Alexander put his dagger away, leaning against the stall for support. “She always carries that dagger with her,” he muttered. “Where is she?”
Sean gestured in the direction of the inn. “In The Cock and Bull,” he said. “As I said, she’s very well. And she and I have had a discussion that I must have with you. In fact, I was just going out to find you now. I knew you would be in pursuit and I suspect de Lohr is, too.”
“I am sure he is,” Alexander agreed. “But I left before he did. He cannot be too far behind.”
“Then you are going to have to tell him what I am about to tell you,” Sean said, “because I have over one hundred of the king’s soldiers with me and every one of them is a witness to my behavior, so I cannot linger or delay. I must get Christin to Bishop’s Lynn as quickly as possible.”
Alexander sighed heavily. “Then you are going to take her,” he said. “I will not let you. You know that.”
Sean put up a hand. “Listen to what I am going to tell you and you can decide if this plan will work. I believe it will. But you will have to be brave, Sherry. Brave as you’ve never been in your life.”
“I already do not like this.”
Sean went over to the stall where Alexander was leaning. He, too, leaned against the wall next to him, keeping his voice low.
“Christin is a trained agent,” he said quietly. “She is trained to kill, among other things. Sherry, the king is not the center of this issue – FitzRoy is. I can give Christin over to you now and you can run with her, but that will not stop John from seeking a wife for FitzRoy. If he loses Christin, she has a sister. Three of them, in fact. If John wants FitzRoy to be married to a de Lohr daughter badly enough, he will do everything in his power to make it happen.”
Alexander knew that. “Brielle is a year younger than Christin, I believe, but Rebecca is very young. Eight or nine years, I think.”
“That will not matter to John. He will abduct an eight-year-old girl and marry her to his son.”
Alexander sighed heavily. “Then what do you suggest?”
“Eliminate FitzRoy and the problem is over.”
Alexander looked at him. “Kill the man?”
“Aye, but Christin will have to do it. She will be the only one able to get close enough to him.”
Alexander stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. “She is capable.”
“Aye, she is. Let her kill FitzRoy and send the body back to de Lohr to do with it as he pleases.”
Alexander fell silent, pondering the plan. It was actually quite feasible and made a good deal of sense, only he didn’t like putting Christin in such danger. She was going to have to get close enough to the man to kill him, which meant she would have to be close, indeed.
Nay, he didn’t like that in the least.
“And what if she fails?” he finally asked. “I am not saying that it will not work, or that it is not a good plan, because it is. Eliminating FitzRoy would solve the entire issue. But she may need help, Sean.”
“What do you suggest?”
Alexander was forming his own plan at the moment. “If I know de Lohr, he is not far behind,” he said. “He probably has his entire army with him, and David’s, too. If you can delay the journey enough for de Lohr to catch up, he can engage John’s soldiers while you continue on to Bishop’s Lynn with Christin.”
“Alone?”
“Nay,” Alexander said, his dark eyes glimmering. “With me posing as a royal knight. With both of us at Bishop’s Lynn, and any witnesses to our actions tied up with de Lohr’s army, we can make short work of FitzRoy and no one will know you were in on it.”
Sean lifted an eyebrow. “John will know I delivered Christin to Bishop’s Lynn.”
“But he will not know you were part of the man’s death,” Alexander said. “De Lohr can claim responsibility for it, as I’m sure he would like to. You can simply tell John that it happened after you left.”
It seemed sound enough. As they sat there and mulled over what was to come, they caught sight of two very big bodies entering the livery from the rear. Ducking low, they watched, coiled and prepared to strike, until they realized that one of the men was Bric.
Alexander was on his feet.
“Bric?” he hissed. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
Along with Bric, Kevin came into the light, both of them heading straight to Alexander and Sean. But as they did so, they unsheathed their swords, thinking that Alexander might need help against Sean. Not knowing what was happening, they had little choice.
“We followed you,” Bric said, looking between Alexander and Sean and realizing that Alexander wasn’t armed. “Sherry, what is happening here?”
Alexander put up a hand. “You can sheathe the sword,” he said. “There is no trouble. In fact, we were just discussing a plan to end this situation once and for all.”
Bric stared at him for a moment before emitting a heavy sigh, both relieved and confused, as he put his sword back into the leather scabbard at his side.
“Thank God,” he said. “I thought I was going to have to do battle with the Lord of the Shadows and it was something I was not looking forward to.”
“You and me both.”
“Where’s the lady?”
“In the inn across the way,” Sean answered the question. “Who else is here with you?”
Bric turned to the front entry of the livery, straining to see in the darkness. “Cai, Maxton, and Kress,” he said. “We all followed, thinking it would be a titanic battle between you and Sherry. The others are scouting the royal soldiers across the way, looking for the lady and for you.”
“Go and retrieve them,” Sean said. “We do not want the royal soldiers to see them.”
Bric eyed Alexander, looking for approval considering this was a very odd situation. When Alexander nodded faintly, Bric took off and headed out in the darkness, leaving Kevin standing there alone.
Kevin’s gaze was on his brother.
“You’ve created a mess, Sean,” he said. “You cannot imagine all of the men now riding to stop you.”
Sean simply looked at him, casting Alexander a long look before turning away. After his conversation with his brother in the garden of Norwich, he wasn’t apt to give the man any more of his time.
He was finished.
Alexander, however, wasn’t finished and he resented Kevin for speaking on something which wasn’t his right to comment on. He was a follower, not a leader, and Alexander suspected he’d said it simply to dig at his brother.
“Your brother has probably saved Christin’s life,” he said. “He is here to help, not to turn against us.”
Kevin was looking at Alexander but he could see Sean moving away in his periphery. “But he took her from Norwich,” he said. “We all had to go running after him, and you. Why did he take her?”
“Have you not been told?”
“Only that the king wants to marry her to his bastard son.”
“He does. And when Bric and the others get here, we will tell you of Sean’s plan to ensure this situation ends once and for all.”
Kevin’s gaze lingered on him a moment before glancing at Sean, who was over by the livery entry, watching for the other knights to return.