“Ask Ranulf if you don’t believe me. I sent him a message, telling him everything. He was to meet Constance and me at the monastery near here after I’d taken her there. Then we would both come to tell you what I’d learned. He’s got the letters, too, so he would know I was in earnest, and to keep them safe. He should be at the monastery. Wait for him before you kill me, Merrick, please!”
Again the sword nipped, and a slow trickle of blood ran down Henry’s cheek, to fall and mingle with theother blood already staining his tunic. “Why send this proof to Ranulf and not me?”
“Because I thought you’d be more likely to believe it if Ranulf was already convinced. But you must believe me. Lord Carrell and Lord Algernon are your enemies, not me!”
“What a convenient way to purchase more time—blaming others. Although what good you think it’s going to do you, I can’t guess. Have you any notion where you are?”
Henry looked at the damp stone walls around him. “A dungeon.”
“You’re in Tintagel. The earl of Cornwall himself is going to pass judgment on you. You might as well stop lying, Henry. It’s not going to save your miserable life.”
“For God’s sake, I’m telling you the truth! Your uncle wants Tregellas.”
“And he simply came out and told you, just as Lord Carrell blithely offered you my wife?” The sword moved to Henry’s throat. “I should kill you right now.”
“I’m not lying! He didn’t offer me Constance like a merchant making a trade. He implied she could be mine if you were dead. But that was just a ruse to get me to serve him.”
“And apparently a good one.”
“He was sure that because we’d quarreled, I would be against you.”
“Not surprising, given that you’ve betrayed me.”
“But I didn’t! I was angry, yes, and upset with you,but I’d never betray our oath, or our friendship. I agreed to serve him to protect you!”
“And thus you led a force that attacked me, my men and my wife.”
“Because if I didn’t, I couldn’t have saved Constance!”
“You planned to save her by abducting her and taking her where? And doing what?” The sword tip was against Henry’s chest now. “I saw how you looked at her, Henry.”
“She’s a beautiful woman, and, yes, if she were free, I’d do everything I could to get her into my bed. But I swear to you, Merrick, I’d never try to seduce your wife.”
“Perhaps seduction was not your aim.”
Henry’s eyes widened with shocked dismay, then his face twisted with anguish. “God, Merrick, you don’t think I’d rape her?”
“For all I know, you could be capable of anything.”
“For God’s sake—and the sake of our friendship all these years—listen to me! Carrell doesn’t just want you dead. He plans to kill Constance, too.”
“Why? What purpose would her death serve?”
“That way, Algernon would inherit Tregellas. Then he’s to marry Beatrice, so that Carrell and Algernon would be bonded by blood.”
“A fine story,” Merrick said through clenched teeth. “A very pretty tale.”
“I knew you could protect yourself in a fight, so I was trying to get Constance to safety. I would have succeeded, too, except that she fell.”
The sword pressed harder against him. “Yes, she fell and now lies unconscious. If she dies, I’m going to kill you myself. Very, very slowly.”
Henry’s already pale face blanched beneath the filth. “I swear to you on my life, Merrick, I was trying to get her to safety.”
Merrick drew back, a look of complete disgust on his face.
His voice nearly gone, Henry choked back a sob of anguished despair. “Can you so easily believe I’d betray you? Do you truly think me so completely without honor?”
Merrick shouted for the guard to open the door.
