She shook her head and took a sip of water.“Not by anyone lookin’ forye.”
Carenza wondered who would be pursuing a nun.Maybe the abbess?
“Ye seem hale,” Eve noted with a twinkle in her eye, swiftly changing the subject.“Motherhood looks good on ye.”
Carenza blushed.She was still getting accustomed to this new and fascinating Sister Eve.
Eve drained the cup and handed it back to Hew.
“First things first.”Eve came to her feet, arching a brow at Carenza.“I don’t suppose ye have that habit I loaned ye?”
“The nun’s habit?”Carenza said.“I do.’Tis right where I packed it that night.”
She went to the satchel that slouched beside the hens’ roost and pulled out the folded bundle of gray linen.But when she handed it to Eve, several pieces of parchment slipped out, scattering on the ground.
Her breath caught.She’d forgotten all about Gellir’s verses.She certainly hadn’t meant for Hew to ever see them.She hadn’t even meant to keep them.She’d only meant to remove all the incriminating evidence from Darragh.
Mortified, she blushed as she hurriedly scooped them up.
“What are those?”Hew asked.
Eve immediately sensed her discomfiture.“Och, those are likely mine.I’m always tuckin’ scripture into my habits.”She held out her hand to take the pages from Carenza.
Carenza shot her a glance of gratitude.
“Do ye mind if I change while we talk?”Eve asked.
Hew, whose patience would soon run thin, glowered.“Fine.I just need news from home.”He turned his back so she could undress.“Gellir got my message after the wedding, aye?He knows I took the fall for Carenza’s disappearance?He knows he’s free from blame, right?”
“Och, ’twasn’t so simple as that,” she said, untying the silk rope girdle around her hips.“It seems ye and Gellir had the same plan.”
“What?”Hew barked.“What did he do?”
“He ran off and left a missive sayin’ ’twashewho broke off the betrothal with Carenza.”
Carenza gasped.Why would he do that?
“He claimed he wasn’t ready to take a wife,” Eve continued as she pulled the velvet surcoat over her head.“He said he wished to sow his oats a while longer.”
Hew grunted in disbelief.
She tossed the surcoat across the stump, which unfortunately scattered the pages again.
So Carenza hastily gathered them up once more.All but one.One of them landed at Hew’s feet.
He picked it up and looked at the page.
She froze.
Not noticing, Eve carried on, changing out of her crisp white leine into the drab nun’s garment.“He said when Carenza ran away in tears, he sent Sir Hew to retrieve her.”
“What?”Hew snapped, momentarily distracted from the page.
“He took the blame,” Eve said, “and made ye the hero.”
“But that’s not right,” Hew insisted.“I was to take the blame.To makehimthe hero.”
“I see.”Carenza spoke the sad truth.“Gellir tried to save our honor.”
