Chapter 8 #3
“Of course,” he said slowly. “You were there the whole time. You saw everything. But why are you asking?”
“I… I cannot be sure, but I think she might have written the missive herself to justify you killing yourself. She might have thought that the letter found in your room after your death would explain your decision. In which case, what was written on there was probably a lie. As is the news of your foster brother’s death. ”
He had seemed to think it impossible that Cadell should have seduced a married woman, so his wife might have just wanted to torment him one last time before he died.
For a moment, Siaspar looked hopeful and Katherine prayed she was not mistaken. It would be terrible to have given him false hopes.
“Thank you,” he said tilting his head. “I will send a message to Bryn Glas before tonight, and we shall see what transpires.”
Then he raised his bandaged wrist to inspect it and, to her surprise, he let out a laugh. She wondered what could possibly be funny.
“Lady Malpas wanted to make it look as if I had killed myself but she cut my left wrist when everyone here knows that I am left-handed,” he said, as if he’d heard her musings.
“This shows how much she paid attention to me. Or it goes to prove that, as I suspect, she had planned to cut both my wrists and merely started with the left.”
There was nothing Katherine could answer to that, so she remained silent. But she shot back to her feet, suddenly very aware that she, a lowly scullion, was still sitting on the master’s bed.
“I have a raging thirst. Would you ask for some ale to be brought up when you get to the kitchen?” Siaspar asked as tranquilly as if they had not just been discussing the fact that his wife wanted him dead.
“And please, see to it that the barrel has not been tampered with first. Having narrowly escaped death by cutting, I do not intend to be poisoned now.”
“You would…trust me to see to it?”
Hope surged inside Katherine. Could it be that today marked the start of a different relationship between them?
Siaspar looked at her from head to toe, considering.
“Yes. Call me stupid, but I do.”
“My lord! You’re…here!”
Siaspar barely repressed a snort.
You’re alive, his wife had meant to say, before changing her mind at the last moment, remembering that she was not supposed to know about what had happened to him.
He had ordered Gwyn and Katherine to stay silent, so he was confident no one but Lady Malpas knew the reason why he had not been seen for a whole day after his return from Castell Esgyrn.
They thought he’d been busy writing letters after his absence, but he had in fact been resting after the attack that had left him weak as a kitten.
This morning, however, feeling almost restored to his usual self, he had not resisted the impulse to go down and break his fast in the great hall, hoping to meet with her.
Her reaction did not disappoint. He could also tell from Lady Helen and her daughter’s lack of surprise at his appearance that they were not aware of their mistress’ plans. That was worth knowing as well. His wife was the sole culprit.
He tilted his head to Lady Malpas with exaggerated politeness. “My lady, you seem surprised to see me. Yet I live at the castle, don’t I? Why shouldn’t I be here?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Or perhaps you thought me still at Castell Esgyrn?”
“I suppose that’s what it is.”
“Yes. I suppose so.”
Very deliberately, he placed his bandaged wrist on the table. Lady Malpas blanched. Then, a heartbeat too late for him not to notice her reaction was not normal, she remembered she was not supposed to know about his injury.
“What happened, my lord?”
Anyone unaware of what had transpired might have thought her concern genuine. Siaspar knew better.
“I don’t rightly know. It would seem that I overindulged in wine the day I came back from Esgyrn Castle and woke up in a pool of blood. I guess I must have fallen on the floor and cut myself on a shard of glass from the broken cup.”
Though everyone knew there was not a single cup of glass to be found at Castell y Ddraig, this explanation was seized upon with relief.
“I guess you must have. You must be careful from now on.”
He planted his gaze into his wife’s eyes, daring her to stare right back. “Believe me, I will.”
Just then, the door opened on Cadell, dusty and disheveled after a hard ride. He was holding a piece of parchment in his hand, the one Siaspar had sent the day before to inquire about his health.
“What the hell is this? I’m supposed to be dead?” he thundered, looking mightily put out.
Siaspar smiled but in truth, the relief of seeing the man alive and well had made him quite weak. He addressed a mental thanks to Katherine, whose suggestion had allowed him not to sink into despair.
His brother was alive, thank God.
“Join me in the solar, I will tell you what happened,” he answered in Welsh. He would tell him the whole story and swear him to secrecy. Cadell could be trusted to keep a secret. “I think you will enjoy it.”