Adam added, “She was abducted while under Fergus’s protection, Your Grace.She won’t trust him to protect her a second time.”
“Where do you think she’s gone?”asked the king.
Adam glanced at the physician.He knew something.But he wasn’t going to say it.
“It doesn’t matter,” Adam lied.He’d question the physician later.“As far as Fergus is concerned, Your Grace still holds her captive.”
“Fergus agreed to the truce?”
“Aye.He won’t attack.”
“Fine.”The king sighed.“I suppose ’twill give us time to build a trebuchet.”
Adam bowed and took his leave.
He hoped he could keep the stories he’d told straight.
The king believed Fergus was keeping the peace because he held Eve hostage.
Fergus believed the king was keeping the peace because he was waiting to amass a bigger army.
They both believed the siege would happen on the day after All Souls Day, which it would, but only because Adam had made it so.
He sighed.After this was over, he’d need to go on a very long pilgrimage to atone for all his half-truths.
Eve’s trek through the forest at night was blessed by the full moon.It shone like a light to guide her home, reinforcing her sense she was doing the right thing in returning to the convent.
Twice betrayed by a Judas, it was time for her to accept her fate.Life as a nun.Doing God’s work.Sworn to lifelong chastity.
But if this was her chosen path, why did the stars of her destiny blur overhead as she followed it?
Why did her heart ache with loss for what would never be?
Why did she weep all the way through the woods?
By the time she reached the convent, dawn was breaking, and she was all out of tears.
But her silence was only a temporary surrender.Her peace was only a facade.Deep in her soul, she knew she’d bear the scars of grief forever.
She managed to steal into the convent and to her cell without being noticed.That was another gift from God.For if any of the sisters had taken note of her missing wimple and veil and seen her blood-stained habit, there would have been questions.
She sat on her pallet and eyed her spare set of clothing hung on a hook.She’d have to burn the bloody habit.She wasn’t sure if her wimple and veil were in her satchel.The guards must have stuffed her belongings into it after she’d emptied it on the floor of the king’s pavilion, looking for the royal dagger.
She dumped the contents onto the pallet.
Her veil and wimple were there.Her herbs.Her provender.And her costumes.
Those she would need no longer.She would go adventuring no more.
She choked on a knot of sorrow.
Then one other item caught her eye.
The marriage document.
Her breath stopped.
She assumed either the king or Adam had confiscated it.
