“Nay? She carries my heir, Roger. If the child lives, Robert cannot gain Saitun Manor. And that is what Pickney wants.” The brief looks of horrified realization on his friends’ faces brought a grim smile to Thayer’s mouth.
“I think,” Roger said after a short, heavy silence, “’tis time to send word to her family.”
“Aye, as soon as we know a little more,” Thayer agreed, then tensed, listening carefully. “The men return.”
Thayer had to clench his fists to remain where he was, waiting. His first sight of the person the men dragged in with them spurred him into immediate action. It was a moment or two before Roger and Merlion could halt his deadly advance on a terrified Lady Elizabeth. He ached to kill the woman but, as his rage eased, he knew that would gain him little. Once he calmed, however, Lady Elizabeth’s terror faded. With a simmering fury, he watched the haughty, cool look reappear.
“What did you find?” he demanded of Torr, who had led the men.
“Little, I fear, save these two.” Torr nodded at Lady Elizabeth and her weeping, trembling maid.
“I demand you release me at once.” Lady Elizabeth tried to put some order into her tossled clothing.
“You are in no position to demand anything,” Thayer snapped. “What are you doing on my lands?”
“I was traveling to my family.”
“Alone? No men-at-arms? You used to be more skilled at lying. Where is Gytha?”
“Your little wife? How should I know her whereabouts?”
“You met with her. Now Bek nurses a sore head and Gytha has disappeared. Mind, Elizabeth, I am not in the humor to tolerate your games.” He noticed a flicker of fear briefly touch her expression and knew he had a weapon—he could frighten her. “Answer. Where is Gytha?”
“I tell you, I do not know. We were attacked in the room as we talked. Robbed. My maid and I escaped to flee. Clearly, the rogues have taken your wife. They will probably ask a ransom soon.” She gave a high, small screech of panic as Thayer lunged at her, slamming her up against the wall, the hand he had around her throat pinning her there.
“Now you will tell me the truth.”
“Thayer, how can you treat me so? I am the mother of your son.”
“Mother? You are no mother to Bek. No true mother would let someone bludgeon her own child. No mother would leave him bleeding upon the floor, untended. Now—who has taken Gytha?”
“Pickney. Charles Pickney and your cousin, Robert. Two of their men have fled with her.”
“To where?”
“Saitun Manor.”
Knowing he would now get the truth from her, he released her. She slid to the floor, gasping for breath, and her distraught maid rushed over to help her to her feet. As soon as she was standing, Lady Elizabeth waved the woman away. Thayer saw that Elizabeth was regaining her haughtiness as well as her breath. The woman did not have the sense to see the danger she was in.
“How can he go to Saitun Manor? I hold the place.”
“Not after they use your wife to open the gates and disarm the guard. When the people there see who Charles holds, they will hand the place to him. He need only secure it from you.”
“How did you come to be entangled with the man?”
“I met with him as I traveled home from the court. He told me his plans, and I saw a way to help him, a way to make you pay for the ridicule you brought upon me. I shall also gain me a fine purse. Charles promised me a share of what he extracts from you.”
“So you think this but some game for ransom? Clearly, Charles is a greater deceiver than you. He has drawn you into a murder plot, woman. The price he means to ask of me is my life.”
“Well, we must all go to God at some time.”
She sounded calm, but Thayer knew it for another lie. The truth was reflected in her eyes, in the touch of fear there. This was a far deeper game than she wished to play. Even her high birth and the added weight of her married name could not save her from her punishment if a death resulted from her ploys.
“You may make the journey far sooner than you had planned,” he drawled.
“What do you mean?” Lady Elizabeth cast a wary glance around at all the well-armed men.
“Take her to Riverfall, Torr, and secure her well,” Thayer ordered, watching coldly as Torr roughly grabbed hold of the woman.
