“I wasn’t skulking.”It came out like the voice of a petulant child.
“What were ye doin’?”
“I was… I was…” He scowled, trying to remember.Whathadhe been doing?Oh aye, he’d been following someone from the monastery.But he wasn’t supposed to tell her that, was he?
Why?Why wasn’t he supposed to tell her?
He let out a long sigh.It seemed pointless to keep secrets from Carenza.After all, they already shared secrets.They were already accomplices in crime, weren’t they?
“I’ll tell y’,” he decided.“But y’ mustn’t tell anyone.C’n I trust y’?”
“Aye.”
“D’ y’ swear it on y’r honor as a knight?Y’ won’t tell a soul?”
“I’m not a knight.”
He rattled his head.“Argh.”Of course she wasn’t.“D’ y’ swear on y’r honor as a lady?”
“Aye.”
Checking the corners of the chamber just to be sure there were no witnesses lurking about, he beckoned her near.
She came close, and for a moment he was distracted by the sublime perfume of her skin.
Then he whispered, “At the request o’ the abbot o’ Kildunan, I’m investigatin’ a series o’ thefts from the monastery.”
Up until now, Carenza had mostly been amusing herself with Hew’s intoxication.The opium wine had worked quickly to ease his pain.But it had also made him a bit daft.He was indulging in wild conspiracies.Garbling his words.Spewing awkward compliments.
This, however, was intriguing.Furthermore, it sounded true.It made little sense for an esteemed warrior of Rivenloch to be sent to a sleepy monastery just to sample the life of a monk.
“What kind o’ thefts?”she asked.
“Big ones.Mon’st’ry treasure.A silv’r cross.A gold chal’ce.A jewel’d Bible.”
Then she straightened, realizing what he was saying.“Ye think someone from Dunlop took them?”
“Nay,” he said.Then he screwed up his forehead.“At leas’ I don’t think so.”
“Then why were ye here in the middle o’ the night?”
He yawned.The opium was making him drowsy.“I w’s followin’ someone.”
“Who?”
“I’m not sure.He left the mon’st’ry, so I followed him.”
“Ye thought it might be the thief?”
“Mm-hm.”
“And he came to Dunlop?”
He nodded.“But turned out ’twas a monk.”
“A monk?What was he doing, comin’ to Dunlop in the middle o’ the night?”
“That’s wh’t I wanted to know.Which ’s why I was followin’ him.”
