Page 49 of Thief of Silver and Souls

The woman is standing at the edge of the group like many others, but something about her stance gives the sense that she’s more apart from us. Like there’s a short distance there she isn’t sure how to cross.

As I watch, she fidgets with the folds of her skirt. Her right hand is missing its smallest two fingers—the flesh smoothed over in the way of a typical dedication sacrifice.

I don’t even need to twitch my eyebrow for Julita to pick up on my curiosity.That’s Petra. She’s pretty quiet, mostly keeps to herself. Apparently she’s a niece twice removed of the queen’s family, or something like that. I don’t think it’s likely she attacked her own cousin.

Maybe not, but I’m not ruling anyone out just yet.

I smooth the skirt of my own dress and am about to push the conversation onward when a broad-shouldered, middle-aged woman with a face as pasty as a dumpling steps forward. She claps her hands. “All right, everyone. Select your steeds.”

Accidentally-on-purpose, I head through the stable entrance just behind Anya and her friends. Which gives me the opening to keep talking after all.

“It’s strange that Julita hasn’t been around for so long, isn’t it? Where could she have gone? Did it seem as if she’d been getting into anything… unsavory?”

The girl at Anya’s right scoffs.

Anya simply lifts her nose. “I can’t imagine Julita getting her hands particularly dirty.”

The girl who asked me about knowing Julita giggles. “No, if she wanted something unsavory done, she’d just wheedle someone else into doing it.”

I slant my mouth into a frown. “I hope she didn’t cause any resentments, then?”

“Oh, people generally don’t getangrywith Julita,” Anya says in a bored tone. “She’s just ever so charming.”

She doesn’t say it like a compliment.

Before I can prod further, she motions toward the end of the row of stalls we’ve reached. “You should take Toast out. Stall 16. He’s the perfect horse for you to start with.”

If the cold glint in her eyes wasn’t enough to tip me off, Julita makes a sound of consternation.Toast is a gods-damned terror. She’s trying to make a fool out of you… or worse.

It seems to me I’ll look more like a fool if I act frightened by the suggestion. I can’t imagine a horse kept in the royal college’s stables could bethatwild.

A terror to noblewomen could still be a piece of cake to someone who appreciates a little spirit.

I shoot Anya a quick smile. “Thank you for the suggestion.”

A titter ripples between the three women as I head toward the stall she indicated. Footsteps rap against the stone floor after me.

I recognize Esmae’s clear voice. “Anya’s just joking, Ivy. I can help you find a better mount.”

“Oh, Esmae, don’t be a spoilsport,” one of Anya’s friends mutters.

I glance over my shoulder. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine. Now I’m even more curious about this horse.”

Stopping in front of the stall, I find myself faced with a stallion whose dun hair holds a sprinkling of darker brown to match his mane. He’s got the coloring of a piece of toasted bread. Nothing particularly terrifying about that.

I reach over the low stall door slowly to give him a chance to sniff my hand. He gives a snort and a restless stomp of his hooves. He is a little testy.

The stable hands have already suited him up with saddle and bridle like they must have all the horses on offer for the hunt. All I’ve got to do is get on him.

I make a soft clucking sound under my breath as I ease into the stall, the way I have before when I’ve gotten the chance to commune with an unfamiliar horse. I haven’triddenany horses since Dotty, but I know my way around them.

I’ve missed her. Being in a stable feels like coming home—to the one part of my old home I have nothing but fond memories of.

An unbidden heat pricks at the back of my eyes. I grimace against it.

I’m not really any more alone here than I was on the streets. But there I was surrounded by people with concerns I could relate to, whose lives I wanted to take some small part in.

I’ve never really been able to count on anyone except myself… but Ifeelthat fact more in this place than I ever have before.

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