Goswin looked a little surprised, perhaps at the idea that Rafe had ever been a boy. “If you get caught…”
“You’ll be out of the way,” Rafe told him. “Now go.”
Goswin ran back to the manor. Rafe waited until darkness fell, then used his knowledge of the manor’s defenses to slip in a small back gate that was rarely used, and never guarded in times of peace. At least not when he used to live there.
Rafe found that not much had changed. The little back gate remained unguarded, and he could move easily around the compound of the manor, avoiding the people who were still out and about—not many, since work was hard to do once the light faded from the sky. He heard voices in the stable as the boys tended to the animals before they headed off to bed. A few men-at-arms crossed the courtyard toward the main gate for night watch, but they didn't even look around, so Rafe was safe in the shadows.
When it was quiet, he slipped into the manor house itself. Here, more people came and went, but he knew the way and how to avoid being seen.
When he stood in front of the door Goswin claimed was Angelet’s, he paused. What if the boy was wrong? Or what if she was moved? There was no sound at all.
He eased the door open just enough to get through. “Angelet?”
“Who is it?” Angelet asked from the bed, past the curtains that would enclose the bed during cold nights.
“Lower your voice,” Rafe said quietly as he closed the door.
“Rafe?” Her eyes widened, taking him in. “What are you doing here?” She flung off the covers, preparing to slide out of the bed. Then a look of pain crossed her features. “Oh, no.”
“Don’t dare get up.” He had her in his arms a moment later.
She clung to him, and he heaved a breath of relief. Until she actually touched him, Rafe hadn’t quite believed she was going to be well.
“Rafe, I thought you couldn’t be here!” Angelet pulled herself out of the embrace and put her hands on his shoulders, gazing at him in wonder. “How did you get in?”
“Goswin told me where you were.” He looked her over, keeping his touch light when he passed over her bandaged chest. The memory of seeing her wounded cut through him once again, triggering a visceral response, as if he needed to go into battle. He deliberately took a long breath to relax. He said, “How are you? Recovering?”
“Lady Cecily is a very good healer,” Angelet responded, still surveying him in the dim light of the candle by her bed.
“That’s why I brought you here.”
“How do you know these people? Why all this secrecy?”
“It’s a long story, Angelet, and you’ve got enough on your mind.”
“Rafe, you’re on my mind. I didn’t know where you were, and I worried that something happened to you. You’re sleeping outside,” she added, running her fingers through his hair.
“I’m used to that.”
“While I’m cared for like royalty. It’s not fair.”
“You deserve the care. I don’t.”
Angelet’s brow wrinkled. “Why do you say that? Tell me what’s—” She broke off at a sound in the corridor. “Someone is coming, Rafe. You have to go. Or stay out of sight.”
He could hide. The room was large, and nearly all in shadow. But suddenly Rafe was sick of hiding. And the idea of walking away from Angelet a moment after he’d just rejoined her made him furious.
“No.” He remained exactly where he was, and kept her hand in his. “I’m done sneaking off into the night.”
“But you said…”
“Never mind what I said. I’m not leaving you.” Rafe leaned over and kissed her to make his point.
“Isn’t it dangerous for you?” she asked.
“I kill men for pay, Angelet. I’ll decide what’s dangerous.”
The sound of footsteps came closer. Both Rafe and Angelet faced the door, and both saw when Cecily entered.
Her warm smile for her patient froze, then faded. She stared at Rafe in pure shock. “Oh, my God,” Cecily whispered.
Angelet said quickly, “Don’t be alarmed. Sir Rafe is the knight who brought me here. I owe him my life.”
Cecily took one step forward, then stopped, as if uncertain what was happening. “Rafe,” she said.
Seeing her up close after two years, looking so different and yet still the young woman he remembered, Rafe actually smiled. “Hello, my lady. I suppose you’ll run for your husband in a moment. You should—Alric’s been looking for me long enough.”
