“Aye, he is, and I can find some comfort in the fact that he kens she is there as weel as the sort of mon Hepbourn is.” Simon dragged his hand through his hair. “I misjudged the man. Somehow he found out where Ilsabeth was. He kenned she had been seen about town but I cannae see how he would feel sure enough that I sheltered her that he would drag the king and his soldiers into it.”
“That is something only he can answer.”
“And I will ask him when ‘tis my turn to question him. But now I had best go and see the king.”
“May I come?” asked Reid.
Simon stared down at the boy for a moment. Reid was a handsome little boy and it was clear that he loved Ilsabeth. Simon also knew that the king had a soft heart when it came to small children. It might not help Ilsabeth much for the king to see the foundling boy she had taken in, but it certainly could not hurt.
“Do it,” said Peter. “It may help if he sees that she has the heart to take in a child and that the child loves her. ‘Tis the way of some men to believe that a lass who can love and be loved by a child couldnae possibly do something like kill a mon or betray a king.”
Simon took Reid with him, swinging the boy up into the saddle of his black gelding and then mounting behind the child. Reid was silent and Simon appreciated the boy’s quiet for he had to think. He was sure that Hepbourn would have taken full advantage of the fact that Ilsabeth had been hiding in his home, making sure the king heard it and heard it again. Simon knew he was going to have to have a very good explanation for something that could easily put him in with the traitors, at least in the king’s eyes.
As they walked through the court, Simon actually felt an urge to smile. Reid’s eyes were huge as he stared around at the grandeur and all the well-dressed people. His amusement was fleeting, however, for he recognized what the sly glances and whispers meant. Hepbourn had already begun to spread his lies.
It was not encouraging that he was immediately admitted to the king’s chambers. There had been a brief argument with the guard for the man wished to hold Reid back. When Simon faced the king and saw the anger in the man’s eyes, he wondered if he had made a mistake in fighting for the boy’s presence at his side. The way Reid slipped his small hand into his told Simon that Reid had also seen that anger.
“Ye brought a child with ye?” demanded the king. “He was the one to bring me the news about Ilsabeth Murray Armstrong’s arrest and he was hoping to hear what has happened to her, sire,” Simon replied.
“She is in the dungeon. Where else would she be.” The king frowned at Reid when the boy gasped. “I hope ye dinnae mean to start crying.”
“Nay, um, sire,” said Reid. “I just thought someone would talk to her first and then they would see that she couldnae do anything as bad as what they say she did.”
“I talked to her, ye impertinent whelp,” the king said, but Simon could hear a touch of amusement in his voice. “I havenae decided on her yet so she will stay where she is until this is all settled.” He looked at Simon. “It is where she should have been from the beginning.”
“I decided that, if all she told me was true, she could be in danger,” replied Simon. “Nay from ye but from the ones who marked her as a killer and a traitor.”
“So there are traitors in my court.”
“I think ye always kenned that there were, sire.”
“ ‘Tis nay so bad to hope one is wrong. She stays where she is, Sir Simon. Now that she has been found, that is how it must be.”
“For how long?”
“As long as needed. Ye said ye are close to getting my traitors. Best ye work a little faster. The lass seemed honest enough whilst Sir Walter Hepbourn makes my skin crawl, so I am favoring her at the moment. If that begins to look like a weakness I willnae do it anymore but will start a trial.”
Simon desperately wanted to blurt out every name he had and let the king send his soldiers out but he bit his tongue to stop the words. That would allow too many to escape and he wanted them all, especially the ones allied with his brother, who had begun the whole plot. He just prayed that Ilsabeth would understand why he had to leave her there.
“May I speak with her, sire?” he asked.
The king studied him for a minute in a way that made Simon a little uneasy. “Nay, not yet. Mayhap that will prod ye onward and settle this matter more quickly. Dinnae look so insulted. I dinnae think ye have joined the ones plotting against me. That doesnae mean I am certain ye havenae been fooled by a bonnie face. I also ken why ye willnae just give me names, but I would weigh the worth of their lives against the only one we have even the smallest proof against.”
“As ye wish, sire.”
“Go. Go and do what ye do best. I ken ye are near the end of this. End it soon, even if ye have to be a wee bit less meticulous.”
“She didnae do it,” said Reid. “Sire,” he mumbled, and blushed.
“ ‘Tis in her favor that she has taken ye and your wee sister in. It wasnae in Sir Hepbourn’s that he captured Miss Armstrong by holding a knife to a bairn’s throat. I havenae allowed him to see that displeasure yet,” the king said as he returned his gaze to Simon. “Again, see this ended soon. If nay for her sake, for yours and mine. I am ignoring the whispers about ye, considering the source, but if they arenae proven completely wrong soon, your ability to do the job ye do so weel will be harmed. Mayhap beyond repair.”
“Understood, sire.”
The moment they were out of the king’s chambers, Reid said, “I dinnae understand. Why would ye nay be good at what ye do anymore?”
“To do what I do I must be believed to be above corruption, above most everything that can weaken a mon into making a wrong judgment. Ilsabeth is the sort of woman who can make a mon lean toward making a wrong judgment. Once people begin to think I was turned from my usual insistence upon the truth by a bonnie wee lass, they will begin to doubt every judgment I make, everything I say or do to prove a mon guilty or innocent.”
After a moment of frowning silence, Reid said, “They will think that ye lied for her and if ye lied for her, ye may lie for others.”
