About half an hour later, though, no one—local or stranger—had located the elusive, lovely Angelet.
Simon eventually gave a sigh and kicked a wall with his foot. “I swear we’ve been through every hallway and room three times by now. Still no sign of the lady. How can she simply vanish?”
Rafe said calmly, “There’s no magic or mystery at work here. I’m sure she’ll be found, and all will be explained.”
“God willing,” said Simon. “To be out of a job before it begins! My father will laugh at me. He’s a carpenter, and my older brother’s a carpenter, and Lord, I don’t want to be a carpenter too. I was sure the soldiering life couldn’t be so difficult, yet I’m failing from the first. How can we escort the lady through half the kingdom when she can’t be located inside one manor house?”
“She’ll be found.” Rafe smiled, then looked around. “Come, let’s try another tack. We’ve scoured the manor house, so let’s go outside. Perhaps she’s somewhere else on the grounds. Someplace where she might not have heard any commotion of those looking for her. Someplace quiet and peaceful…”
Simon’s eyes lit up. “My God…the chapel!”
“Good thinking,” Rafe said, happy Simon had picked up the idea Rafe so carefully suggested. “Let’s go there.”
Rafe entered the chapel with Simon on his heels. Next to an upright, carved wooden crucifix, a candle set in a heavy wrought iron candlestick burned on the altar, the only light in the space. Rafe was a little surprised, since he expected that Angelet would have lit at least a few other candles while she was waiting there, as they had agreed.
“The other candlestick is missing,” Simon said then.
“What?” Rafe turned to the other man, who was staring at the altar in puzzlement.
“The other candlestick.” Simon pointed to the altar. “I stepped in here earlier, and there were two candlesticks, each flanking the crucifix. They should always be lit. Yet now there’s just one. That’s strange.”
“Someone may have needed light,” Rafe hazarded. It was a ridiculous suggestion, and he knew it. No one would have taken a heavy candlestick from the altar itself. There were other candles in more humble holders to be used. Something was not right. “Lady Angelet?” he called out. “Are you here?”
There was no answer.
Rafe made his way up the center aisle. “Lady Angelet, people are looking for you. If you’re at prayer, we can at least tell everyone where—”
He broke off, because when he reached the altar, he saw a pool of white of the ground. A woman’s skirts. Angelet lay at the far side, the heavy candlestick nearby, its light now doused. “Jesu,” he muttered.
Behind him, Simon asked, “What is it?”
Rafe knelt beside Angelet, reaching for her hand. It was ice cold, and she didn’t react at all to his touch.
“Oh, dear God,” Simon said, now seeing what Rafe saw. “Is she dead?”
Rafe bent to her face, and felt the slightest puff of breath from her open lips. “No. She’s alive. Go get help!”
Simon dashed off immediately, and Rafe turned to the unconscious woman at his feet.
“Angelet,” he said, quietly. “Wake up. We’re alone. You need not act now.”
She did nothing, said nothing. Rafe realized that whatever was happening now, it was no act to explain away her absence. Something serious happened to Angelet, leaving her alone and helpless on the cold stone floor.
Moments later, several people entered the chapel.
“Thank God,” Rafe muttered. He raised his voice. “Over here!”
“I sent out a cry, sir,” Simon said. “This is Bethany, one of Lady Angelet’s maids.”
After Bethany, Ernald came in, along with a few of the manor’s guards.
The petite maid looked down at Angelet’s prone body with narrowed eyes, then spoke. “So that’s why we couldn’t find her. She had another seizure and couldn’t hear us calling.”
The utter lack of concern in her tone made Rafe tense up. “This happens often?”
“Often enough,” Ernald said. “Sometimes months go by between her fits, but it’s no surprise to see another.”
“How do you care for her now?”