Chapter 24
It didn’t take long to summon Alric. The man had once been a simple knight like Rafe, but he was now married to Cecily de Vere, an heiress and the daughter of a proud family. The changes in his appearance were subtle, but evident to Rafe, who once knew him very well. His clothing was finer quality, and that belt and the leather shoes cost more than Alric ever would have spent when he was a knight. Still, he was Alric. The brown hair held a little grey now, and he probably slacked off his military training since becoming lord-in-waiting here at Cleobury. But he was just as tall, and just as insufferably straight-laced in outlook.
When Alric entered the room, he immediately crossed the floor to join Cecily, putting one arm around her shoulders in a gesture that said louder than words that he’d protect her against any threat…and that the presence of Rafe implied considerable threat.
The couple spoke to each other, just a few low-voiced words Rafe couldn’t hear. Next to him, Angelet gripped his hand.
“Do you know him?” she murmured.
“Like a brother,” Rafe said wryly.
Then Alric faced Rafe. He’d been forewarned, of course, but even so his expression was admirably steady. “I knew I’d see you again someday, but I didn’t picture it like this.”
Rafe actually laughed. “You mean where I come to you on my own two feet, unbound and unshackled? You have sent people after me to drag me back. Admit it.”
Alric and Cecily exchanged glances, and she said, “I think you should tell him.”
“Tell me what?” Rafe asked.
“Come with me,” Alric said. It wasn’t a request.
Rafe gave Angelet a careless smile. “Back in a moment.”
“Make me no promises,” she said, looking doubtful.
Rafe had his own doubts, but he followed Alric until they reached another room on the same floor, this one much smaller than the room Angelet was using.
Alric closed the door, then looked Rafe over for a long time. At the end of the inspection, he just shook his head. “I will admit, I did not foresee this.” His tone was resigned, amused…and deeply, painfully familiar. Rafe never felt more homesick than right at that moment. But Cleobury was not his home anymore.
“Believe me,” he said, “it wasn’t by design. I tried to avoid this whole shire. But you guessed that, since your people tracked me elsewhere.”
“No. Not my people,” Alric said instantly. “True, I wasn’t happy that you ran away. But your life is your own.”
“Don’t play me for a fool. There have been men following me for years. I noticed the first signs only a few months after I left.”
“I didn’t say that you weren’t being followed,” Alric said, “just that it wasn’t me who sent them.”
“Who, then?”
“Lord Rainald is keen to speak to you.”
Rafe closed his eyes. Even if Alric forgave Rafe for his transgressions, it sounded as though Rainald de Vere had not. “What’s his plan for me? Why haven’t you dragged me to his feet already?”
“Because he’s not here,” Alric said. “He’s gone to a meeting the Lord Halbeck called. Many of the lords in this part of the country went to discuss the progress of the war. It might be many weeks before he returns.”
“Good. We’ll be gone by then.”
Alric snorted. “You’ll go when I let you go. And it won’t be for a while.”
“You don’t understand. It’s the lady who needs to hurry.”
“Ah, yes. Tell me
, who is the lady?”
“Exactly who she says she is. Angelet d’Hiver. Yarborough. She’s the widow of one Hubert Yarborough. He was the son of a Lord Otto, who holds Dryton Manor. Stephen’s man.”
“I don’t know the name, but that means little, since I’m so bound here. What happened?”
“She must have told the story, more or less.”
“I’d like the more. The version she related to Cecily was rather light on detail.”
“I was hired to escort her on a journey,” Rafe said, “along with several other men-at-arms—some locals, and some who served Lord Otto. We were attacked on the road, taken by surprise. I had the opportunity to get her out of the fray and I took it. If we’d stayed, we all would have been slaughtered.”
“Surely she’d be ransomed,” Alric objected.
“I doubt it,” Rafe said. “They meant to kill her that day, and that was confirmed when someone attacked her again several days later. Same weapon, same method. But they hit the second time, and forced me to bring her here.”
