Cogling Read Online Free PDF

door to butt at Edna’s hand. Edna patted the horse and moved on.
    Soot demon nests, wads of straw and leaves stuck together by saliva, hung from the corners of the ceiling. The grooms would have to knock them down before one of the soot demons bit a horse. A soot demon, the size of her hand, scampered across a beam, flicking his forked tail. Seeing their bodies always unnerved her—despite their pinched features and bony limbs, the soot demons resembled humans with bloated bellies.
    Once, Cook had caught a soot demon in the kitchen. As she’d bit off its head, the animal screaming, Edna had pictured herself in its place. If she were tiny, with a long tongue and tail, would Cook eat her?
    She shouldn’t try to free the foxkin, shouldn’t risk being fired, yet her conscience wouldn’t allow her to turn back. Last time the lord had bought a foxkin to hunt, she’d hidden in a closet until it was over and Cook was skinning the body by the stove. This time, the foxkin wouldn’t perish.
    Dust motes danced in the sunlight pouring through the stable windows. Glancing at the stable entrance to ensure no one approached, she ran to the stable master’s office door and knocked. When no one answered, she tried the brass knob. It opened and she slipped inside through the crack.
    Aha!
A silver cage stood beside the master’s desk. A red foxkin crouched in the corner, looking up at her with bulging eyes, his three tails poking through the bars. One tail hung limp, as though broken, but the other two stuck upright. The foxkin’s body quivered as he whimpered. A sob rose in Edna’s throat—the poor little creature!
    She pressed her finger to her lips for silence and knelt beside the cage. The tiny creature leaned away, flicking back his pointed ears. White tufts sprouted from his cheeks, but grime matted the rest of his long hair. A tear ran up the side of the foxkin’s blue jacket. Last time, Lord Waxman had removed the animal’s clothes. Would they hunt the critter fully dressed? Her stomach clenched and she bit her fingernail, tasting dust. The darkness whispered in her mind. If she gave in, it might attack to end it all. Dire things would happen if she ever surrendered; dire things she refused to imagine.
    The foxkin twitched his long snout and lifted one paw, curling his nails around a metal bar.
    “I’ll get you out.” Edna searched through the papers and riding crops on the desk until she found a letter opener. She pried the point into the cage’s lock, wriggling it until the gears snapped.
    The foxkin tugged on his tails, straightening and fluffing the clumped fur. If she had her brush, she could help the animal feel cleaner, but she didn’t have time to look through the horse supplies.
    “Come on, little guy. Run before they get you.” She reached into the cage to pull him out, but his hackles rose and he hissed. Edna jerked back. “I have to get back before I’m missed. When I go, you must run, all right?”
    The foxkin hissed again. Edna raced from the office, her boots thumping the stable floor. If he thought she was fleeing, he might too. She wished he would speak to her, but foxkins didn’t speak around humans unless they felt safe.
    How could people put the critter through a hunt, where he would know fear and pain?
    Nudging the kitchen door open, she opened her mouth to ask Cook where Rachel’s cake was, but Harrison stood in the corner.
    Her heartbeat sped. “Odds bobs! Harry, what are you doing?” Not more trouble from him. It would be nice to not worry for a short while.
    Cook stirred a pot on the stove with a long-handled spoon. Black moles stood out against her floured hands. “Teddy told him to git home, but he stands there.”
    Edna groaned. “We need your brittin, Harrison. You gotta work or you don’t get paid.” As she approached him, his brow didn’t crease and his nose didn’t wrinkle. He had to be really sick, but his color looked good. If he could muster out the day, he would still