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John glanced at Philip, who put up both hands and remained silent.

“I know not,” John said. “If we have unseen help, I don’t know what they’re doing, but I’ll attempt to communicate with them, to join forces. Elizabeth, once again, I have to ask: let me take you away from here. We’ll leave Bannaster a message, so he knows that Anne is not the true heiress.”

She was already shaking her head. “He won’t believe that. He’ll think it a trick to make him leave the castle in pursuit. He’s already shown that he would take Anne to bed. I cannot risk it.”

“You are a stubborn woman,” he said angrily, gritting his teeth. “You care so little about your own life.”

“There are others who need my care,” she insisted.

He reluctantly admitted to himself that her loyalty and bravery were part of what drew him to her. “Very well. First we have to make sure that this soldier who knows about you is taken care of.”

She looked between them with concern. “Be careful.”

He gave her a smile. “Always. Now turn your back while we wash and change.”

She glanced at the door.

“You’re not going out of my sight,” he added.

With a roll of her eyes, she found a stool and sat on it with her back to the chamber. “Hurry!”

Twenty minutes later, when they were ready to leave, Philip said, “The soldiers will be on the tiltyard. Let me go alone to find our captor.”

“Nay, I will not have it,” John said, feeling the need to accomplish something. “I have sat on my ass for days now and watched you have the fun of training.”

“Fun?” Elizabeth said.

John glanced at her. “There is nothing in the world like pitting yourself against an opponent, using only your skill and brains to vanquish him.”

“And a sword,” Philip added.

“And then the next day being able to do it all again,” John continued, feeling pride in his accomplishments.

None of which would have happened if his father hadn’t allowed him to leave home at sixteen. Had his father been helping him?

“But John, there’s no point in all three of us going,” Philip said. “The risk of capture will be greater.”

“And if you’re captured, Philip?” Elizabeth said.

John frowned. “Let us worry about that if it happens.”

“And it won’t,” Philip said jauntily. “I can be very stealthy. You two wait here. I’ll leave the castle by the lady’s garden, avoiding the great hall, and return as quickly as I can.”

When Philip had gone, John and Elizabeth looked at each other, and a tension rose between them.

Elizabeth was still feeling flustered by how overpowering her relief had been when she’d discovered that he was all right. She’d almost flung herself on him, dirt and all, when he’d walked into the room. She could have easily wept, which had made her feel weak.

But it wasn’t weak to care for someone, and John was soon to be her husband. He pleased her in many ways, but there was so much she didn’t know about how he would treat a marriage. And she desperately wanted to think about something else rather than Philip’s vulnerability.

“John, when we’re married⁠—”

His head came up, and he grinned.

“Aye, I’m optimistic,” she said.

“You just assume you’ll always get your way.”

“And will you mind if I’m the same when we marry?”