Chapter Thirteen #2
After a moment, he reached out to take her hands gently in his.
He didn’t know what else to do. It was a moment of warmth and the lightning he’d felt once before struck again.
A buzzing rippled up his arms, originating where their flesh touched.
He’d never experienced anything like it.
But the woman was, indeed, in a horrific position and there wasn’t much he could do for her other than try to give her some comfort.
“My lady,” he said hoarsely. “Why have you come to me with this? Are there no others you could ask for help?”
She shook her head, tears dripping off her chin.
“There is no one else,” she said, looking at him.
“My lord, I am kept like an animal in a cage. I am not allowed to see anyone or speak to anyone. Cambridge keeps me like a pet and he is very possessive over his pet. He is very jealous of anyone I speak to, especially men, which is why his orders with regard to you are so unusual. He told me to seduce you. That is not something he would have ever asked of me were he not desperate, and what is worse is the fact that he phrased his order under the guise of having me protect him.”
Aidric’s brow furrowed. “You?” he said. “Literally protect him?”
She nodded. “He said that it was my duty to protect him from the man who wanted to kill him.”
Aidric stared at her for a moment. “You know that is not true,” he said softly. “The king has no interest in eliminating Cambridge. I can tell you that for a fact.”
She shrugged, looking at her hands again.
“I do not know if he actually believes it,” she said.
“I tend to think he is simply lying so I will do as he wishes. Men would be suspicious of a male assassin should Cambridge send him after Edward. You would stop him. But would you ever suspect me? I think not. And Cambridge knows it.”
Aidric thought that was rather astute of her, but then again, a woman truly trying to manipulate him might say something like that to throw him off his guard.
He believed her; he truly did. There was nothing she’d said so far that had raised any concerns with him.
But he knew that Gerard and Britt were listening—and since they couldn’t see her face, or read her body language, they had a lot less than he did to go on.
Should he trust her?
… could he trust her?
Perhaps he needed to jar her a little to see if she’d change her story.
“It is a predicament, to be sure,” he said after a moment.
“Though nothing will be solved today, know this—there will never be, at any time, any opportunity for you to get close to Edward. I will never take you to Westminster and I will never allow you near the king, so if you have told me all of this to throw me off my guard so that you can somehow complete a task given to you by Cambridge, know now that it was for naught. I will not permit you to manipulate me. I will not tell Cambridge that you have told me any of this, of course, but I cannot help you. If he wants you to kill the king, you’ll have to find another way to go about it. ”
Cleodora’s eyes widened. That wasn’t the response she had been expecting.
“But I told you that I cannot do it,” she said.
“I told you all of this so that you could help me escape Cambridge. I did not tell you this to gain your sympathy. You helped me once before and earned my trust. I hoped you would help me again.”
He grunted and stood up from the chair. “You are a courtesan,” he said simply. “You have been trained in communication and politics and intrigue. You could be very well using what you learned on me and I will tell you now that if that is the case, you have wasted your time.”
It was a complete turnabout from the man who had been kind to her. Even just a few short seconds ago, he’d held her hand. He’d shown her sympathy. But now…
Now, he’d changed.
Cleodora stood up, too, her back stiff with outrage.
“I have done no such thing,” she said angrily. “At no time did I try to manipulate you. I have simply told you the truth. Are you so blind that you do not see honesty when it is presented to you?”
“I know that you get into bed with a man who hates the king,” he said. “That is all I know for certain.”
He would have done less damage had he slapped her. Cleodora stared at him, her recent tears completely gone, replaced by shock and disappointment. She was so hurt by his words that it was a struggle for her to maintain her composure.
Maybe there wasn’t anyone in this world who would help her.
Maybe she’d been a fool to think so.
“Then I apologize for having wasted your time,” she said, her voice trembling as she moved around him, heading for the door.
