His smile faded and he said crisply, “And everything you do from now on must appear absolutely normal and not arouse any suspicion for both our sakes. A little restraint might be welcome, too. Where were you going when I stopped you from leaving tonight?”

“Back to my room in the castle to shower and eat something. Then I was going to come back here to be with Chaos.”

“Masenak allows you to come and go as you please?”

She shook her head. “He kept me locked up at first. But since he put me in charge of Chaos, he gives me freedom to go between here and my quarters at the castle. But it’s not the way it was at the Szarnar camp. There are guards trailing me wherever I go.” She added bitterly, “And he’s not really worried about me trying to escape since he told me he’d kill every one of my horses except Chaos if I did.”

“Bastard.”

She nodded. “He learned how to stop me cold in that first couple of weeks at Szarnar. Any person or animal that will hurt me to lose is a target. That’s why I mustn’t ever have Alisa near me.”

“That will be difficult, but we’ll make the adjustment. Will you see Masenak while you’re at the castle? Does he dine with you?”

“No, if he sees me at all it would be unusual. He was upset with me today and he might try to reinforce the orders he gave me, but I doubt it. He’s fairly lost about how to handle Chaos. I’m hoping if I show him occasional minimal improvement, it’ll keep him from exploding while we figure out how to get Chaos away before that race.”

“What if we can’t do that?”

She was silent. “It wouldn’t be good. Let’s not consider it.”

“We’ll try not to do it.” He paused. “What about your relationship with Masenak? Has it changed since you came here?”

“Do you mean does he rape me?” she asked bluntly. “He threatens sometimes when he’s angry, but I think he’s as confused about how to treat me as he is about Chaos. Yet he’s much more vicious now and nothing is a game to him any longer. He doesn’t even want to be around me unless it has to do with Chaos.” She remembered something else. “I saw the guards taking a woman into his quarters when I was leaving to go back to the stable last night. She was young, pretty, scared. Maybe one of the women Masenak had sent from the village?”

“And maybe a way to get to Masenak,” he murmured. “Name?”

She shook her head. “She was just another poor girl who reminded me of those students at the prison camp. Maybe he even wanted me to see her to remind me that I couldn’t change anything he did.”