His anger was truly terrifying to behold. She turned suddenly and bolted—
Into a wall.
Only it wasn’t a wall. Hands pulled her out of the way and behind a very solid form that she had no trouble recognizing.
’Twas Zachary.
She let out the shakiest breath of her life. She took hold of his dripping cloak and rested her head against his back. It was literally the only thing that kept her on her feet.
“My lord Styrr,” Zachary said politely.
“You have no business here, smith,” Geoffrey snarled.
Zachary didn’t move. “Actually, I do, my lord. Something to do with removing refuse from the stalls. Shall I start with you? And before you answer, perhaps I should point out that you seem to have acquired a bit of an audience. They’ve no doubt come to watch your tender care of the woman you hope to wed.”
Mary looked around Zachary’s shoulder to see Thaddeus and Connor standing at the entrance to the stables, wearing expressions of such coldness that even her father might have been impressed. Thaddeus made Styrr a very low bow.
“The smith has it aright,” he said, straightening. “We missed my cousin at supper and were sent to see where she had gotten to.”
“Then you’ve just arrived,” Styrr said firmly, as if he hoped by saying it, it would make it so.
“Recently,” Connor conceded. He stepped back and gestured toward the courtyard. “Allow me to be your guard back to the hall, my lord. Lord Thaddeus will make certain that my cousin arrives in an equally safe and timely manner.”
Mary had to admit that Styrr had more courage than she’d given him credit for. She wouldn’t have walked within arm’s reach of either of her cousins for any amount of gold if she’d seen them in that mood. Connor followed Styrr, with his hands clasped behind his back—likely so he wasn’t tempted to put one of them on his sword and use the hilt of that sword to carve Styrr’s heart out of his chest.
Thaddeus only nodded to her, then went to stand at the opening of the stable with his back to her. Mary took a deep breath, then looked up at Zachary. He watched the stable entrance for a moment or two, then turned to her.
“Aren’t you supposed to be inside?” he asked.
“I had to see to my horse.” She frowned up at him. “It wasn’t as though I expected to see him here.” She frowned a bit more. “I didn’t expect to see you here, either. Why are you?”
His expression was more strained than she’d ever seen it.
“I realized as I was traveling that I shouldn’t have left your father with unbuilt kennels,” he said quietly. “It seemed a poor precedent to set.”
“You came back for dog kennels,” she said in disbelief.
He pursed his lips. “Perhaps I came back to help you.”
“Help me what?” she asked tartly. “Find my way to the chapel?”
“I imagine a bit of time there might serve us both,” he conceded, “but I think you should have a bath first.”
“Rex bolted,” she said pointedly.
“Taking you with him, apparently.”
She smiled in spite of herself, but she felt her smile fade all too quickly. “Did you see what Styrr did?”
“Aye.”
“My father won’t believe it.”
“I’ll tell him of it.” He reached up and rubbed gently at her cheeks with the hem of his sleeve, then he looked suddenly over her head. “Here he comes. I’ll tell him now, if he’ll listen.”
Mary turned and found her father standing twenty paces behind her. He had assumed his pose of ultimate intimidation with his arms folded over his chest and his expression one of intense disapproval. Zachary only made him a very low bow.
“My lord Artane.”
“Smith,” Robin said shortly. “You returned.”
“Your kennels are unbuilt. And I was thinking that I should spend a bit more time with Master Godric and perfect my dagger fashioning. And, if you’re willing, perhaps work off the price of a sword.”
Her father seemed to unbend a little at that. He let out a deep breath, then clasped his hands behind his back. “Have a brush with unsavouries, did you?”
“Briefly,” Zachary agreed.
“’Tis a dodgy world out there, lad.”
“’Tis a dodgy world in here,” Mary muttered.
Zachary smiled briefly at her, then looked at her father. “It is, my lord.”
Robin studied him for a moment or two. “I’m beginning to think I should just give you a permanent bed here in the stables.”
Zachary smiled, but Mary could see the worry in his eyes. She had no idea why he couldn’t seem to get himself home, or why he thought it was so important that he return to build something to house her father’s hounds, or work for Godric in the forge, or procure a sword that he most certainly didn’t need to have to protect himself.
It couldn’t have been that he had missed her.
“I appreciate the concession,” Zachary said gravely, “but I’ll be happy enough to bed down wherever there’s space. If you wouldn’t mind allowing me to finish what I started for you and rest a bit, then I’ll be on my way again.”
Her father looked at him for another moment or two in silence, then nodded. “Come inside and eat, then you can begin to work at your leisure. Actually, I think I’ll eat in the kitchens with you. ‘Twill be the least unappetizing meal I’ve had in a se’nnight, I daresay. Mary, go inside and go upstairs.”
“I might want to eat,” she said pointedly.
“I might have something sent up.”
“I must tend my other horse first.”
Her father shot her a sharp look. “I think, missy, that you’ve had enough adventure in the stables today.”
“I’ll stay with her,” Thaddeus said, appearing at his uncle’s elbow.
Robin pursed his lips. “Leaving the lady Anne with the en-viable task of seeing to both Styrr and his mother. I have a feeling I’ll be repaying this debt for quite some time to come.”
