Chapter 23 #2
Behind Cecily, a maid approached, bearing a tray on which sat a little pot.
From the top, fragrant steam wafted upwards in a languid curl.
The smells of mint and apple and honey teased Angelet’s nose.
Cecily poured a cup and served Angelet herself, behaving much more like a healer than a great lady.
“Drink this. It will help you sleep. Don’t mind the bitterness. ”
Angelet did detect a sharp note under the honey. “What is it?”
“Willow bark. Most pungent, but good for many ailments. Perhaps even your other affliction will be eased. Who knows?”
After she finished the drink, Angelet lay back down. Cecily pulled the shutters on the window closed, dimming the room. “Call out if you need anything. There’s always someone close by.”
Cecily left. In the ensuing silence, Angelet pondered the changes in her circumstances.
She been sent away from one manor, attacked on the road, and barely escaped with her life thanks to Rafe.
They then traveled for days in an attempt to retrieve her son and return to her childhood home, all the while growing dangerously close to one another.
Angelet was even having second thoughts about her determination to go home.
But before she could gauge Rafe’s feelings, that second attack came out of nowhere.
And once again, Rafe had managed to save her from the worst fate, leading her to this new place that seemed as welcoming as Dryton had been cold.
So why was Rafe unable to share the welcome?
She wouldn’t know until she could speak to him. Maddening.
She lay against the pillow and closed her eyes, wishing he could be with her now.
Where was he?
* * * *
Rafe was tantalizingly close to Cleobury, able to see through the gate, but not willing to walk through it.
Spring was advancing in this part of the country, and the leaves were bursting out on all the trees now.
The undergrowth was even further along, which was fortunate, because the green wall created by the shrubs and vines gave Rafe somewhere to hide while he watched the walls.
The manor bustled with activity from before dawn to after dusk.
Merchants from the village came and went on errands, and the many residents of the manor were constantly passing through the gates as they went about their tasks.
Workers marched out to the farm fields and gardens outside.
Women washed clothing and gathered water from the nearby stream.
Some people even had work to do in the forest, and Rafe was careful to avoid them in particular.
Only Goswin knew where he was. For the past three days, the boy had come out to the woods to tell Rafe how Angelet fared.
Rafe couldn’t rest till the time Goswin told him that Angelet seemed to be recovering.
According to the boy, she was now awake and seemed in good spirits.
Hearing the news secondhand wasn’t good enough for Rafe.
“Where is she? You say you were in her chamber. Where precisely in the manor house is it located?”
Goswin looked alarmed. “You can’t go in there! You said so yourself.”
“I need to see she’s well with my own eyes.”
“You’ll get lost. I can’t describe it well enough.”
“I know the place well. Just tell me.”
Goswin told him the location of the room, but he looked unconvinced about the wisdom of Rafe’s decision. “If it was unwise for you to go there in the first place, what’s changed now?”
Now Angelet is there, he thought. Rafe only shook his head. “Don’t worry about me, boy. You go back in, and follow the routine you’ve started. Tonight, go to sleep in the dormitory with the other boys.”
“How do you know about the dormitory?”
“I used to sleep in it myself, when I was a boy,” Rafe said.
Goswin looked a little surprised, perhaps at the idea that Rafe had ever been a boy. “If you get caught…”
“You’ll be out of the way,” Rafe told him. “Now go.”
Goswin ran back to the manor. Rafe waited until darkness fell, then used his knowledge of the manor’s defenses to slip in a small back gate that was rarely used, and never guarded in times of peace. At least not when he used to live there.
Rafe found that not much had changed. The little back gate remained unguarded, and he could move easily around the compound of the manor, avoiding the people who were still out and about—not many, since work was hard to do once the light faded from the sky.
He heard voices in the stable as the boys tended to the animals before they headed off to bed.
A few men-at-arms crossed the courtyard toward the main gate for night watch, but they didn't even look around, so Rafe was safe in the shadows.
When it was quiet, he slipped into the manor house itself. Here, more people came and went, but he knew the way and how to avoid being seen.
When he stood in front of the door Goswin claimed was Angelet’s, he paused. What if the boy was wrong? Or what if she was moved? There was no sound at all.
He eased the door open just enough to get through. “Angelet?”
“Who is it?” Angelet asked from the bed, past the curtains that would enclose the bed during cold nights.
“Lower your voice,” Rafe said quietly as he closed the door.
“Rafe?” Her eyes widened, taking him in. “What are you doing here?” She flung off the covers, preparing to slide out of the bed. Then a look of pain crossed her features. “Oh, no.”
“Don’t dare get up.” He had her in his arms a moment later.
She clung to him, and he heaved a breath of relief. Until she actually touched him, Rafe hadn’t quite believed she was going to be well.
“Rafe, I thought you couldn’t be here!” Angelet pulled herself out of the embrace and put her hands on his shoulders, gazing at him in wonder. “How did you get in?”
“Goswin told me where you were.” He looked her over, keeping his touch light when he passed over her bandaged chest. The memory of seeing her wounded cut through him once again, triggering a visceral response, as if he needed to go into battle.
He deliberately took a long breath to relax. He said, “How are you? Recovering?”
“Lady Cecily is a very good healer,” Angelet responded, still surveying him in the dim light of the candle by her bed.
“That’s why I brought you here.”
“How do you know these people? Why all this secrecy?”
“It’s a long story, Angelet, and you’ve got enough on your mind.”
“Rafe, you’re on my mind. I didn’t know where you were, and I worried that something happened to you. You’re sleeping outside,” she added, running her fingers through his hair.
“I’m used to that.”
“While I’m cared for like royalty. It’s not fair.”
“You deserve the care. I don’t.”
Angelet’s brow wrinkled. “Why do you say that? Tell me what’s—” She broke off at a sound in the corridor. “Someone is coming, Rafe. You have to go. Or stay out of sight.”
He could hide. The room was large, and nearly all in shadow. But suddenly Rafe was sick of hiding. And the idea of walking away from Angelet a moment after he’d just rejoined her made him furious.
“No.” He remained exactly where he was, and kept her hand in his. “I’m done sneaking off into the night.”
“But you said…”
“Never mind what I said. I’m not leaving you.” Rafe leaned over and kissed her to make his point.
“Isn’t it dangerous for you?” she asked.
“I kill men for pay, Angelet. I’ll decide what’s dangerous.”
The sound of footsteps came closer. Both Rafe and Angelet faced the door, and both saw when Cecily entered.
Her warm smile for her patient froze, then faded. She stared at Rafe in pure shock. “Oh, my God,” Cecily whispered.
Angelet said quickly, “Don’t be alarmed. Sir Rafe is the knight who brought me here. I owe him my life.”
Cecily took one step forward, then stopped, as if uncertain what was happening. “Rafe,” she said.
Seeing her up close after two years, looking so different and yet still the young woman he remembered, Rafe actually smiled. “Hello, my lady. I suppose you’ll run for your husband in a moment. You should—Alric’s been looking for me long enough.”