His reply was cut off as men suddenly surrounded them. Kress, Achilles, Alexander, and William were suddenly there, all around them, and Andressa panicked at the sight of so manyarmed men. She shrunk back from the big knights, struggling to pull away from Maxton again, so much so that he grabbed her with both hands and pulled her against him, trying to give her some comfort.
“Have no fear, my lady,” he assured her quickly, backing away from his friends to put distance between the frantic lady and the strange knights. “They will not hurt you, I swear it. They are simply clumsy, but they mean you no harm. Please meet my close and good friends Sir Kress de Rhydian, Sir Achilles de Dere, Sir Alexander de Sherrington, and William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. Surely you have heard of Lord William? He is a very great and important man.”
Andressa was looking at all of them with big eyes, caught up in a web of men that had her rethinking her idea to seek out Maxton. It didn’t seem like a good idea any longer, but she felt like she was trapped now. She couldn’t even respond to his introductions. She looked at him, her big eyes pooling with tears.
“Please,” she begged again. “I must speak to you privately.”
Maxton simply nodded, holding a hand out to the four men hovering around them, silently pleading with them not to follow. They obeyed, but it was clear they didn’t want to. Seeing the very poorly-dressed woman in Maxton’s grip suggested this was the very pledge Maxton had been speaking of throughout the day, something that had their curiosities sharpened. She was from St. Blitha, and they all knew that St. Blitha was the key to this entire mystery.
Maxton knew that, all too well. He knew exactly what they were thinking as he put a big arm around Andressa’s shoulders and led her back into the house, into the darkened ground level. The only thing down here were armories and kitchens and servants’ rooms, so he took her up the great mural stairs and into the first chamber they came to, a smaller receiving room that was next to the massive solar.
The receiving room was generally meant for retainers of the great men who would attend The Marshal in his solar, so it was comfortable and well-appointed. It was also private, with only one door and one window that faced out over the inner courtyard. Maxton escorted Andressa inside and turned to close the door, but the moment he released her, she drifted over to the other side of the chamber and collapsed in the corner.
Distressed, Maxton watched Andressa roll herself up into a ball and sob. She had her hands over her head in a protective gesture, as if hiding from something quite horrible. With a sigh, one of great concern, Maxton made his way over to her.
“My lady,” he said gently. “What has happened? All you need to do is speak the word and I will do all in my power to help you. Please tell me what has happened.”
It took Andressa a moment to respond. In fact, her only response was to lift her head and wipe off her face with her dirty sleeves. It was all she had. She was a quivering, weeping mess and Maxton sat carefully in the chair nearest her, not wanting to startle her.
“My lady?” Maxton said again. “Please tell me– what has happened?”
She wiped at her face, furiously, before daring to look at him. When she did, he could see the tears starting all over again.
“I do not know what to do,” she murmured, her lower lip quivering. “I do not know who to ask for help. You have been kind to me and I thought mayhap…”
“Mayhap…what?”
“Mayhap you could tell me what to do.”
“About what?”
Her face threatened to crumple again but she fought it. She had little time to speak and didn’t want to spend the entire time weeping like a fool, but God, she needed to cry, just a little. It hadbeen building up since her meeting with the Mother Abbess, an explosion waiting to happen. But the explosion was over now.
She needed to tell someone.
She took a deep breath.
“You must swear to me that you will not repeat what I tell you,” she said.
He nodded. “Of course,” he said. “What is it?”
Andressa took another deep breath. “I need your help.”
“Tell me what I can do to help you.”
“I am so frightened. I have never been so frightened in my entire life.”
“Why? Won’t you please tell me why?”
Her gaze grew intense. “You must tell the king not to go to St. Blitha for the feast day.”
Maxton never knew that one little statement could electrify him so much. His entire body began to tingle, tensing up as if he’d been wound up as tightly as he could go.
“Why is that?”
Andressa wiped at her eyes that continued to leak. “Because if he goes to St. Blitha, he will be murdered. They will murder him!”
“Whowill murder him, Andressa?”
