“My men are the best marksmen in the whole dominion,” he assured her. “I had no fear at all for your safety.” He gestured toward the main castle entrance. “Shall we? I’ll have my men deliver your gift to the kitchen for the evening meal.”

Meanwhile, two guards bent down next to Brother Qown and picked up Ninavis.

“She’s injured,” he told them. “You must be careful. Let me follow, and I’ll treat her wounds.”

They paid Brother Qown not the slightest attention.

“What happens to the other saelen?” Count Janel sounded bored, the question asked for propriety’s sake. When she saw Brother Qown approaching, she made a small motion with her hand as a warning: I will handle this.

“Oh, the usual—we’ll award them at the tournament,” Tamin said. “Kalazan’s fate is already sealed. We’ll capture him soon enough.”

A scream rang out.

Brother Qown might have thought it signaled the promised capture, except Gan the Miller’s Daughter laughed outright, and Dango, still bound, smiled.

“This Kalazan,” Janel said. “Is he familiar with the castle?”

Tamin’s expression soured. “He was the steward’s son.”

“Ah.”

Tamin scowled and gestured to Dedreugh. “Damn it. Find him and kill him. I’ll not have him live to see the sunrise, do you hear me? And then figure out which idiot made a mess of tying Kalazan’s hands and have him flogged.”

Brother Qown made sure his eyes were on the ground, lest his glance betray him. Only when the soldiers had cleared away the prisoners, and Captain Dedreugh had left to oversee the search, did he let himself look up. Qown stared at the person who had tied Kalazan’s hands.

Mare Dorna hummed a dirty song to herself, smiling.

Brother Qown followed the guards into the castle, then stopped when one, a hulking fellow with gray skin and black blotches around his eyes, turned back.

“What are you doing?” the guard demanded.

Brother Qown pointed to the trussed prisoners being carried or led farther into the building. “I need to treat them.”

“They don’t need treating,” the same man growled.

Brother Qown smiled, shaking his head. “The count gave explicit orders. I must care for their well-being.”

And prove a complication. Brother Qown had seen the looks the guards had passed between themselves the entire ride back to Mereina Castle. The prisoners would be fair game to whatever molestations the soldiers devised, as soon as anyone who might care left.

The fact this behavior was abnormal for Jorat wouldn’t stop it from happening here.

“See them in the morning,” the guard ordered.

“But what about the blood sickness?” Brother Qown asked.

The whole group, guards and prisoners both, stopped.

“What was that?” said one man.