“Then he has to have begun to see that he is being hunted. That is probably why he left his friends with no word of where he was going or why. He suddenly figured out what was happening with your aunt and ran.”
“From your mouth to God’s ears. He is, after all, the one she really needs to be rid of.”
“She needs to be rid of everyone who has had a hand in this. When she hands her idiot husband the barony, she has to be certain there is no one left who knows what she has done or who could even guess what she has done. Anyone she has chased and anyone who has worked with her. There will be a cleansing done when she has rid her world of you and Simeon.”
Primrose shuddered. “She truly has shrugged off any reins that held her back.”
“She has and that makes her a very dangerous woman.”
“Are you certain you wish to bring such a woman anywhere near your family?”
“They will be fine. I suspect a few already know we are coming, maybe even why.”
“Maybe one of them can tell us whether or not Simeon is still alive.”
He reached across the space between them and patted the hand she had clenched so tightly on the reins. “There may be one there who can do just that. Trust me, there will be some help they can give us and they will do so freely.”
Simeon cursed silently as he pressed himself deep into the shadows near the far end of the alley. This time he had gotten the warning too late. He was not sure how he could get away without being seen. His aunt had her men everywhere and he could not let the woman get her hands on him again. Brief though it had been, those few moments in her company had been hell.
The sound of a door opening just to his right startled him and he warily looked at the young woman’s face as she peered out and found him. He was tensed for her to cry out a warning when she held one finger up to her lips and silently told him not to make a sound. Then she signaled him to come inside. She was a pretty little thing with her thick black hair and crystal blue eyes but he did not think she was offering him any more than a handy shelter.
He slipped in and started to speak but she clasped a hand over his mouth. “Follow me,” she whispered so softly he had to strain his ears to hear her.
There was no reasonable other choice for him so he followed her. She led him down a dark hallway to some stairs. Once in the cellar, she moved to a heavy set of shelves holding a lot of wine. She started to pull on it and he hurried over to help her, although it moved very smoothly after the first resistance. Behind it was a stone cave or cell. There was a small bed and table and he noticed someone had added a washing-up table with a jug and bowl as well as a chamber pot. A tray of food and drink was set on a table with one chair pulled up to it.
“What is this place?” he asked.
“It used to be a priest hole. Now it can hide you from the one looking to kill you, m’lord.”
“How do you know someone wants to kill me?”
“I saw it. I am a Wherlocke, you know.”
He was not sure what he was supposed to glean from that so he just nodded. She studied him as if waiting for some reaction to her name and then looked amused. Simeon was not accustomed to women being amused by him but tried not to feel insulted.
“A country lad, are you?” she asked as she walked into the cell and uncovered the plate of food. “No real dealings with the city or society?”
“Not much, no. A bit when I went to Oxford but, otherwise, I was learning to be the baron. I left Oxford after a year for they said I had outpaced them and there was no need for me to do any more than return for each exam. I did.” He shrugged.
“Aye. I saw that you were a smart lad. But she wants you dead. She wants that clever mind of yours destroyed and gone forever. Seems whatever power lets me see what I do does not like that waste.”
“Are you a seer?” he asked.
“A seer?” She laughed and then nodded. “I like that word. A seer. Aye, I see things. All manner of things whether I wish to or nay. Did you think I made a habit of opening doors to strangers, or even wonder how I knew you were hiding there right then and needed to get out of there and hide?”
“It did seem a suspicious coincidence but I was rather out of choices.”
“I do not work for that evil crone chasing you and your sister. She is all dark, not one spark of the light in her. And those men she keeps hiring are not all that much better.” She frowned. “There is one whose only tether to her is fear but not for himself, for others.” She shook her head. “Not that you can do anything about it.” She lit a lamp sitting in the middle of the table. “Now, I have brought some salve for your bruises.”
“I do not have many.”