They had an errant bride to find.
Kress and Susanna handed their horses over to the soldiers in charge of the carriage and took off on foot, heading in the direction that some of the men had seen Cadelyn take.
“You know her,” Kress said to Susanna as they ended up behind a row of houses. “Where would she go?”
Susanna was far more concerned than she let on. They were off the main street now, in an alleyway that stank of animals.
“It is difficult to say,” Susanna said, looking around. “You must understand that she mostly stayed to Castle Rising, except going in to Lynn once a week for mass with Lady Summerlin.”
Kress came to a halt, facing her seriously. “What about the times she would go into town to talk to that cleric about her lewd poetry?” he said, watching Susanna’s eyes register surprise. “Aye, I know about it. The night you found us coming out of Lynn together was the night I followed her there because she met with that cleric about her poems. I tried to tell you that but you did not believe me.”
Susanna looked at him, contritely, which was unusual for her. “I suppose I knew that,” she said. “But the day you twomet… it was clear there was something in the air between you. I thought you’d gone to seduce her.”
He frowned. “A knight who is charged with escorting the woman to her betrothed?” he said, incredulous. “Are you mad?”
Susanna was feeling quite remorseful by now. “Then you have my apologies for thinking otherwise,” she said. Then, she sighed. “As for Cadie, she would run into Lynn whenever she pleased, but always with a purpose. Always to the church. There was never any reason for her to go anywhere else.”
Kress turned to look at the big steeple over the roofs of the houses to his left. “Do you think she would go to the church now?”
Susanna was looking at the steeple, too. For the first time since meeting Kress, her guard seemed to go down. “You know that she is opposed to this betrothal,” she said. “If she is resistant enough, she is not beyond seeking sanctuary.”
Kress was thinking the same thing and it turned his stomach. His anger, his agitation, cooled.
“It will do no good,” he said. “I will tell you exactly what William Marshal would tell me– do whatever necessary to remove her from that church. Sanctuary would have no meaning and in the name of William Marshal, I would bring armed men into that church to retrieve her.”
Susanna looked at him, great concern on her face. “You would violate sanctuary, my lord?”
He snorted. “Child’s play,” he said. “Mayhap someday, I will tell you of all the things I did in The Levant, things that surely earn me a place in hell. Violating a church would be nothing.”
Susanna’s great concern seemed to grow. She didn’t want Cadelyn to be dragged out of a church in bindings, but she also didn’t want the woman wandering around an unfamiliar town. Cadelyn had a penchant for getting into trouble and Susanna had always been there to save her.
But not at the moment.
“You have knights at the church, my lord, and I am sure they will send word if Lady Cadelyn is there,” she said. “Meanwhile, the soldiers saw her come this way. I suggest we spread out and search every house and every garden. I do not see her fleeing to the open road, but mayhap finding a hiding place and waiting for us to give up our search. She may be foolish, but she is not stupid. There are too many dangers on the open road and she knows it.”
That was good enough for Kress. He split up his men, Susanna included, and they all began to search down different paths and with different homes. Kress took the alley west, following the main path and being attacked by unruly geese at one point. He had big, fortified gloves that he used to shove them away, but they were mean and tried to bite him. Eventually, they backed off as he crossed over into another block of homes, nearer to the church. He simply stood there a moment, looking around, wondering which direction to take.
But it was more than indecision. He wasn’t usually a man of inaction and, at the moment, he felt fairly bewildered. That woman– that bold, unruly woman with a taste for the unconventional– had somehow managed to get under his skin.
Oh, he could admit it now, to himself, but it was a rare moment of weakness for him to do that. He’d spent the past several days keeping that barrier up between them because he knew if he let it down, any semblance of self-control would leave him. She was intelligent and interesting, so much more than any other woman he’d ever known. And she was beautiful to look at; he could look at her all day and never grow weary of it. But just when he was coming to know her better, he’d put more stones in the wall between them and effectively shut her out.
But it was for the best.
… wasn’t it?
Now, she’d run off, and he had to admit that he felt fear. Fear for her safety above all else. He didn’t even care that The Marshal would be very angry if something happened to the betrothal with Ellesmere. All William cared about was the politics of things.
All Kress cared about was Cadelyn.
There… he admitted it.
He cared about her.
As he stood there and pondered what direction he should take to continue his search, a long-legged dog approached him, wagging his tail. It was a big dog, and friendly, and it had something in its mouth. But Kress wasn’t paying attention to the dog; he was looking to his surroundings, looking for the best course to take. But the dog suddenly jumped up on him, muddy paws and all, and Kress irritably shoved the dog aside. In doing so, he caught a glimpse of what was in the dog’s mouth.
He’d seen it before.
It was Cadelyn’s purse.
