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B ronwyn hissed and stepped back. “Alice. What in the world were you thinking?”

“I didn’t take it, you dolt. I found it here.”

“You mean…”

“Someone took the empress’s blooming crown and put it amongst my things. They planted it here, no doubt to try to make it appear as though I had stolen it. But I didn’t.”

Bronwyn thought quickly. “We have to get rid of it.”

“Well, obviously.” Lady Alice’s voice was short, clipped, and laden with sarcasm.

Bronwyn gave Lady Alice a level look and put her hand on her hips.

“Sorry. I’m very anxious about this. I need your help. What are we going to do?” Lady Alice bit at her nails.

“‘We’?”

“It’s no longer my problem, it’s ours . You’re essentially my maid. If I am found out, or if anyone finds us with it, we’ll hang together.”

Bronwyn inhaled through her nose and let out a breath. She hadn’t been Lady Alice’s maid since they’d been together at Lincoln. “Right.” She covered up the crown quickly. “Tell me what you were doing and how you found it.”

Lady Alice d tapped her nose with a dainty index finger.

“I was at dinner with the empress and the other ladies, and then we stepped away for some dancing. Rupert was there,” she said, recalling with a fond smile.

“He complimented my hair, and… Never mind. I went to use the privy, and when I came back here to fetch a shawl, I found it.”

“How did you know to look under your pillow?”

“I don’t know. I just thought something was wrong. I knew as soon as I came in that someone had been here.”

“How?”

Lady Alice tilted her head, her nose slightly in the air. “When I am without a maid to look after my person, I… often clean and make up my own bedding. I fold the blanket and plump up the pillow so it’s nice and tidy. It doesn’t do to be messy and unruly. It’s the height of uncleanliness.”

“So you came in and found your bedding disturbed.”

“Yes, that’s it exactly. I saw my pillow had been moved, so when I went to straighten it, I found that .” Lady Alice seemed not to even want to say the word.

“Hmm.”

“What are we to do? Rupert will be wondering where I am,” Lady Alice said.

“Did you see anyone else leave the dining area?”

“No. But I wasn’t paying attention. I mean, aside from the usual.”

“What do you mean?” Bronwyn asked.

“Well, only that when Lady Morwenna goes to the privy, then Lady Susanna will go too, as Lady Susanna doesn’t like to go alone.

But then Lady Morwenna told her no , she’d had enough of her constant company and said she wanted to be alone.

She used some very rude words and Lady Susanna was a bit shocked and hurt, I dare say, so she let Lady Morwenna go.

You should talk to Lady Susanna and see if she saw anything. ”

“Can she be trusted?”

“Hmm, I’d say so. She’s kind enough, even if she does like to natter on. I have to go. We must hide this. I cannot go to sleep knowing that thing is amongst my bedsheets. It’s a death sentence.” She looked at Bronwyn. “Can you… take it with you? Hide it somewhere?”

“ Me ?” Bronwyn’s eyes widened.

“Yes. No one would suspect a servant girl. Especially one covered in flour. You smell like bread.”

There was a rustle of noise outside.

Lady Alice tensed, wadded up the crown in one of her dresses, and said loudly, “This dress of mine has a stain on it. Clean it for me. I must look my best before the empress.” She pressed the crown and dress into Bronwyn’s hands. “Go. Now,” she whispered.

The tent flap opened. It was Lady Susanna. “Oh, hello. Are you taking clothes for washing? I have a dress too. Would you mind, terribly?”

Bronwyn shook her head.

“She is my maidservant, Lady Susanna, not yours,” Lady Alice pointed out.

“Oh.” Lady Susanna blushed.

“I don’t mind, Lady Susanna,” Bronwyn said.

“Oh, good. That’s ever so kind of you.” The tent was large enough to hold four makeshift beds and two chests.

Three of the beds hadn’t been made up, with ladies’ clothing strewn around.

Lady Susanna took a shift and dress from one of the unmade beds and handed them to Bronwyn. “You sure you don’t mind?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“So kind. Thank you.” Lady Susanna gave Bronwyn a warm smile.

“I’ll be off, then.” Bronwyn ducked her head, lifted the tent flap, and stepped out into the night.

Her thoughts scattered like leaves. She now had in her possession Empress Maud’s very crown. A gold crown. People had died over it. Men might have been tortured for it. She needed to think. She needed a plan—and fast.

