Josh moved away from those sinful fingers and climbed up onto the arm of the chair to scold the human: “Be careful where you touch! There are some things that should only be done between a man and his wife. No one wants to marry someone who’s been touched before! How would I explain that?”

Kit’s eyebrow twitched as the duke laughed. “It sounds like the little one is telling you quite a story, son. It’s too bad we can’t understand cat. He might take us straight to his abuser.”

Josh twitched his whiskers and climbed up onto the back of the chair. Kit had to hold his butt once so he didn’t slide backwards, but Josh pretended it hadn’t happened. He also pretended that one hand wasn’t big enough to fit his whole body. Che. Stupid, big, feel-good hands.

“There’s no proof he was abused, is there?” Kit asked.

“It’s a logical conclusion,” Professor Thomas said.

“Logical, yes, but we don’t have actual proof of anything. The only facts we have are that he was injured at various points throughout the past several months, he was wearing an invisibility collar, and he has a small amount of mana.”

“Since it’s not much to go on we’ll have to draw a few conclusions ourselves,” Rosemary said, once again distracted by the copy-cat. “It’s the only hope we have of finding who created the collar.”

“We can trace the mana on the collar itself,” Kit said. “No one in the manor has that skill, but the Imperial Knights do. And they’d know if this was a permitted use or a black market item.”

“Do we really want the Imperial Knights investigating our family’s knights?” the Duke asked with a scowl. “I’d rather not have that dark cloud over us.”

“You’re the one who said we had to call them,” Kit pointed out.

“That was before we suspected one of our own!”

“The gargoyle caught him, right?” Professor Thomas asked.

Kit nodded. “Yeah, trapped the collar in a claw.”

“The magic on the statues is protective magic designed to capture indirect threats and eliminate direct attacks. So any statue in the manor should have trapped a being attempting to spy, sneak, or steal from the premises. That would indicate he hasn’t been inside the building long.”

“Perhaps a rescue?” the duke tried. “I could see one of our knights bringing home a helpless kitten. How else would it get inside the wards?”

“On accident?” Kit suggested. “There is magic on his shoulder. Perhaps he stowed away in some of the gear or a carriage. One of the knights might have placed a bit of mana on him so they could find the little guy again. Not everyone can cancel this kind of magic.”

The duke held up the collar, and the circle of fabric almost disappeared for a moment in his hands before fading back into sight. Josh rubbed at his nose and sneezed. He wasn’t sure why, but that magic felt a bit itchy just then! “I’ll need to report the collar to the Imperial Knights. The cat seems to be just be a cat. I doubt they’ll have much interest. The collar, on the other hand…”

“They’ll investigate that on their own for a month trying to track down the black market,” Kit huffed, “and won’t bother to tell us a damn thing.”

Josh yawned. “They won’t find him anyway,” the little kitten mewed. “It wasn’t meant to last that long. By the time they get to it the magic will be gone.”

Kit reached up behind him and lifted Josh off the back of the couch. “Don’t climb up there just to meow in my ear,” Kit scolded before turning his attention back to his father. “Could I speak to the Imperial Knights when they get here? I reported an oddity about the last raid and haven’t heard about an investigation.”

“Of course, of course,” the duke said with an indulgent smile. He put the collar in his pocket and pulled himself up from the couch. A knight was quick to bring his cane over. “They’re usually quick on the rebellions. It was probably just a minor abnormality. You’ll be here for the next week, right? That should give some time for the cat’s owner to come forward so we can determine where this collar came from.” With a grin, the Duke reached down with his free hand to scratch Josh’s ears.

“No touching!” Josh hissed as he huddled closer to Kit’s body and arched his back, pressing his side into Kit’s jacket so hard he could feel the buttons digging into his ribs. “Touching needs permission!”

“Oh my!” the vet exclaimed, finally distracted from the copy-cat and Professor Thomas’ notes. “Your Grace, are you all right?”

“Yes, yes, I’m quite fine. I must have startled him. Maybe under the chin?” the duke asked.

Josh wrestled his cat instincts under control and let the Duke rub his chin and belly. “Careful not to touch anything delicate,” Josh warned. He wasn’t quite sure why the Duke’s hand had seemed so threatening when Kit - who should be more of a threat - didn’t spark any feelings of alarm.

“I did notice a nasty cut on his ear,” Rosemary said. “I made a note in the report I’m making. Its close to his skull, and nearly healed. It could be from a claw or some sort of spur. I usually treat dogs more than cats, but dogs can remember traumatic injuries. It could be something similar.”

Josh huffed out a laugh. “Pfft! That little thing came from a rosebush. I won! So don’t get any funny ideas.”

“I’m afraid we can’t get into his mind to truly understand,” the Duke said, “so we’ll simply have to accept it as a quirk and note to be careful around the ears. Onto more practical matters: we will need to find someone to care for him until the owner steps forward.”

“Oh, I can do that,” Kit said. “With the collar removed he should be easy enough to look after.”

“What!” Josh yelped. “Look, I know I promised to be your pet and be good, but you don’t have to go that far. I can look after myself!” Sticking close to Kit was different from living with him. Josh didn’t want to die!

“Little kittens are good at finding escape holes,” Rosemary warned. “It’s not as easy as just feeding him.”

“He has injuries too, and those will need treatment,” Kit agreed. “I know. I can stick a tracking spell on him just in case.”

Sob! “Don’t I get a say in this!” Josh cried. A tracking spell was way too much!

“It’s decided,” the Duke grinned. “Kit will take in the cat, and so long as we are investigating the matter he won’t volunteer for anymore raids.”

Sob!

Kit massaged Josh’s butt again and ignored the unhappy wail. “That’s a tough bargain, but I understand. The knights need a break.”

“I’ll make up a treatment plan for him,” Rosemary said. “Stop by the kennels tomorrow morning and I’ll have it ready.”

This was really too much!