He studied her. “Then I believe you,” he said. “But there is something more I wish to know.”
“What is that?”
“Where are your brothers? Are they fighting as well?”
She shook her head. “Gruffydd is not fighting.”
“What about the second brother?” Christopher asked. “Does he lead this battle?”
“There is no second brother. Only me.”
“And you have been fighting this battle?”
“I have.”
He paused a moment, thoughtfully, before continuing. “I would assume this is not your first battle.”
“Hardly.”
“Do you always fight?”
“I have been fighting since I was a child.”
Christopher was a sharp man. He studied her for a moment, mulling over her reply and suspecting what she was telling him. There was something in his eyes that suggested he was onto her and everything she stood for. This lass, with her dirty blonde braids, clad in clothing that only warriors would wear. She had taken on a man significantly larger than she was when she charged him on the wall.Shehad been doing the fighting.
This pale wisp of a girl.
Pale wisp…
“You are the Wraith,” he said quietly.
Elle nodded in confirmation. Truthfully, there was no use in denying it because she was hoping that her honesty would get her what she wanted in the end. In fact, she’d easily confessed everything to him, things she kept hidden from most, but she’d done it for a reason. Evasiveness most certainly would not win the trust of a man like de Lohr, something she evidently had earned. She wanted to keep it. Moreover, she had been fighting a battle against the English for almost a month, and even she knew when the fighting had to stop and the negotiating could begin.
This was the moment.
“The name Enid meansspiritto my people,” she said. “The tales of Gwenwynwyn’s Wraith… That is how it came about.”
There was a hint of approval in his eyes. “I see,” he said. “Then ap Owain has a daughter who fights, not another son.”
“That is correct.”
“WhereisGruffydd, Lady Enid?”
Elle shook her head. “I am not called Enid,” she said. “I have always been known by a version of my middle name—Elle. That is what I will answer to.”
Christopher dipped his head as if to apologize for addressing her incorrectly. “Thank you for telling me,” he said. “And thankyou for your honest answers to my questions. I will not tell anyone you are the Wraith if you do not wish for me to.”
That brought a look of surprise from Elle. “You would keep such a secret?” she said. “Your men will want to know that my father did not have two sons. Two sons can mean more trouble than a man with a daughter who learned to fight from an early age.”
Christopher went back to the wine and poured a second cup. He went over to Elle, extending it to her, and after a moment’s hesitation, she took it and sucked it down greedily.
“Not necessarily,” he said. “The Welsh breed strong women warriors as well as men. But you did not answer my question.”
“What is that?”
“Where is your brother, Gruffydd?”
That was a question she didn’t want to answer. She’d avoided it, now for the third time. As much as she would have liked to have remained evasive, the truth was that the English would discover what happened to her elder brother eventually. They would comb through Brython, search every chamber, every shadow, and eventually, they would find him. Gruffydd would have no hesitation in telling them about his sister.
