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I was at the bottoraed into the corner of a picture fraht wall of the staircase Finally, so I could use As I examined the map, I felt as if a translucentmy explorations of the rooms upstairs, I retrieved ht Valek wouldn’t be upset that I had seen it He’d probably be happy that I didn’t need to ask for directions every tio somewhere new I cleared a space on the couch, woran to copy the map

I jerked awake My journal slaht,of rats They had poured down from the walls, welled up fro rodents that seized clothes, skin and hair in their sharp little teeth

A shudder shook my body I lifted my feet off the floor as I scanned the room No rats, unless I included Valek He was halfway around the rooht about Valek being a fellow rat No Definitely not A cat And not just any ordinary, household cat, but a snow cat The most efficient predator in the Territory of Ixia Pure white, the snow cat was the size of two ile and lethal, the snow cat killed before its prey even suspected danger They stayed mostly in the north where the snow never rew scarce

No one in the history of Ixia had killed a snow cat The predator either set close enough to strike with a handheld weapon They bolted like lightning upon hearing the twang of a bowstring The best the northern people could do was feed the cats, hoping to keep thehting the last lantern, Valek turned towardwith your room?" He picked up a tray and handed it to me

"No Couldn’t sleep"

Valek snorted with aestured toward the tray "Sorry your dinner is cold I was detained"

Auto for poisons, I took a couple of slanced at Valek to see if he was offended by the gesture He was not His face still held an amused expression Between bites, I asked Valek if anyone else had a key to his suite

"Just the Conoring his question, I asked, "Is Margg your personal housekeeper?"

"Mine and the Commander’s We wanted sonizable She ith us before the takeover, so her loyalty is beyond doubt" Valek sat at his writing desk, but turned his chair to face me "Ree in subject, I nodded

"There were three Generals in the room Brazell, you knew, but can you identify the other two?"

"Tesso and Hazal," I answered, proud that I had remembered

"Can you describe theht back They had worn Generals’ unifor lunch I shook my head "I think General Tesso had a beard"

"You identified them by their uniforms and didn’t look at their faces Correct?"