The ten of them pushed through bodies and chairs and tables of the common room, making their way back to the entry door, throwing it open and charging out into the icy air beyond.
Farringdon House was only a few blocks away, a relatively short walk. But at this moment, it seemed like an eternity. Christopher, David, Sean, Kevin, and Cullen had stabled their horses in the livery across from the tavern, and they ran to collect their animals as Maxton, Alexander, Kress, Achilles, and Gart began to race those few blocks back to Farringdon House, back to the scene of the crime so they could make plans for the fact that Douglas had probably already told the nuns of St. Blitha that their assassination plans for the king were already known.
And the nuns would undoubtedly wonder how those plans were known.
In truth, Maxton was muddled by the whole situation and trying to stay focused. After being hustled out of the great hall when the conversation between him and William had become too heated, and then discovering that Andressa had fled back to St. Blitha on her own, he’d spent some time alone in his borrowed chamber, wondering what he was going to do about all of this.
He’d never faced a situation like it.
Perhaps that was his problem. He knew it had been his kiss with Andressa that had chased her off, but he wasn’t sorry about it. He’d been with many women, and he’d even been fond of a few, but the kiss with Andressa felt like the first real kiss that he’d ever experienced. Perhaps feeling that way was the reason he’d been so petulant with William when the man bullied him about sending Andressa back to St. Blitha. As it turned out, he didn’t have to send her back.
She went back on her own.
After that discovery, he’d gone in search of Kress and Achilles, only to discover that those two, along with everyone else it seemed, had gone missing. Now, he wanted to know what his friends were doing in a tavern, evidently talking when he hadn’t been invited, but he couldn’t dwell on that now. He was more concerned with what Douglas’ escape meant to Andressa. Alexander said he never mentioned her name and he believed him. But still, the nuns would now know that their secret had been discovered. They would undoubtedly be looking for a traitor among them.
Perhaps a young woman who had been wandering in and out of the abbey for most of the day.
But he couldn’t think about that now. They had to return to Farringdon House and make plans to track down Douglas. The man had information that was far too sensitive, on many levels. His mind was wrapped up in what the Scotsman’s escape would now mean for all of them when he heard a distant scream coming from the direction of Farringdon House.
Something told him that he knew who it was.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Andressa thought sheheard someone behind her, but when she would turn to look, there would be no one there.
It is my fear causing me to imagine things,she told herself. She had traveled in and out of Bishopsgate on numerous occasions and had never been followed, so there was no reason to believe she was being followed now. Besides… who would be following her?
A murderer? A robber?
It wasn’t as if she had anything of value for anyone. Surely they could see that she was in the garb of a pledge or postulate, meaning the only things of value she had were, literally, the clothes on her back. And no one wanted those rags.
Foolishness, she scolded herself silently.
Pulling her woolens more tightly about her slender body, she continued onward, staying to the shadows, hugging walls before darting across an alley to the safety of the shadows on the other side. More than once, she found herself slipping in the mud along the edges of the avenues, which was really more horse dung than it was mud, built up from years and years of horses defecating on the streets.
But that was the norm of these streets and not something Andressa paid much attention to other than to try and keep her tattered shoes out of it. There was a hole in the sole of the left one and she could feel the dirt and dung squeezing into her shoe, dirtying the foot she’d so lovingly cleaned in the bath.
But no matter.
She had to get to Maxton.
Farringdon House was over by the western city walls, near Newgate. Its towering structure overlooked the walls and gave those on the upper floors a clear view in all directions. It was like a beacon for all to see, four stories of gray stone in a city that was littered with wattle and daub homes, looming over the cityscape in all its glory. The manor was on a smaller lane, all to itself, and Andressa was coming to think of it as a safe place. She’d already been there once today; by the second time, she was growing familiar with it.
More and more, she was thinking on Maxton and his offer to take care of her. And after her most recent encounter with Sister Petronilla, she was thinking that, perhaps, it wouldn’t be such a terrible thing to accept Maxton’s offer. She couldn’t imagine he had meant marriage– for who would want to marry a woman carrying another man’s child? But perhaps he meant for her to take care of his house, or to somehow be of service to him.
That was all she was good for these days– hard work and laundry. Her years at St. Blitha had stripped her of the dignity she’d once had as a lovely young woman. Now, she was subject to the Mother Abbess’ wicked schemes.
God, she hated what her life had become.
She hated whatshehad become.
As Andressa slipped down an alley and on to a larger avenue that would take her to Farringdon House, she found her thoughts turning towards Maxton. Her heart swelled with joy at the thought of him, the only person since the death of herparents who had shown any concern for her and her welfare. But it was more than that… even if she’d been a normal woman, on any normal day, she would still think he was fine and brave and strong. He seemed to think he had sinned so terribly in the past that no woman would have him.
He was wrong.
Shewould.
Thoughts of the man were warm on her mind and a smile played on her lips as she neared the junction where the alley intersected with the main avenue. She was distracted, so much so that when a man suddenly appeared right at the corner of the two roads, she didn’t even look at him. She simply tried to go around him. But he blocked her path.