“But before I leave you, know this—I did not have a choice with being a Jewel. I was chosen by King Henry and, as you know, one does not disobey the king. I was given over to Cambridge because Henry wished to keep a viper sated with a gift of the finest flesh England had to offer. I was a peace offering. I did not choose to go with Cambridge. If you must know, I hate the man. He feeds my father money and poppy juice to keep him under control, and he locks me in a chamber nearly all day and all night to keep me under control. He abuses me with his threats and cruel words, withholds food when he feels like punishing me for any reason, but also spends a knight’s full salary on a garment I wear to a king’s feast because he wants to show the world what a rich man he is.
He is vain and selfish and petty. And you think I want to kill for this man?
If you do, then you are out of your damnable mind, good sir. You truly are.”
With that, she threw the door open, barely giving Aidric time to move out of the way so de Baume wouldn’t see him standing in the chamber.
He was over near the small door that Adelie had gone through and quickly knocked on it, bringing the woman forth and gesturing toward the open door so she would realize Cleodora had left the room.
As the older woman dashed out, Aidric shut the door behind her.
“There,” he said to the men behind the wardrobe. “Have you heard enough?”
Gerard was the first to emerge. “You played her well.”
Britt came out after him, shaking his head at what he’d heard. “Truthfully?” he said. “I do not think she was lying, Aidric. I know why you were cruel to her, to see if she’d show her true face, but she did not. She did not change her story.”
Aidric was upset at what he’d done, upset at himself, at the situation in general. The look of disappointment on her face when she left the chamber had almost been more than he could bear. He looked at Gerard.
“And you?” he said. “What do you think now that you’ve heard her?”
Gerard drew in a long, deep breath. “I do not know,” he said. “If she is lying to you and she does intend to get close to Edward, then she’s going to have to do it another way. And what happened to your using her against Cambridge? I thought you were going to turn the tables on her?”
Aidric shook his head and turned away. “I have no enthusiasm for that any longer,” he said.
“The problem is that I believe her, Gerard. I believe her and I just cruelly told the woman she’ll not receive my help and I do not care what happens to her.
Frankly, I do not care about eliminating Cambridge any longer.
If you want to do it, go ahead, but leave me out of it. ”
“I cannot leave you out of it,” Gerard said pointedly. “You are in command of the king’s personal guard. You must be involved in his protection.”
“I am,” Aidric nearly exploded, trying not to raise his voice but furious at Gerard’s insinuation.
“I capably protect Edward, as I capably protected his father for years. Years, de Velt. Mayhap I was not an Executioner Knight, hiding in shadows and doing dirty deeds in the name of protecting the monarchy, but every damn day I put my life on the line protecting a king whom many would like to see dead. If someone attacks him, who do you think his human shield is? It’s not you.
It’s me. Me and five other men who would gladly die for him.
We are the Guard of Six and you’ll not lecture me on the king’s protection. I live it every day.”
By this time, Britt had put himself between Aidric and Gerard before Aidric decided to physically demonstrate his frustration, gently pushing him away.
Gerard, however, had no intention of throwing a punch or otherwise attacking Aidric, mostly because he understood that he’d crossed the line a little.
He was trying to pull Aidric into the Executioner Knights’ dark world of intrigue, asking the man to become an operative, when there was far more at stake than a simple matter of manipulating a frightened young woman.
“I did not mean to intimate that you do not do your job well,” he said, backing down a little. “I know you do your job well, else you would not be in command.”
Aidric wasn’t ready to be soothed yet. “Go back out the way you came,” he said, throwing a careless hand toward the windows. “I do not wish to discuss this right now.”
With that, he went through the door that led to the adjoining chamber, heading back into the shop where he could escape from the rear and not be seen by the Cambridge escort in the front.
He was in a long, cluttered chamber at the back of the shop and beyond was the yard where there were broken barrels, furniture, and other bits of rubbish from the shop and surrounding businesses.
He was just heading out of the back door when he happened to glance over to his right.
There was a corridor and a series of adjoining chambers, but in his direct line of sight was Cleodora, sitting on a chair in a chamber and weeping into her hand.
He came to a halt.
With a heavy sigh, he headed in her direction.