‘They say it’s the smallest of the three castles in the region,’ Hadewaye said, ‘but it looks fairly big from here.’
‘Not as heavily guarded as I was expecting,’ Alveye said.
Blackmane glanced in his direction. ‘That’s because the king and queen aren’t here.’
‘But the king’s mother is,’ Tatum replied. ‘You would think Queen Isabella has made enough enemies to justify the additional guards.’
Roul drew a breath. ‘Doesn’t matter, because we’re walking straight through the main gate as welcomed guests.’
‘Let’s hope you leave in the same manner,’ Tatum said. ‘Our arrows can reach the wall from the edge of the moat if it all turns to shit.’
Roul looked to Eda. ‘You ready for this?’
She was studying the castle, mind ticking. With a nod, she said, ‘Let’s go get us a future king.’
Roul looked around at his men. ‘Stay safe until we return.’ Then he followed her.
Access to the main entrance was via a bridge. The pair exchanged a glance when they reached it, knowing it was their last chance to turn around, then proceeded forwards. They walked their horses slowly along it, eyes sweeping the length of the curtain wall ahead of them.
‘Do you think the guards have spotted us yet?’ Eda said quietly.
Roul looked to the moat below. ‘If they haven’t, they’re not doing their job properly.’
They fell silent then, eyes on the portcullis. Two guards stood on the other side of it, watching them approach. Each held a spear that could comfortably slip through the latticed wood, prompting Eda and Roul to stop their horses well back from the gate. The men looked Roul up and down before turning their attention to Eda.
‘What’s your business here?’ asked the shorter of the men.
Eda flashed them a smile. ‘I received word that my cousin, Prince Becket, is visiting. I wish to see him.’
The guard looked her over a second time. ‘Name?’
‘Lady Hayley Peytone.’
‘Where have you travelled from?’ asked the other man.
‘Peytone House in Llanystumdwy,’ Eda said without missing a beat.
The man nodded once, then turned and walked away. The other stood watching them, and Roul watched him right back while Eda tried not to look up at the wall walk above them.
Around twenty minutes later, Prince Becket strode into sight, looking much more of a man than the last time Roul had laid eyes on him. His hair was longer and features more defined. Gone were the round cheeks and disinterested stares. Now he wore the same stern expression his father always had.
Becket came to a stop in front of the gate, assessing them both.
‘Good afternoon, Your Highness,’ Eda said, speaking first. ‘My goodness. I barely recognised you.’
The prince stared hard at her, as though trying to connect the woman before him with the eleven-year-old child he had once played with. ‘Time has a habit of passing quickly.’
Roul forced his hands to relax.
‘I do hope it is all right that I called upon you,’ Eda said. ‘I did not want to miss an opportunity to visit with my Chadorian family, for such opportunities are so infrequent nowadays.’
Roul was impressed. She had clearly been paying attention to the noblewomen in her life. She sounded just like her cousin, Lady Kendra.
There was an uncomfortable silence before Prince Becket finally said, ‘I am always happy to see family. Please, come in.’ He gestured to the guards. ‘Open the gate.’
Eda had succeeded in the first part of the assignment.
Roul resisted the urge to look at her as the portcullis rose before them. When it came to a stop, they rode into the gatehouse. He saw there was a second portcullis at the other end. They passed by many arrow loops to get to it. Murder holes. When it did not go up, Roul’s temperature rose and his hands twitched. Eda was completely vulnerable, and there was not a thing he could do about it without making a scene. His eyes kept going to the black holes in the walls on either side of them, expecting to glimpse an arrow tip, but nothing moved. Then the portcullis finally went up, and he could breathe again.