Mary wanted to ask her father why, if he couldn’t bear the thought of supper with Styrr, he thought she could bear the thought of life with the man, but Zachary sent her a quick look that had her biting back what she intended to say. Perhaps he had a plan.
She wanted to go along with him and see what it might be, but she supposed that wouldn’t be the way to learn what she wanted to know.
Fortunately for her, she knew what would be.
Two hours later, she was lying in the hayloft with Theo discussing various things, but nothing that could possibly aid her in her current straits. She elbowed Theo when she thought she heard the sound of voices. If it was her father come to fetch her, she didn’t particularly want to be found. If it was Styrr, she most definitely didn’t want him to know where to find her. If it was anyone else, she wanted to hear their confidences.
“But the question is, would it matter? Your uncle wouldn’t give her to anyone but a man equal to her in station, would he?”
“Of course not.”
Mary turned her head to find Theo watching her with very bright eyes.
“This will be a spectacular bit of eavesdropping,” he predicted.
“Then be silent and use your ears to their best advantage,” she suggested.
He nodded carefully, then closed his eyes, presumably to listen more fully. Mary didn’t have to. She could hear Zachary and Parsival well enough without resorting to that.
“But why not look for a man who loves her for what she is?” Zachary asked.
“Because, my naive friend, most men are looking for a bride of ten-and-two whom they can fashion into a woman who won’t argue, or speak her mind, or meddle with their horseflesh. And the reason Mary doesn’t gainsay her father is because she loves him and wouldn’t think to bring dishonor on him by making a fool of him.”
“Even if that means she’ll have a life of unhappiness.”
Parsival was silent for a moment or two. “Duty, Zachary.”
“I don?
??t mind duty when it applies to what I need to do, but I find myself much less enthusiastic about the word when it applies to a beautiful woman who deserves better.”
Parsival laughed. “You’re a romantic. A pity you aren’t a romantic with a title lurking behind your tender heart.”
“A pity it matters.” Zachary paused. “Parsival, what would you say to a little journey?”
“I imagine it depends on the destination and what mischief might be combined there. Tantalize me with salacious possibilities and I’ll see.”
“I want to go north.”
“North,” Parsival repeated. “That is a very large destination, no?”
“I’m interested in a particular part of the north.”
“To what end?”
“To solve a mystery.”
Mary suppressed the urge to either weep or shout with relief. It wasn’t possible that Zachary intended to go to Styrr Hall and investigate things she couldn’t.
“Do you have time for such a thing?” Parsival asked. “I thought you were eager to return home.”
“I am finding that my roads don’t seem to lead there,” he said, finally. “They seem to lead me back to Artane.”
“Perhaps to solve our little puzzle?”
“I’m beginning to think so.”
“Let us return to the hall and find Connor,” Parsival said. “He is always ready to embark on a quest that might result in bloodshed.”
“Heaven help us,” Zachary said with half a laugh. “I’m hoping we might avoid that.”
“We will see.”
Mary continued to listen but only heard sounds receding. She sighed and rolled to her left only to squeak at the sight of Samuel looking at her from where he lay within an enormous pile of hay, between her and Theo.
“It would serve you right,” she said evenly, “if someone stabbed you by mistake with a pitchfork.”
He only smiled. “I don’t hide here in the daylight.”
“Wise.”
“Aye,” he agreed. He propped his head up on his hand, shaking his head briefly to remove things from his ear. “Eavesdropping,” he said wisely. “It always yields interesting things.”
She looked at both her cousins. “I think it yields nothing but heartache.”
“I think Zachary’s fond of you,” Theo offered.
“Fond enough to engage in a few inquiries,” Samuel agreed. “North, if memory serves.”
Mary said nothing. She considered for quite some time in silence before she looked at her cousins again.
“I might need aid in the morning.”
They both nodded solemnly.
“I’d best at least look as if I’m off to bed early tonight.”
Theo smiled. Samuel rose to his feet and reached down to pull her to hers.
“We’ll see to it,” he promised.
If only all her problems could be solved so easily. She thanked the lads kindly, then made her way down to the floor. Thaddeus was waiting for her just outside the stables. He said nothing, only put his arm around her shoulders and walked with her to the hall. She thanked him very kindly for the escort once he left her in front of her bedchamber.
Aye, she would go with Zachary in the morning, simply because of the smell she’d noticed clinging to Geoffrey earlier.
She had smelled that particular scent before. It reminded her sharply of something lingering in Roger’s cup of wine she’d only had a sip of the night he had died.
She went inside her chamber and began to gather up gear for a brief journey north.
Chapter 13
Z achary stood on a little bluff that straddled two medieval estates and contemplated things that perplexed him.
To his right was Styrr Hall, visible in the distance as it sat on one end of what Zachary could see were vast tracts of land, much of it arable, the rest a bit on the marshy side. It was the sort of place where an arrogant monarch might decide to take a ride just to see if he could lose all his crown jewels at once instead of over years thanks to sticky-fingered courtiers. Neither the land nor the hall was welcoming. It all gave the appearance of a place that had somehow seen better days and had no hope of them returning.
