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This time, no one moved or spoke for what felt like an hour. It was as though none of them could believe what they had heard. Simon found he could only observe tiny details: the crackling of the fire, the snow melting from Lady A
‘What are you saying?’ His voice sounded strange even to his own ears. He cleared his throat. ‘That my brother is alive? I regret that I ca
Lady A
‘Take this, my lord, as a pledge that I tell you the truth.’
Simon looked down. She was holding a ring of gold with the arms of his family cut deep in the metal. It was true that Henry had not been wearing the signet ring when his body was sent back, but Simon had assumed that Malvoisier had added looting the dead to his other sins. Now he was not so sure. Hope and dread warred within him. He found that his hand was shaking so much he dropped the ring on to the table, where it spun away in a glitter of gold, momentarily dazzling him. He heard the guards shuffle with superstitious discomfort. Standish was looking strained, incredulous.
‘Forgive me, my lady, but it is easy to take a ring from a dead man.’ His voice was rough. ‘It proves nothing.’
The tension in the room tightened further.
‘You do not trust me,’ A
Their eyes met. ‘No,’ Simon said. ‘I do not. I trust no one.’ The anger seethed in him. He wanted to believe her; his heart ached to believe her, but that was the very weakness his enemies were trying to exploit. Suddenly his ungovernable rage swelled up. He swept the maps and plans from the table in one violent movement and turned on her.
‘Does Malvoisier take me for a fool to send you here on the night before battle to pretend that my brother is alive? He does it deliberately, in the hope that I will call off the attack! Dead or alive, he seeks to use my brother as a bargaining tool!’
‘General Malvoisier knows nothing of this,’ A
Simon stared at her, as though by searching her face he could read whether she told the truth. Her gaze was steady and unflinching. She looked as candid and honest as she had when she had accepted his proposal that hot summer evening in the gardens at Grafton. But that had been a long time ago and looks could be terribly deceptive.
He made a slight gesture. ‘Why come now? I thought my brother dead these two weeks past. Why wait so long?’
‘It was impossible to arrange safe passage out of Grafton sooner,’ A
Simon knew that was true. He had been studying Grafton’s defences for all the months of the siege and knew there were few weaknesses. The Manor was small, but it was battlemented like a castle and ringed with a moat and low-lying marshy ground. There were snipers on the battlements and the house was garrisoned with a whole regiment of foot soldiers. He also knew that, despite Malvoisier’s reputation for drunke
‘Sir Henry said that you would not believe me, my lord,’ A
Simon heard one of the guards give a guffaw, quickly silenced. It did indeed sound like the sort of comment that Henry would make. He was irreverent and light-hearted even in the face of danger, but his flippancy hid a cool head and quick mind. On the other hand, A
‘If Henry has truly sent you,’ Simon said, ‘I will wager that he gave you some other proof to satisfy me.’
A
‘Apparently there was an occasion on which you lost Henry in the woods when he was a child of eight. He told me that you preferred to dally with the milkmaid than act as nurse to your young brother that day…’
Simon froze. It was true, but he had long forgotten the incident. He had been eighteen and had much preferred to take his pleasure with a willing maid that summer afternoon so long ago. He had left Henry to fend for himself in the woods for a little while and had been mortified on his return to find that his brother had completely vanished. Now that A
He saw Guy Standish’s face split into a broad, incredulous grin before the captain regained control of his expression. This story would be around the barracks before an hour had passed and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He laughed reluctantly and the tension in the room eased.
‘Damn him,’ he said. ‘Henry swore he would never tell anyone about that. I made him promise on a dozen oaths.’
‘Sir Henry swears that he has kept his word until now,’ A
‘They do indeed.’ Simon looked at her. ‘Which is why you are here.’ His tone hardened. ‘You wish to bargain for Grafton’s safety with my brother’s life.’
A
Simon nodded, though he did not answer at once. He had seen for himself just how much the people of Grafton loved their lady—and the devotion she had for them.
He turned back to his men. ‘Layton, Carter, get back to your posts. Guy—’ Standish bowed, the smile still lurking about his mouth ‘—be so good as to fetch a flagon of wine for us. The good stuff…’ Simon gestured towards the table ‘…not this poor excuse for a drink.’ He turned to A
A
Simon moved to bar her exit. His men had gone out into the snow, leaving them alone in the firelit shadows of the barn.