Alric was following the story, watching Rafe with narrowed eyes. “Where were you going?”
Rafe paused. He wasn’t sure if Angelet had explained she had a child, and intended to retrieve him. He’d better stick to the more obvious story. “We’d been heading south. She wants me to take her to Wareham, in hopes of getting passage to the Continent. Her own family hails from Anjou.”
“So all this was just professional pride on your part?”
“What else would it be?”
“You rode halfway through the shire to get her to a healer you trusted.”
“Well, I didn’t want her to die.” Rafe swallowed, suddenly very uncomfortable with how Alric was prodding at his motivations. “I’d get a bad reputation if a client died before she got to her destination.”
“That’s the part of your reputation you think will suffer?”
“What’s your point?”
“My point is that you are not treating this woman as an obligation.”
“I am. I was paid to take her to Anjou, and that’s what I’m going to do. She’s offered more money when she gets home. So you can understand my haste to resume the journey.”
“Don’t be too eager. The lady seems to have cheated death this time, but her recovery will take a while, according to Cecily. And then there’s Lord Rainald.”
“What’s he intend to do with me?”
Alric shrugged. “He’s been very secretive about his reasons, and it’s not for me to question him. But he’s not been at all secretive about his eagerness to find you.”
“He blames me for working for Theobald,” Rafe said, referring to one of his many past mistakes. “Serves me right for getting involved in a family matter. Rainald will punish me for that.”
“That’s up to him,” Alric said. “My duty is to keep you here until he returns.”
“So you don’t intend to punish me in the meantime?” Rafe asked.
“No. You showed remorse for what you did in the end, and I don’t think you knew the extent of Theobald’s plans.”
“That’s all too true,” Rafe muttered. No one knew just how far Theobald de Vere had gone to take power from his brother, or just how far he was willing to go to keep that power. However, Theobald’s plans didn’t go as he intended, and now Rainald was once again the head of the de Vere family.
Unfortunately, Rafe had been a willing pawn in Theobald’s game for too long, and the price of losing was steep. Steeper than he’d anticipated. Rafe hadn’t considered how valuable his friendships were until he destroyed them.
“Any word from Luc?” he asked, remembering their other close friend from the early training days.
“He’s well,” Alric said, his expression changing to one of genuine happiness. “I saw him just before Christmastide, in fact.”
“I expect he’s at court. He was always eager to play politics.”
“Less eager than he used to be. His interests are now more domestic.”
“Domestic? Luc? What happened?”
“He married, and is now a father.”
Rafe blinked. “I’d have heard! If Luc of Braecon married, it would have been into one of the great families—the news of that alliance would have been talked of everywhere. Who’d the king pick for him?” Rafe couldn’t believe he missed that news. He made a point of checking for such tidbits whenever he could.
“It’s a long story, in fact. His wife isn’t from one of the families you would guess, but he’s well content. And not too far away, since his new lands are only a few days ride south of Cleobury.”
“Don’t tell him I’m here,” Rafe said. It was bad enough to face Alric. He couldn’t face Luc too.
“No promises.”
Rafe accepted that. Alric didn’t owe him anything.
“You can sleep in the southeast room,” Alric went on. “No more lurking in the woods outside.”
“Well, at least it will be a comfortable imprisonment. Do you want me to surrender my weapons?”
“No,” Alric said. “You’re too intelligent to do something stupid when your client is forced to remain here at Cleobury for her own health.”
“Speaking of which, are we done? I’d like to talk with her.” Rafe began to walk to the door.
Alric stepped into his path. “I don’t think that’s necessary. After all, she doesn’t mean anything to you. And now that she is at Cleobury, we’re all responsible for protecting her, not just physically, but her reputation as well. Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, would we?”
