Caius’ smile faded. “I know,” he said, feeling both guilt and sympathy. “Were it not for you, it would be me known as Lord of the Shadows. The Marshal offered the position to us both but you were the one who volunteered. I know it was to spare me the horrors of it, Sean. I’ve always known.”
Sean sighed faintly. “It does not matter now,” he said. “It is my task and has been for years. But know that, physically, I am well. I have more money than I know what to do with, courtesy of the king, and he speaks of giving me a lordship, although that has not happened yet. I will emerge from this rich, if nothing else.”
Caius grunted. “It is small compensation for serving the bastard.”
“Agreed.”
“I told Kevin what happened, you know,” Caius said. “I told him that I had an equal chance of becoming the Lord of the Shadows but that you volunteered before I could make my decision. It did not seem to matter to your brother at all. He is still quite angry at you.”
Sean’s mood darkened. “I know,” he said. “I tried to speak with him yesterday but he does not want to see reason. He does not want to understand why I did what I did. He sees the hurt I have caused and that is all he sees.”
Caius lifted his eyebrows in resignation. “He is a little brother who’s much-adored big brother has turned to the wicked side of politics, for all the world to see,” he said. “Kevin must grow up, Sean. When he does, he will understand.”
“Possibly,” Sean said. “But I do not hold out hope. And I have little time, so I do not wish to waste it speaking of Kevin. There is a situation you must relay to The Marshal immediately. More than that, you must relay it to Christopher de Lohr.”
“What about?”
“John informed me yesterday that he wants Christin de Lohr to marry his son, Robert FitzRoy,” he said. “Because of this, a plan was put into action last night in that Christin behaved horribly at supper to discourage the king from having any ambitions on her. She did a magnificent job of presenting a wretched, ill-behaved woman, but it did not deter John. He and Gerard d’Athee have concocted a scheme to abduct Christin from Norwich and take her north to FitzRoy to be married.”
Caius’ brow was furrowed with concern. “When?”
“Today.”
“What’s the plan?”
“To remove her from the postern gate and take her to the farm fields below. Less resistance than passing through four gatehouses if they take her from the keep.”
Caius exhaled sharply. “Christ,” he muttered. “Where is Christin?”
Sean shook his head. “I do not know,” he said. “I would assume in her chamber, which is in the apartment block to the east of this chapel, but I just saw Sherry heading down to the lower baileys.”
“What does Sherry have to do with Christin?”
“They are lovers.”
Caius’ eyebrows lifted in surprise. “They are? I’d not heard.”
“I believe they have been trying to keep quiet on the matter,” Sean said. “In any case, she is not with Sherry, but I shall try to locate her. Hopefully, she is in her chamber behind a locked door.”
“If they are lovers, then Sherry will want to know about this, too.”
“Indeed. And you must tell him after you tell The Marshal and Christopher.”
Caius nodded, already moving for the door. “What will you do when you find Christin?”
Sean was right behind him. “Hide her,” he said. “John cannot abduct what he cannot find, and it will give de Lohr a chance to get her out of Norwich.”
Just as they reached the door, they both heard screaming.
He’d told her to wait in her chamber, but restless, she couldn’t seem to do it.
Dressed in a dark blue wool traveling dress with a matching cloak and her dark hair braided, Christin wanted to leave immediately. Her bag was packed just a few minutes after Alexander had left her to go down to the stables. He’d told her to wait for him, but she was confident that it would be an easy walk to the stables to meet him there. There were gangs of men around, all going about their business, shielding her in case royal eyes happened to be watching.
Certainly, nothing could happen with a crowd all around.
She saw no reason to wait.
Impatience got the better of her. So did nerves. She was afraid to stay in her chamber, knowing that was the obvious place to look should the king’s men come on the hunt. Somehow, she felt more vulnerable in her chamber. Or perhaps she felt vulnerable because she was without Alexander. When she was with him, she felt safe.
It wasn’t the brightest decision to leave her chamber, but she did.
She wanted to find Alexander.
The encounter with him that afternoon had done something to her. She’d always been singularly focused, strangely so, on her tasks for William Marshal. As she’d told Alexander on more than one occasion, it made her feel as if she were part of something. As if she were making a difference as few women could claim, and that was still very true, but now… now, all she could seem to focus on was Alexander.
She could see their children, strong sons with de Lohr and de Sherrington blood, lads that would grow up to be great knights and tributes to both their father and grandsire. For the first time in her life, she was thinking of marriage and children, not of missions for William Marshal.
She was thinking of love.
It was like a dream, all of it.
Just as she was coming off the stairs, the entry door opened and Wynter stepped through. She looked at Christin in surprise.
“There you are,” she said. “Where have you been? Lady de Winter has been asking about you.”
Christin’s cheeks threatened to turn bright red then and there, but she fought it. “I… my father is here,” she said, walking that fine line between a lie and the truth. “I have not seen him in some time, you know.”
The implication was that she’d been with her father and Wynter believed her. She had no reason not to.
“I know,” Wynter said. “I would like to greet him, also. How is he faring these days?”
“Fine. My Uncle David is here also.”
“Lovely,” Wynter said, smiling. But her smile quickly faded. “Did you tell your father what happened last night? With the king, I mean?”
Christin shook her head. “Nay,” she said truthfully. “It will greatly upset him. You know that he and John have never had a good relationship and I fear upsetting the entire celebration if I tell my father that the king invited me to sup.”
“But you were brilliant in the way you handled him,” Wynter insisted. “You can tell your father what you did to discourage the king and he should have a good laugh over it.”
Christin grinned. “We were brilliant, weren’t we?” she said. “You were astonishingly smart, Wynnie. For a moment there, I thought we were truly fighting.”
Wynter laughed. “Are you sore this morning? My arse hurts a bit where I fell onto the floor.”
Christin giggled, rubbing her bum. “A little,” she said. “But it was worth it. The king fled in disgust and that is exactly what we wanted.”
“True,” Wynter said. Then, she pointed to Christin’s satchel. “Where are you going with that?”