Chapter Eighteen #4
If she wanted this nightmare to end, than she was going to have to end it herself.
“I should be returning to Thornhill shortly,” she said after a moment.
“I have been gone long enough, now into the evening hours, that Cambridge might send men out to find me. If his plans have changed and he no longer wishes for me to seduce Aidric, then he will more than likely be angry that I have been gone so long.”
“Will he punish you?” Aidric asked with concern.
She shrugged. “He has never beat me if that is what you are asking,” she said. “But he has been known to do other things.”
“What other things?”
“Starvation,” she said matter-of-factly. “Sometimes he locks me in my chambers for days on end. Sometimes he shouts and berates me until I weep. There are other forms of punishment than beating and they are equally effective, I assure you.”
Aidric didn’t like that idea at all but there wasn’t much he could do about it. “Then let us put our plans into motion,” he said, looking to Gerard. “How do you wish to proceed? She cannot spend more time in Cambridge’s presence than necessary, so this plan should be acted upon immediately.”
Gerard nodded. “I agree,” he said. “Every minute she is under his influence is another minute that our plan might be foiled, so my suggestion is this—let me move Stefan and Orion to Thornhill. Perrin can use his contact there and place them as stable servants or kitchen servants. They can use anything for their cover so they are close by and have access to the house. With them, I will send the poison for Cambridge and the means to deliver it.”
“How is she to deliver it?”
Gerard looked at Cleodora. “The same way Cambridge wanted her to deliver it to Edward,” he said. “My lady, do you usually wear jewelry when you are with Cambridge?”
She nodded. “He likes for me to dress in jewels when I am with him.”
“Good,” Gerard said. “I will give you a pendant with a compartment in it for the poison, which you will simply dump into his wine when he is not looking.”
She nodded, but seemed hesitant. “He has bought me every piece of jewelry I have,” she said. “If he does not recognize the pendant, he might become suspicious. A ring would be easier to wear. I would wear other rings around it so he might not notice.”
Gerard thought on that. “I will see about getting you a ring, then,” he said. “But you must return tonight. He will want to know where you have been, of course, and you can simply tell him that you were with Aidric because you are under orders to seduce him. That is true, is it not?”
She nodded. “It is,” she said. “I will tell him that I was simply following his order, thought it does not mean he will not become angry. He can be quite unpredictable.”
Gerard understood. “Sadly, that is a chance we will have to take,” he said.
Then, he pointed to Stefan and Orion, who were standing a few feet away.
“That is Sir Stefan de Lohr and Sir Orion Payton-Forrester. I am sending those two men to Thornhill tonight because they have done this kind of work before. If you get into trouble or need help, look for them. They are there to assist you.”
Cleodora looked at the pair of younger knights, handsome and powerful. “But why them?” she said, looking to Aidric. “Why not Sir Aidric?”
“Because he is not an agent,” Gerard said. “He is the king’s bodyguard. Moreover, I would suspect that Cambridge has already seen him and might know him on sight. Am I correct?”
Cleodora nodded, lowering her head. “Aye,” she said.
“He did see him at the feast because de Baume pointed him out when he asked about him. But after tonight, then what? What about tomorrow? Will you contact me with further instructions? Because we do not know when he plans to send me to Edward, and once he does, returning to Thornhill would look suspicious, wouldn’t it? ”
Gerard smiled faintly. “You are already thinking like a spy,” he said, watching her grin. “Aye, it would look suspicious, so tomorrow, we will have the entire plan ready to execute. Stefan and Orion will be your contacts.”
She nodded, looking at the pair again, but something occurred to her. “You seem to have a good deal of information from inside Cambridge’s home,” she said. “You mentioned someone named Perrin? Who is that?”
Gerard and Aidric looked at each other, wondering how much to tell her.
“He is a man who protects the king,” Gerard finally said.
“That means he must be aware of all of the king’s enemies, of which Cambridge is one.
He has someone inside Cambridge’s house who keeps watch on the archbishop.
If anything of note happens, he tells Perrin.
That is how we keep the crown, and England, safe. ”
Her brow rippled with confusion and then realization. “There is a spy in the archbishop’s home?”
“Aye.”
Not strangely, that seemed to please her. In fact, she chuckled. “He would be absolutely furious about that,” she said. “But I am glad. Very glad.”
Gerard could see her amusement, but it was a serious matter. “He must never know, my lady,” he said. “You must never say a word about it. Is that clear?”
Her humor left her and she nodded solemnly.
“Of course, my lord,” she said. “I would never, ever mention it, to anyone. I will take the secret to my grave. But it amuses me to think that Cambridge is being watched when he believes himself to be above such things. The man’s arrogance knows no bounds. ”
Gerard knew that. They all did. Cambridge’s pride was well known throughout England, so she wasn’t stating anything secretive.
She was simply confirming the existing dogma.
After that, there wasn’t much more to say about what needed to happen, so the Guard of Six filed out, one by one, until it was only Stefan, Orion, Gerard, and Aidric in the room.
Gerard stopped Stefan and Orion before they could leave.
“When you return to Westminster, find appropriate clothing for a servant,” he said. “The both of you look clean and well fed, so find something dirty. Rub dirt in your hair. Let your beard grow in. You need to look convincing as a servant.”
Orion, who had done this kind of work before, long ago, had a gleeful gleam to his eye. “I will shave my head,” he said. “I might even cut my scalp once or twice. That will make me look like a foolish servant, don’t you think?”
Gerard cocked an eyebrow. “It will make you look foolish, in any case.”
Orion gave the man an expression of displeasure before departing the chamber with Stefan behind him.
That left Aidric, and, seeing that the man probably wanted to bid the lady farewell alone, Gerard followed the others from the chamber and shut the door behind him.
When Aidric and Cleodora were finally alone, he turned to her.
“You are very brave,” he whispered. “Braver still with what you must do. I admire you greatly for it, my angel. You are strong. You can do this and do it well.”
She stood up from the chair and went to him. They were still a little awkward with each other, still discovering the boundaries of personal contact, but he opened his arms up to her and she immediately fell into them. He held her tightly, his face in the top of her head.
“It seems to me that Cambridge is causing you a great deal of distress,” she said.
He kissed her head. “No more than any other enemy of the king,” he said. “Cambridge, however, is obvious about it. Sometimes that makes it easier to fight back.”
“Have you ever had to kill any of his enemies?” she asked.
“Not Edward’s,” he said. “But Henry had a few that went away and were never heard from again. It is the nature of this position. You do what you must in order to fulfill your objective.”
You do what you must in order to fulfill your objective.