Rafe rolled his eyes. He’d be damned before he admitted the truth of what happened between him and Angelet. Let Alric guess if he wanted to. Rafe didn’t have to make it easy for him. He said, “I don’t need to see her. It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.” The words came out easily enough, but for some reason Alric just looked more annoyed than before.
“Maybe you haven’t changed at all,” he said.
“Don’t tell me about myself,” Rafe warned. “You don’t know me.”
“Of course I do,” Alric retorted. “We grew up together, we fought together, and we fought against each other. And when you had the whole country to choose from, you came here for shelter. Goodnight, Rafe. Welcome back to Cleobury.”
* * * *
Rafe spent his night dead asleep. He expected to be restless, disturbed by the return to his old home and anxious for the health of Angelet. But after days of sleeping outside and the whole time running from whoever was after him and Angelet on the road, Rafe couldn’t resist the appeal of a clean mattress and the soft linens of a real house. Everything about the manor spoke of comfort, and Rafe woke up feeling amazingly refreshed and even somewhat optimistic.
The good feelings didn’t last long, of course. Everywhere he went, he felt the eyes of the residents on him, and knew they were talking about him. Exchanging old gossip and new guesses about his plans. He could sense their interest, much as he could sense when someone on a battlefield was getting ready to go for him in particular.
His reaction, predictably, was to tense up, to prepare to fight, even though there was no actual attack coming. Still, it reminded him of what he should be doing.
As he left the manor house with his weapons and gear, he encountered Alric.
“Not running away, I hope,” Alric said by way of a greeting.
Rafe said, “I’m going to the practice fields.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to practice.” Not everyone married the heiress of a manor. Alric might be able to forget about his training, but Rafe still had to make a living.
“Want company?” Alric asked.
Rafe stared at him, incredulous. How the hell did Alric expect him to respond to that? Finally, he said, “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
Alric gave a shrug. “Another time, then. Good luck.”
So Rafe practiced. Alone. Goswin did show up later in the morning, and Rafe was able
to show the boy some of the rudiments of what a page or a squire did before and after a fight. Perhaps Rafe could persuade Alric to keep the boy at Cleobury. Goswin showed no inclination to return to Ashthorpe, despite Rafe’s prodding.
“Why should I?” Goswin had said. “One town is the same as another. By the time I got back there, everyone will have forgot who I am.”
“You need a trade,” Rafe told him. “Something to keep you fed.”
“Then I’ll be a soldier, like you. When did you start your training?”
“Eleven or twelve, I think. But it took years. The war will be over when you’re old enough to join an army.”
“The war will never be over,” Goswin grumbled. “The king and empress will fight until they’ve got no soldiers left. Is that why you left your lord’s service?” he asked.
“No. I had other reasons, none of which matter to you.” He then changed the subject, keeping Goswin busy answering detailed questions about the care of arms and armor.
Afterward, he tried to visit Angelet. At the door of her chamber, he saw a woman he knew.
“Agnes!” Rafe gave the older woman a smile. She’d been Lady Cecily’s nurse for years. “Did you miss me?”
“Not a whit,” the woman replied, though she still accepted a peck on the cheek. “I’ve got my hands full with all the young people running about this place. No sense, some of these maids. What’s the world coming to?”
“You’ll keep order as you always have,” Rafe assured her. “May I see Angelet?”
“She’s sleeping. My lady has given very strict orders that she’s not to be disturbed. By anyone,” she added before Rafe could wheedle an exception from her.
“Just a peek? To see that she’s well.”
“No. The woman needs rest, not to be leered at.”
“I don’t leer,” he objected.
“Ha! As if I’d forget the sort of rogue you are. Get on your way, sir knight, or face my wrath.” The old nurse crossed her arms.
“I’m going, I’m going,” he promised. “You will tell her I tried, won’t you?”
Agnes chortled. “No promises. I’m not your messenger. Now get on with you.”He left, wondering if Cecily gave orders regarding him specifically. Very probably. How irritating, to be so close to Angelet and still not be able to even speak to her.
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