No one would ever change it.
“I believe you,” she said quietly.
“And you do not think differently about me?”
“Nay.”
Maxton wasn’t surprised to hear that, but he thought she was still a little idealistic about him. But as he’d said… perhaps he wanted her to think that way about him. He wanted her to think that he was noble and kind, because God only knew, no one else did. More and more, the little pledge was breaking down something in him, walls he’d kept up, great things that protected everything about him. He’d spent years building those walls. But with her, those walls were cracking.
He could feel it.
“As you wish,” he muttered. “Now, I have things to attend to. While I am away, I wish for you to rest and I shall send you food. I must go speak with The Marshal and ask him what he thinks we should do given this situation. Will you wait here while I speak with him?”
Andressa glanced to the window; the sun was starting to set, sending pink ribbons across the sky. “It will be dark soon,” she said. “I… I told the Mother Abbess that I had to deliver laundry to Lady Hinkley, but even she said that Lady Hinkley often likes to talk and invite the less fortunate to a meal. But Lady Hinkley was very busy with her party tonight and she did not invite me in.”
Maxton was on to her line of thinking. “Then if you stay here a little while and feast with me, the Mother Abbess will think you are with Lady Hinkley.”
Andressa nodded and there seemed to be some relief in her expression. Even a few hours away from that hellish place was a Godsend.
“Aye,” she said after a moment. “She will think that.”
“Then you will stay a little while? I am sure the cook has a very good supper planned.”
That seemed to close the deal for Andressa. Two good meals in one day was nearly unheard of in her world.
“I will stay.”
That pleased Maxton immensely. He stood up, gazing down at her as she sat in the chair. To him, she looked so forlorn and vulnerable. He could only imagine what the woman looked like in all her glory; if she was beautiful now, scrubbed and fed and dressed, she must have been a sight to see.
And that gave him an idea.
“Wait here,” he said. “Do not leave this chamber. Promise?”
She nodded. “I do.”
“I’ll be back.”
With that, he quit the small chamber and she could hear him outside, barking to the servants.Hot water. Food. And build a fire in the retainer’s chamber!Andressa heard him snapping orders, fading away as he went down the stairs, until she could only hear a dull rumble.
Alone and worried, she remained in the chair he’d left her in until there was a knock at the door. The latch lifted and a servant with wood and peat entered, swiftly moving to the hearth and starting a lovely, warm blaze. The room filled with a golden glow and when the servant left, Andressa went to the hearth, sitting next to it and warming her frozen body. The Mother Abbess wouldn’t allow for fires at St. Blitha unless it was snowing, so more often than not, Andressa had to warm herself by the fire she used to heat the water for her laundry. There was no other opportunity.
But now, she was in a warm chamber with a warm fire, basking in a luxury she hadn’t had in four years. It was heavenly. But not heavenly enough that she forgot about her situation, or the fact that she needed to return to St. Blitha soon.
Back into the heart of the Devil.
She prayed she’d done the right thing by seeking out Maxton. God only knew what tomorrow would bring.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Nay,” Maxton snarled.“She is not going back.”
There was a battle brewing in William’s solar. A half-hour after Maxton relayed Andressa’s revelation to The Marshal, the productive and interesting discourse had turned into something else, and William had brought about the statement that Maxton had been dreading from the moment the news had been revealed. Somehow, he knew it would all come down to this.
Now, it was Maxton against William, perhaps the most talented assassin ever known against the greatest knight England had ever seen. And all of it over… a woman.
But in the face of Maxton’s fury, William stood firm.
“Think, Maxton,think,” he implored. “It is the perfect situation. If we send her back to St. Blitha, then she can report on everything that is taking place. We will have a spy right in the center of the viper’s nest.”
