It took her a moment to realize what she was looking at.
William heard Juliandra’s scream all the way up in the bailey.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“My lord, youmust go after her!”
Kevin was at the gatehouse with Sean just as Alexander and Peter were mounting their steeds as William came running towards them, wide-eyed. Before Kevin could say a word, William shouted again.
“My lord, your wife!” he said. “She is running away, through the postern gate!”
Because William was clearly rattled, Kevin’s own panic began to rise. “What?” he gasped. “Running away? What are you–?”
“Hurry!” William pointed to the gatehouse. “If you hurry, you can intercept her as she comes down the pathway from the postern gate.”
“Postern gate?” he repeated. “What in the hell are you talking about, de Wolfe?”
William was pointing, back to the kitchen yard. “I am telling you that your wife is running away,” he said. “I do not knowwhy– she left the keep screaming and ran towards the postern gate. I could not stop her. You must catch her!”
Kevin had no idea what was going on, but he knew that William’s sense of urgency was feeding his. Juliandra was running off, screaming, and Kevin was at a loss to understand any of it. Alexander and Peter were already mounted, but Peter leapt from his horse and shoved the reins at Kevin.
“Go,” he said. “Take my horse!”
Kevin vaulted onto the steed, barely noticing that Alexander was turning his horse over to Sean, who would surely want to go with his brother. As the horses thundered out, they headed across the drawbridge, down the road and to the edge of the village. The path for the postern gate, seldom used, came around the north side of the castle and ended up at the end of the village, so they spurred the horses in that direction just in time to see Juliandra running onto the road.
“Juliandra!” Kevin called after her. “Wait!”
She either didn’t hear him or was ignoring him. In either case, she bolted across a grassy knoll with Kevin in pursuit and Sean right behind him. They chased her into a field, finally cutting her off so she couldn’t run any further. She was running in a panic, blindly, and Kevin was desperate to know what was wrong.
When she was sufficiently stopped, Kevin leapt from his horse.
“Juliandra!” he said, greatly concerned. “Sweetheart, what is the matter? Why are you running?”
Juliandra was weeping and gasping, and at the sound of Kevin’s question, she groaned so loudly that it became a scream.
“He’s dead!” she cried. “He’s dead! My father is dead!”
Kevin froze. That wasn’t what he had expected to hear and, suddenly, his worst nightmare came to life. In that one, brief moment, everything he knew, everything he feared, was in frontof his face and he had no idea how to react. His mind went blank, every rational thought he’d ever had slipping away into oblivion.
He struggled to stay on an even keel.
“But… how…” he stammered. “How would you know this?”
“Because I found him!” she screamed. “I found him in your vault. Did you know, Kevin? Did you know he was there?”
She was gasping, panting, pacing in a circle, wanting to run but wanting answers at the same time. Watching her turmoil, Kevin knew one thing– he couldn’t lie to her. It was his lies that had caused this in the first place and he wasn’t going to make it worse. She knew her father was dead, so he did the only thing he could do at that moment.
He threw himself on her mercy.
That lie, that horrible lie, was unraveling before his eyes.
“I am sorry,” he said, closing his eyes and suddenly pitching forward onto his knees as if all of his strength had abruptly left him. “Juliandra, I am so sorry. God forgive me for not telling you, but I cannot lie to you now. Aye, I knew he was there. I simply could not bring myself to tell you.”
Juliandra stopped pacing and looked at him, her eyes wide with horror. “Youknew?”
“I did.”
Her face went from bright red to deathly pale. “How long have you known?”