Short of an enormous influx of cash, of course.
He looked to his left and saw Meltham Keep, a rather smaller place apparently owned by Ilbert of Meltham, whom Zachary had met not an hour earlier. A friendly sort of guy that would have, in seventh grade, talked everyone out of their lunch money in return for promises of something really great and left them feeling as if they’d gotten the bargain even when he didn’t deliver. His fields were currently being tilled by happy peasants, his breakfast had been served by equally happy lads and lasses, and his ample wife had presided over it all with a cheer-fulness that had been infectious. The mere mention of Styrr’s name had left the wife gushing about his fine qualities and Meltham himself wearing as much of a smirk as he likely ever permitted himself.
Something was definitely up there.
Zachary looked at Parsival, who stood next to him wearing an equally contemplative expression.
“Why do I have the feeling Lord Meltham is holding something over Styrr’s head?”
“He smiled too much.”
“And he invited us to join him in a game of chance,” Connor offered from where he stood on Zachary’s left. “There is a man who is accustomed to putting his hand into fat purses that aren’t his.”
“We don’t have even thin purses,” Zachary said with a smile, “though he seemed to think we might have left them behind where we could go and get them and gamble the contents away.”
“Obviously our attempt to pass ourselves off as peasants was a failure,” Parsival said with a little sigh. “I never held out much hope for it. At least in my case it is very hard to disguise such superior bloodlines.”
Connor made a noise of disgust and walked away to swing up into his saddle. “Let’s go home. We’ve proven that Styrr needs funds, but nothing else. Perhaps there is nothing else to prove.”
Zachary looked at Parsival. “Is this hall worth killing an older brother for, do you think?”
“I wouldn’t kill my older brother for it,” Parsival said with a smile, “but I’m fond of him. I don’t think Geoffrey bore Roger any love.” He shrugged. “Roger never cared for the trappings of court, leaving Geoffrey free to wrap himself in them as he wished. One would think that would have been enough to satisfy him.”
Zachary nodded and turned to get back on one of Robin’s lesser steeds. He’d hoped for a mystery that might equal Geoffrey’s eagerness to indulge in wedded bliss, but he’d found nothing. He and Mary’s cousins had discussed a trip south to London to see what sort of dirt could be dug up at court, but they’d come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t yield anything useful, either. Zachary was convinced Geoffrey of Styrr was a medieval Dorian Gray, presenting a youthful, perfect face to the crowd at large while hiding all his dirty deeds on a portrait in the attic of Styrr Hall.
He just didn’t want Mary to be the one to find that painting and realize just what she’d been shackled to.
He sighed deeply. He had exhausted his options for time gates in the north and she was close to exhausting her options for getting out of marriage to a man who not only didn’t deserve her but might be detrimental to her health.
And short of providing conclusive evidence of nefarious deeds, he wasn’t sure how he would convince Robin of the latter.
I t was afternoon before they rode up the way from Artane’s gates to the stables. Zachary frowned at the sight of commotion there. Maybe commotion wasn’t the right word. There wasn’t any more activity in the inner bailey than usual; this just seemed more purposeful. Or maybe it was that he suddenly found himself with his hands full of a horse that didn’t like the fact that two sixteen-year-olds were running his way.
He managed to keep his seat, barely, then dismount without landing on his head. He soothed his horse, then handed the reins off to one of Rolf’s lads befor
e he turned on the twins.
“Do that again and I’ll take your heads and crack them together,” he said shortly. “Whatever you have to tell me isn’t worth it.”
“The banns were read today,” Theo blurted out.
“What?” Connor said in astonishment. “You’re daft.”
“And we’re a handsbreadth from being thrust out the gates,” Theo added faintly. “I think we vexed Uncle Robin overmuch this morning.”
“What did you do this time?” Parsival asked in surprise.
“We tried to follow you,” Samuel said, his face devoid of all color. “We didn’t make it past the village.”
Zachary closed his eyes briefly. “By yourselves?”
They shook their heads as one.
“I take it Lord Robin is the one to have found you?” Zachary asked grimly.
Theo nodded. Samuel simply looked ill.
“What were you thinking, you fools?” Connor exclaimed.
“Mary wanted to help,” Theo said weakly. “’Tis her life, after all.”
Zachary bent his head and rubbed the back of his neck, then he sighed deeply. “Where is she?”
“In her chamber. But Uncle Robin wants to see you all in the lists when you return.”
“Does he indeed?” Parsival asked in surprise. “Why?”
Theo shifted. “I fear we might have blurted out something that might have resembled telling him that you three knew better than he who Mary should bind herself to.” He paused. “Or words to that effect.”
Connor and Parsival exchanged looks, then Connor sighed. “I’ll go first. I might manage to take the edge off him.”
“Thad’s been trying for the past pair of hours,” Samuel offered. “Unsuccessfully, I might add.”
Connor shot his brother a look. “And what again were the possibilities for your punishment? I hope they were dire.”
“Uncle said he would invent something appropriate when he was less likely to murder us.”
“Then you’d best find some way to appease us as well,” Connor growled as he walked off. “And keep your bloody mouths shut the next time!”