Fat chance, with him in his present mood.With a sigh of frustration she resumed picking.At least she’d be sleeping in a decent bed tonight.Or not.“What a dump.” She hadn’t meant to say it aloud, had even muttered it under her breath, but Mathin whipped his head around and glared.“Sorry!” She put her hands in the air, palms out to pacify him.Even so, now that the words were out, she might as well express her opinion.“I know you said no one’s been in charge here since your sister took off last year, and it looks like it’s been vandalized.”The spacious hall was a disaster of chipped stone tiles and broken glass from the high, narrow windows.Runes had been painted onto the walls.She might not be able to read them, but if they were anything like the graffiti back home, she wasn’t missing much.Debris crunched under her feet as she made her way to the hacked up table and smashed chairs.She was no expert, but even she could tell the slashes were fresh.Besides, it didn’t take a genius to note that the rotten, crusted remains of food scattered around and crawling with insects was semi-fresh.Maybe four days old? “Someone had one heck of a party.”“And forgot to use the facilities,” Matilda added with disgust, wrinkling her nose at the stench of stale urine.“It’s going to take charcoal to lift the smell out of this mortar.”“It’s worse than that,” Raziel reported grimly, striding into the hall.“The bedrooms are just at bad—all thirteen of them.Every scrap of food in the storerooms is ruined, the chimneys are blocked and the water pipes are broken.I think the only thing in the citadel left untouched is the force field generator.Someone was very determined to starve us out.”Swearing, Mathin turned away.His wife flinched from him when she caught sight of his glowing golden eyes, which further fouled his mood.“We have what? Two weeks worth of supplies with us, maybe days before a storm whips up, and at least a month before it’s marginally safe to venture far enough to hunt.” Nor was it safe—or wise—to go back.No telling who would be in the citadel when he returned.“There’ll be a small tithe from the harvest today.The rest had already been stored in here,” Tomlin was unwise enough to point out.Near ready to strangle him, Mathin fingered the hilt of his sword.Tomlin had more than proved his incompetence.“We will go hunting,” he said in a soft voice, eyes narrowed to slits.“And I will purchase extra animals from the village and what supplies can be had.Andrea.” His tone softened a bit as he looked at her.“Stay near Raziel while I’m gone, and those he puts in charge of you.It’s not safe to wander around.You, too, Matilda.” He sent a disgusted look at the mess around him.“And I hate to ask it of you, but could you see to fixing what you can here? There might be young women in the village for hire.Sort through them and find ones you can work with.” The fire had begun to fade in his eyes, until he took a step and something squished under his boot.Instantly the flame was back.Without another word, he turned and stalked away, several Haunt falling in behind them.A little miffed that he didn’t say goodbye, even though she understood his temper, Andrea placed her hands on her hips and surveyed the mess.“Cleaning supplies, Tomlin?”He glared at her.“I’ve clearly been dismissed, milady.You’ll have to ask someone else.”He left.“Did I miss something here?” she demanded, wondering what his problem was.Mathin hadn’t said a word about firing him.“Mathin gave his duties to you,” Raziel supplied, nudging a chunk of plate aside with his boot.“I doubt he could have been plainer.”Shaking her head, Andrea went in search of a broom.“Where are you going?”Puzzled, she halted and looked him.“I’ve got to get something to clean this up.”He slowly shook his head.“I don’t think you grasp the scope of your new duties.You’ve got far too much to do to finish by yourself, and Mathin never meant for you to be down on your knees scrubbing.We’ll go to the village, hire girls with mops, buy supplies and return here so you can take a tour and see what else needs to be done.”Since he seemed to know more of what was expected than she did, Andrea followed him into the village, doing most of the talking at his insistence.Soon she had four girls and a strapping young man marching off to the castle to battle the chaos under Matilda’s supervision.“You’re going to have to advise me here,” she told him as they looked over the “yak” pens.The sheep-sized creatures milled about, completely unaware of their future as dinner guests.“I have no idea how many we need or how much to pay.” She frowned.“For that matter, Mathin didn’t leave any money.”He shook his head.“You’ve got to make yourself known now as a woman who knows what she’s doing and has the authority to do it.” He named an amount she should pay for each animal and explained how to barter to achieve it.Reluctant but resigned, she strode up to the man in charge of this particular pen and began to haggle.An hour and a thirteen yak-beasts, twenty domesticated birds and something she dubbed a hippo-cow later, she headed back to the citadel, feeling much more confident.Shopping wasn’t all that bad with Raziel along to give her pointers.Too bad he seemed to regard it as annoying as having teeth drilled.One thing she wondered, though.“How come you guys have this cow thing here, but Jasmine said the Haunt had no dairy animals?”“They don’t at Jayems’s citadel or anywhere else, for that matter,” Raziel explained, his eyes searching the path for danger even on the short walk back.“The milk beast is very stupid, its milk quite sweet.Not many Haunt tolerate them or care to drink their secretions.This province is unique in that.”“Their secretions? You have a way with words, Raz
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