“You are Anaya Fortier, former serving maid to Lady Elena Kirkland Lancaster, Countess Hereford?” Ruark asked over the murmurs of his men.
She hesitated. “What do you want? I have told your man, I know nothing ... And I am not worth anything to anyone. My husband died years ago—”
“You are from Redesdale, Mrs. Fortier?”
Her knuckles tightened on the plaid wrap. She nodded.
“Are you acquainted with Friar Tucker? He is from Redesdale.”
“His father was a vicar living at Kirkland Park for twenty years.”
“Then he has family there? An uncle perhaps?”
“Nay, he does not.”
“A man recently passed away in Redesdale, a former captain of the guard at Kirkland Park, I believe,” he said. “He served Lady Elena’s father. It seems the widow of that man has come across an old letter ...”
Her expression was one of horror.
“Would you care to read the letter my men were given by the disgruntled wife of that recently deceased guard?”
The woman’s next breath brought tears to her eyes. “I do not doubt that woman would trade her soul to the devil for a handful of silver.”
“But you will not.”
Ruark stood. His own anger, normally subdued, but now barely contained as he leaned his palms against the table and bent toward her. “Then you know something of what happened to Lady Elena’s daughter. Is she alive?”
“Nay, I do not know. Her ship perished during a storm seventeen—”
“I have heard the stories. Even those that claim Hereford is keeping his daughter locked away some place on the continent. Is any of it true?”
She began to twist her hands. “Friar Tucker ... he would know. Please ... I do not know anything. He swore me to secrecy. I gave my word ...”
Ruark froze. “Why would he need to do such a thing?”
“Please . . . I know nothing.”
Ruark had not come here to frighten old women. But neither would he grant her quarter. He needed answers. “Why would he swear you to secrecy? Tell me, Mrs. Fortier. Far more than your life rests on your next words.”
“Oh, please ...” The woman dropped to her knees. “I was supposed to go with my mistress the night she boarded the ship, but there was a storm. After the departure was delayed, she was terrified that Lord Hereford would find her. She gave little Roselyn into my safekeeping and told me to take the child to Friar Tucker. Her ladyship andFriar Tucker grew up together. They were always close and she trusted him with her daughter’s life until she could return.”
For a moment, Ruark did not think he heard correctly. “Whatdid you say was the daughter’s name?”
“Roselyn, my lord. Lady Roselyn Elena Lancaster. She was three years old the last time I saw her. I swear I don’t know if she is still alive.”
Roselyn.Rose. . .
I have been at this abbey since I was three. I have witnessed much in seventeen years.
“The plaid you are wearing, Mrs. Fortier. Where is it from?”
Ruark now knew what was so familiar about her. He had seen that plaid or one like it in the abbey’s stable, wrapped around tomes about Arthurian legends, metallurgy and electricity—
“It belonged to my lady,” Mrs. Fortier said in near hysterics as Ruark walked around the table. She dropped her gaze to the floor. “Please ...”
He knelt beside her. “Why was the countess running away?”
Again, the woman shook her head. “She and Lord Hereford argued something terribly. ’Twas over the child’s inheritance. Lord Hereford thought that by marrying Lady Elena everything would be his upon the grandfather’s death. Kirkland Park belongs to my lady’s family, my lord. Not Lord Hereford. He was furious when he learned that Lady Elena’s grandfather put everything in something called a trust to keep it out of Hereford’s hands. The estate will come to the daughter when she reaches the age of majority. If she should die ... if something were to happen to the child, then the trust ... everything goes to the church.”
