“You are certain of this?”
I nodded. “I searched everywhere and spent three days in the dungeons for breaking into Lord Pitt’s treasury.”
Father exchanged a glance with Eldridge, a look that told me they’d already been aware of my fate. Apparently Lord Pitt had made sure Father was well apprised of my crime and the ensuing punishment. I had no doubt he also knew of my betrothal to Aldric.
He looked me over as he would a prized possession. “Have they defiled you?”
The blunt question knocked into me, both startling and embarrassing me. But I attempted not to show any emotion. “Of course not. I would have strangled any man who tried.”
Father’s lips curled into a tight smile that he shared with Eldridge. “I told you she is too tough to allow it.”
Eldridge’s face remained impassive, his eyes alert. His only response to my father was a nod.
“It is beneficial that you maintained your virtue,” Father addressed me. “Lord Clearwater’s son would never agree to marry you if he learned you were a tainted woman. I would have had to give him Isabelle instead.”
“Isabelle? She is much too young—”
“She’s old enough to do her duty to her family if needed.”
Duty to family? I swallowed the revulsion rising in my throat. Isabelle was only fifteen and was too sweet to be thrust into political intrigue. She wasn’t ready for marriage to a man like Lionel Lacy and probably never would be. She needed someone tender and compassionate who would treat her like the treasure she was. A man too hard would crush her.
“As it is, Clearwater’s son prefers you,” Father continued. “We shall move forward with the betrothal arrangements as soon as possible—”
“But I am bound to Sir Aldric.” After spending the last few weeks with Aldric, I could no longer imagine myself with anyone else. I wasn’t so foolish to believe Father would agree to honor my betrothal to Aldric. Yet I was suddenly desperate to find a way to stay with him. “I took vows in front of witnesses.”
“You cannot be bound to someone who is dead.” Father flicked a disdainful glance at Aldric, but then returned his gaze, this time with narrowed eyes.
“We should be on our way, my lord,” Cecil said, looking in the direction that the rest of the hunting party had disappeared. “Sir Aldric’s men will return before long.”
“He’s not dead.” Father turned hard eyes upon Cecil. “When you asked to come along, you assured me you could take out Lord Pitt’s commander with one blow.”
“And I did take him out.” Cecil’s black eyes didn’t waver. He knew how to handle my father better than I.
At the rasp of steel and the glint of Eldridge’s dagger, the coldness that had been flowing through my blood pooled around my heart.
I met Cecil’s gaze and saw the apology there. He’d attempted to save Aldric, had warned me, had tried to pull me away. But I hadn’t heeded him. Now Aldric’s death would be my fault. If only I hadn’t argued with Aldric and stalked away like a pouting child. If I’d stayed in the saddle with him, my father may have ambushed us, but at least we would have had a chance to fight back together.
The direction of my thoughts took me by surprise, but I had no time to analyze them.
Eldridge slid from his mount. “I’ll finish him off, my lord.”
Father nodded. “Make it quick.”
I was still holding Aldric’s sword, and my fingers tightened around the hilt. I couldn’t stand back and allow Eldridge to slice open Aldric’s throat.
As Eldridge stalked over to Aldric, I stepped in his path. “You cannot kill him.”
Eldridge’s expression was one of almost boredom. He began to step around me, but I moved with him, blocking his way.
“We need to keep him alive,” I said in my sternest voice.
Eldridge stopped and glanced back at my father, waiting for his cue on how to proceed. I used that moment to bring Aldric’s sword down upon Eldridge’s dagger, driving it from his hand so that it flew and landed several paces to his side.
Father nodded at Eldridge, all the permission the commander needed to bypass me any way he wished. He unsheathed his sword and knocked mine to the ground in a blow that would have broken bones in my hand if I’d not released it as quickly as I did. As it was, I cradled my hand and bit back a cry of pain even as I bent to retrieve the sword, fully intending to plunge it into Eldridge’s back to prevent him from killing Aldric.
“If you kill him,” I said, my voice rising in desperation, “you will lose any chance at finding the Holy Chalice.”
At my declaration, Eldridge turned and regarded me.
“You said Lord Pitt doesn’t have the chalice in his possession.” Father’s tone was deceptively calm, the tone he used when he was growing angry.
“Lord Pitt no longer has it,” I responded. “But Sir Aldric does. Lord Pitt gave him the chalice, and he placed it into hiding for safekeeping.”
“And where is his hiding place?”
“He did not divulge such private information. But he assured me he would allow Charles to take a sip from it.”
Once again, Father studied my expression.
“If Sir Aldric is alive,” I continued, “he can retrieve it and bring it to Charles. I have no doubt he would do so for a good cause. Sir Aldric is a kind man and will not deny us the opportunity to save Charles.”
Father remained silent.
As I stared back at my father, another layer of iciness froze around my heart. He’d never shown me any kindness, I realized with startling clarity. Maybe I’d once believed his decisions had been kind, but after living with a truly noble and selfless man like Sir Aldric, the contrast was too much to ignore.
Perhaps my father cared about our family in a general sense. Perhaps he had our family’s happiness and success at the heart of everything he did. Perhaps he even cared about the fate of his children.
But he wasn’t kind. Not like Aldric.
“Very well. Tie him up.” Father adjusted himself in his saddle, preparing to go. “If he knows the location of the chalice as Olivia claims, he may be of some use to us yet.”
I wanted to sink to the ground in relief, but instead I forced myself to turn and walk away from Aldric. Though I wanted to insist on tending his wound and riding with him, I’d only put him in more danger if Father suspected how much I’d grown to care about the enemy knight.
As we mounted and rode away, Aldric was still unconscious. Tied and gagged behind Cecil, he had no hope of escape, not with the way Eldridge had bound him. Nevertheless, I’d saved his life for now and had bought myself more time to figure out how to arrange for his release.
“What about Izzy?” I asked when Father and Eldridge led us in the direction opposite Tolleymuth. “We cannot leave without her.”
“We do not have time to arrange for her escape this day,” Father said.
I slowed my horse’s gait. Although Lord Pitt was not as foreboding as I’d once believed, he was still a dangerous man when provoked. Upon news reaching him regarding my getaway and Aldric’s capture, he would retaliate. Of that I had no doubt. I suspected he would use Izzy. She would take my place in the game he was playing with my father. And I dreaded the prospect of what he might do to her.
It was one thing for me to agree to a betrothal to Lord Pitt’s commander. But it was another thing entirely for Izzy to be subjected to such scheming.
“I will ride into Tolleymuth alone to get her,” I said. “With the hunting party gone, I shall make up an excuse that I want Izzy to go hunting with me. The household will be none the wiser until later when Sir Aldric does not return.”
My father didn’t slow his horse, but instead slapped the riding whip against the beast’s flank sending it into a gallop.
“Father, please.” I wasn’t above begging where Izzy was concerned. “Please let me go after her.”