Page 34

D awn did arrive and Ali met it open-eyed and exhausted.

If she’d slept, which she doubted she had, it had only been for moments at a time.

She had startled herself awake so many times, she half wondered why she hadn’t just risen and gone to pace.

It would have been much less exhausting.

She supposed, though, that she must have slept some, for she remembered quite vividly waking up several times and seeing Jason always awake watching the darkness.

Mayhap he had slept often enough in the past that he needed no more sleep at present.

Or mayhap he was so calm because it wasn’t his secret about to be shouted from the eaves of the monastery.

Sir Etienne was sleeping peacefully in his place when Ali finally sat up. He snored fit to wake the dead, as if he hadn’t a care in the world and surely hadn’t tossed and turned the night away. What of it he hadn’t been out eavesdropping or combining other mischief, of course.

Ali hovered near Colin throughout the rising and preparing for the day, waiting for Sir Etienne to rise, stretch, and blurt out her secret.

Instead, he didn’t spare her a look.

After breaking her fast, she passed the rest of the morning trampling another bit of a farmer’s field with Colin, learning more defensive strokes.

She did the best she could, partly to avoid earning any of his wrath, partly to receive those almost imperceptible nods he gave her after she’d spent hours perfecting a single movement, and mostly because she wanted to move on to offense.

She certainly couldn’t kill Sir Etienne if the only thing she knew was how to keep him at bay.

What she wanted to know was how to plunge her dagger into his heart.

They gathered back in the guest hall for a midday meal.

Ali watched Colin ignore his sister as she very loudly criticized him.

How was it the woman dared sharpen her tongue so fully and so freely on such an intimidating brother?

A pity Ermengarde couldn’t see to Sir Etienne for her.

Ali suspected he might step back a pace and consider conceding the battle were he but faced with that woman.

Throughout the rest of the day, Ali made certain she was one pace behind either Colin or Jason.

Not only did it give her a small modicum of peace, it also allowed her to continue to convince Colin that Sir Etienne was beneath his attention.

And given the way Sir Etienne seemed to open his mouth and spew forth whatever crossed his mind, that was no small task.

By sunset, she had almost forgotten why she’d been so worried. That and she was past being tired. Training took more effort than she ever would have imagined, and she could scarce wait until she could cast herself down on her pallet and surrender to peaceful oblivion.

The last danger of the day was a final trip to the privy.

She looked about her for companionship, but saw no chance of it.

Colin was arguing with his sister, and Jason was having himself a final nibble before bed.

She couldn’t bring herself to ask either of them to accompany her.

Sir Etienne was laboring under Agnes’s suffocating ministrations anyway, so perhaps he wouldn’t trouble her.

She bolted from the hall and hurried to the privy.

She saw to her needs, then opened the door and stepped back into the night air. The stars were bright and the night moonless. She wondered, briefly, how pleasant it would be to have nothing more to do than to stand there and stare up into the sky, marveling at God’s creations—

She was jerked off her feet and back into the shadows. Before she could scream, she felt cold steel against her neck. She shut her mouth immediately and prayed ’twould be a quick and painless death.

“You cannot seem to control your tongue,” a voice whispered pleasantly in her ear.

Ali swallowed with difficulty, trying not to slit her own throat.

“Perhaps I was unclear,” Sir Etienne continued. “You are to say nothing of me. Not to Artane’s brat, not to Berkhamshire, not to the monks.”

Ali didn’t dare move, and she certainly didn’t dare speak. So she waited, knowing that whatever else he had to say to her, it couldn’t be good.

“One more word to the lad and I’ll kill him.”

“Nay—”

“And then Berkhamshire. Or perhaps,” he said slowly, “I should rather begin with the lady Sybil. First her, then her maids. Then the runt Peter. One soul slain for each word you speak. That seems fair to me.”

“You wouldn’t.” She breathed.

“Wouldn’t I? Mark who doesn’t live to see the dawn—”

“Nay,” she pleaded. “I’ll say nothing else.”

He was silent for a goodly while and Ali began to hope that perhaps he would agree. But that hope was short-lived.

“Another chance,” he said. “Another chance to prove you can be trusted. But watch how I move among these souls who trust me with their lives. Watch and you’ll see how easily I could slip a knife between their ribs and smile in their faces all the while.”

She wanted to tell him what she thought of his disgusting self, but didn’t dare. After all, even she knew it wasn’t wise to insult the man who held a knife to your throat.

“As for what else I want from you,” he said softly, “I’m still thinking. There are so many things.”

The next thing she knew, he had spun her around in his arms, taken her face in his hand and ground his mouth down upon hers.

That was, perhaps, his first mistake.

His breath was so foul, his kiss so disgusting, that she gagged.

He stepped out of the way and flung her down to her knees. He delivered a hearty kick to her side, then strode off, muttering under his breath. Ali didn’t stop to be grateful for that. She concentrated on trying to catch her breath and stop her tears.

It was a goodly while later that she returned to the hall and lay down in her place between Jason and Colin. Colin leaned up on one elbow and looked at her with a frown.

“Do not,” he said quietly, “leave this hall again without me. Understood?”

“But—”

“Understood?”

She closed her eyes briefly. “Aye.”

“I don’t know what he holds over you,” Colin rumbled, “but it cannot be worth what you suffer.”

“Nay, my lord.”

He grunted and lay back. Ali stared up at the ceiling and wondered how a single day and night could be so miserable. It made her wish quite heartily that she had never left Colin’s side for a single moment.

As odd a thought as that was.

She closed her eyes and allowed the tears to trickle down the side of her face unimpeded. She felt Jason’s warm hand close over hers.

And then something quite unthinkable happened. Colin reached out and patted her, rather gently all things considered, on the shoulder before he rolled over and soon began to snore.

It was a very long time before she managed to surrender to sleep.