She untied her apron from her waist and, wrapping the crown in one of her old dresses, she went out into the woods, near where she had gathered rosemary before and dug a hole with her hands, getting the dirt beneath her fingernails and on her skin.

She had no spade or gloves, and the ground was hard.

She’d made hardly a dent in it, for the ground was still brittle from the winter freeze.

No, this wouldn’t do. She couldn’t bury it.

She’d have to keep it on her person, which was a dangerous prospect in and of itself.

But that alone would be near impossible, for it wasn’t a small, little band.

This was a heavy, gold circlet. She went to wash her hands by the river and thought over her options.

She’d have to hide it. With any luck, it would not be noticed.

And even then, what to do with it? Could she return it?

Just having it was a death sentence. She had to get rid of it—somehow.

But that still left the matter of the fact that the crown had been returned and found in Lady Alice’s things.

She believed Lady Alice. The lady had no reason to want to steal the crown, for she was loyal to the empress.

So if she was innocent, why would someone have put the crown amongst her bedding?

Someone who wanted to hurt her, have the empress imprison or possibly kill her, or perhaps someone who’d also found it amongst their things and wanted to avoid suspicion by hiding the crown amongst someone else’s.

What if Lady Alice had not been the intended victim of this crime? For a crime was what it was.

Bronwyn thought back to the night when the crown had first gone missing.

There had been only two guards manning the tent, and one had been killed, while the other had disappeared.

Where had the other gone, and why had he fled?

She needed to talk to Theobold about this again.

But how much could she trust him? Could she tell him of their discovery of the crown?

Would he believe that she hadn’t stolen it herself?

She frowned. He’d like her questions entirely too much, for he was pig-headed and rather full of himself.

No doubt he’d find her questions an attempt to talk to him, and he already got far too much attention.

She found him attractive, but she did not like how arrogant he was.

Still, she needed help, and answers. But could she trust him?

She wasn’t sure. One thing she could do was talk to Rupert. Her palms sweated at the thought. But she needed help and knew he would give it. Even if she had to ignore her feelings for him.

Bronwyn washed the ladies’ dresses in the river, wringing them out with her cold, wet hands.

The crown was in the washing too, and she took care to make sure the circlet was well hidden.

She took the whole lot to her spot by the fire, where the other women servants were preparing to sleep, and sat on a log, stuffing the crown beneath her dress, still bundled in her now-damp apron.

Feeling the solid, wooden log beneath her rump and wishing she could have a cushion, she shook out the ladies’ wet dresses, letting the woolen cloth steam and dry by the open flame.

Once the other women had fallen asleep, she quickly wadded up the crown in one of the ladies’ dresses and shook out her damp apron to dry.

Looking around for any prying eyes, Bronwyn put the entire bundle as a makeshift pillow, and slept on it for safekeeping.

Lying down, she looked around warily. Was anyone watching her?

Had any of the ladies seen her switch out the crown and were only pretending to sleep?

Bronwyn laid on the ground, stiff. Her limbs couldn’t get comfortable.

But then sleep took her, and despite waking multiple times in the night, she eventually got a few hours’ rest until dawn.

The next morning, she sat up, sore and aching in different muscles, having slept on the hard ground again and with a crown bundled up in her makeshift pillow.

She’d barely slept, for fear that someone would notice, or she’d somehow reveal it in her sleep, and wake up surrounded by spears.

But so far, her morning was unremarkable.

People walked through the camp as normal, and no one paid her any attention. She let out a small sigh of relief.

The problem was that when she went to work in the makeshift kitchen area, there was no safety or security for her personal belongings, and more often than not, her things would have been disturbed or stolen during the day. It meant she couldn’t just leave the crown there—it’d be found in no time.

She looked around. The women with whom she’d slept at the campfire were all still asleep. It was dawn, after all. They would be waking soon. She made a quick decision. Rising, she quietly took the ladies’ dresses, along with her apron and the crown, and took the lot with her.

She found a familiar tree with great holes and knots in the gnarled wood and twisted tree roots, which looked as thick as ankles, as if some great tree grandfather had come to life and sunk his fingers into the soft ground, then hardened in place.

She carefully wrapped the crown tightly in her apron, making it small and practically unnoticeable, and tucked it within the small holes of the tree. Its beige color made the bundle blend in, so it was invisible. If she hadn’t known it was there, she would have missed it entirely.