"Hah. The only thing that has reason to fear Sugarplum is a marshmallow. She's only a baby, and Ligur hasn't got the first clue how to train her--not that he could by this time." Ellie smirked, having been party to subverting the Duke's efforts in that direction for some time now. "She's spoiled rotten. Everybody from the Manor staff to the Severer has been feeding her and playing with her. She's not in the pool anymore; he moved her to a tank in the cellar, poor thing, but he was foolish enough to let me have a spare key. She doesn't lack for bad good influences.

"And if you do anything with that information that gets Sugarplum hurt," she added severely, "or if it gets back to Ligur that I told you any of this, I will never speak to you again."