Simeon looked her over. “You look hale and that pleases me.”
“Something I strive to make sure of every day.” She looked at Simeon. “While you men were all here congratulating yourselves, I dealt with the fool in the kitchen. There was a moment where I thought I might get shot but”—she looked at Geoffrey—“your cook swings a frying pan like a true champion. Not sure you will be getting any answers from that one for quite a while, if ever. Think I heard something crack.”
“Are you saying you just walked into the kitchen to face down an armed man? A man quite ready to kill a group of innocents for a madwoman?” Simeon asked, his last word almost a shout.
Lilybet stared at him for a moment and then blinked slowly as she replied, “Aye, I believe that is what happened. And it worked.”
“Lilybet, cease,” Bened ordered quietly, seeing by the expression on Simeon’s face that it was not a good time for her to goad him and certainly not in the way she was doing.
He did not flinch when she stared at him and almost laughed when she finally looked away and moved toward the woman and children to see if they needed anything. It pleased him that neither she nor Bevan said a word about his plans to leave for he wished to tell the others himself. For a moment all he could think of was that day when he had stared down Primrose’s silly little dog and carefully explained to her how he was making himself head of the pack. Bened looked around and decided his pack needed to get back to Willow Hills and lick their wounds, small though those were.
At that moment he knew with utmost certainty, one that had hardened even in the short walk from the kitchen to where he stood now, he could not go back there. He could not see Primrose there in the place that so clearly marked how above his touch she was. It might be cowardly but he also prayed the quick, clean cut would be better for her. He stepped over to Bevan.
“I will be riding out for my lands now,” he said, ignoring the puzzled look on Bevan’s face. “I might stop by at the parents’ if you care to ride with me.”
“But . . .”
“There is no but. I am the son of a farmer, a man who was given his rewards because an idiot’s father gave them to him for taking a bullet for the fool. No history, no great battle, and, I doubt, no fortune to even closely match what she has. Doing this quick and clean.”
“Lilybet is right. You are an idiot.”
“Been thinking it through for several days now. You will see it, too, given time.”
Bevan shook his head. “You are the one who has to see whatever needs to be seen. Go on then. I intend to stick with this right through until the end. There is still that murderess to be rid of.”
“Primrose is here, well guarded, and Augusta is close. I believe Simeon and you and any of the others are capable of catching her or just shooting the bitch as she tries to run away again. Take care. Our mother might be a bit grieved if you got hurt even though we all know I am her favorite.” He smiled as he left, his brother’s arguments to his last statement echoing behind him.
“Where did Bened go?” asked Simeon as they left Courtyard Manor.
“He is headed off to his lands,” replied Bevan.
“Says the battle is near done and we are capable of dealing with it.”
“Men are such idiots,” said Lilybet as she rode up between them. “Thought he might actually have the wit to see more clearly by now, that he was still lurking about after leaving the kitchens because he had regained his senses, but it appears I was wrong.”
“You knew he was going to leave now?” asked Simeon.
“I did.”
“You should have told us.”
“No, because then you may have acted in a way that would change everything and that would be very bad.”
“Why? What happens if someone does act in such a way?”
“I have no idea but something always tells me where one just has to let it roll on by to get to the destination it has to. If I am shown someone losing his life, it is usually because I am supposed to do something. Bened’s being a big dumb male is one of those things where all the feelings that come with seeing what he will do, tell me to stay right out of his way.”
Bevan cursed. “Do not like it but it is best that way. If the fool turns back of his own free will, it will be for the best. And will he? Turn back?”
“He will and will be doing so very soon.”
They had not even reached the door of Willow Hill when the servants arrived and told them of how Augusta had come and taken Primrose. Bevan stared at Lilybet. “Did you not see this coming?”
“Not precisely but I did see Bened coming back this way and facing that evil witch Augusta. Just not why he would be doing so. Also thought I saw Primrose trying to come out a door at the side of the house, the one leading from the garden to her little workshop, but it was too quick a look to be sure and I was being nudged to Courtyard Manor.”
“Gifts such as yours can be bloody frustrating.”