Adam hadn’t expected her to turn the tables on him.He was so concerned with finding out Eve’s business with the king, he’d forgotten about his own secret mission.He couldn’t have her prying into his affairs.He couldn’t tell her who he was portraying either.
But just like her, he could invent characters from whole cloth.
He affected a gruff new accent.“Sir Walther, German mercenary.”
“And are ye here to fight for the king?”
“The king?”he said, feigning surprise.“Which king?”
Eve froze for an instant, obviously realizing her misstep.How would she know the king was here?
Recovering quickly, she shrugged.“Doesn’t every mercenary fight for the king?”
He chuckled in response.Evewasa fast thinker.
Still, she was getting too close to the truth for comfort.The fact she’d managed to talk her way into the king’s pavilion was bad enough.That she was feigning to be a person working on behalf of the Rivenlochs, a person who could easily be proven not to exist, was worse.But if she found out Adam was a spy, she would likely want to help him, and that would be perilous.
“Listen, Eve,” he said.“We need to leave.As soon as possible.”
“Leave?Why?”
“The woods are thick with…mercenaries.This is a dangerous place to be.”
“Is that what I heard in the forest as I passed?”Eve said, feigning ignorance about the king’s pavilion.“I thought ’twas a company o’ pilgrims.Are ye travelin’ with them?”
He avoided answering her directly.“Do I look like a pilgrim?”Before she could reply, he decided, “We’ll go to Castle Darragh.”
“The site o’ the tournament?”
He nodded.“I know the place well.’Twill be safe there.”
No doubt he knew the place, Eve thought.His Rivenloch clanswoman lived there.
Now she knew how her satchel had ended up in Lady Feiyan’s hands.
Though she’d agreed to go with him, journeying to Darragh seemed dangerous.She couldn’t take on a third identity.It was too risky.What if Feiyan recognized her, either as the colorful young archer who’d thrown the match at her tournament or the nun who’d offered to distribute her donation of clothing to the poor?
Did Adam intend to reveal his secret to Eve when they arrived, that he was a Rivenloch?When he introduced her to Lady Feiyan, would it be as an outlaw he’d met while traveling or his beloved betrothed?
Sadly, Eve knew the answer to that.And neither option was good.
“We should travel as clergy,” she decided.“’Tis safest that way.”
She could simply be Sister Eve.Feiyan knew her as a nun already, and Adam would assume Eve was playing a part.
He nodded in agreement.“Good.”
He began pulling monk’s robes out of his satchel.She dug in hers for her habit and a rag to wipe the powder from her face.
Then she stopped.If he was in such a hurry to spirit her away… “Wait.If there are mercenaries about, doesn’t that mean war is imminent?Where do ye suppose the fightin’ will be?”
He tensed his jaw, but made no comment.Of course that was what it meant.But if Adam was spying for Malcolm, he’d tell no one the king’s battle plans.
He frowned sternly.“We’ll be safe at Darragh.”
She knitted her brows in concern.“’Tis only that there’s a convent not far from Galloway, near Mauchline.I have…acquaintances there.I need to know they’ll be safe.”
“They’d ne’er attack a convent,” he said.“’Tisn’t honorable.”
