“That’s all too true,” Rafe muttered. No one knew just how far Theobald de Vere had gone to take power from his brother, or just how far he was willing to go to keep that power. However, Theobald’s plans didn’t go as he intended, and now Rainald was once again the head of the de Vere family.
Unfortunately, Rafe had been a willing pawn in Theobald’s game for too long, and the price of losing was steep. Steeper than he’d anticipated. Rafe hadn’t considered how valuable his friendships were until he destroyed them.
“Any word from Luc?” he asked, remembering their other close friend from the early training days.
“He’s well,” Alric said, his expression changing to one of genuine happiness. “I saw him just before Christmastide, in fact.”
“I expect he’s at court. He was always eager to play politics.”
“Less eager than he used to be. His interests are now more domestic.”
“Domestic? Luc? What happened?”
“He married, and is now a father.”
Rafe blinked. “I’d have heard! If Luc of Braecon married, it would have been into one of the great families—the news of that alliance would have been talked of everywhere. Who’d the king pick for him?” Rafe couldn’t believe he missed that news. He made a point of checking for such tidbits whenever he could.
“It’s a long story, in fact. His wife isn’t from one of the families you would guess, but he’s well content. And not too far away, since his new lands are only a few days ride south of Cleobury.”
“Don’t tell him I’m here,” Rafe said. It was bad enough to face Alric. He couldn’t face Luc too.
“No promises.”
Rafe accepted that. Alric didn’t owe him anything.
“You can sleep in the southeast room,” Alric went on. “No more lurking in the woods outside.”
“Well, at least it will be a comfortable imprisonment. Do you want me to surrender my weapons?”
“No,” Alric said. “You’re too intelligent to do something stupid when yourclientis forced to remain here at Cleobury for her own health.”
“Speaking of which, are we done? I’d like to talk with her.” Rafe began to walk to the door.
Alric stepped into his path. “I don’t think that’s necessary. After all, she doesn’t mean anything to you. And now that she is at Cleobury, we’re all responsible for protecting her, not just physically, but her reputation as well. Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, would we?”
Rafe rolled his eyes. He’d be damned before he admitted the truth of what happened between him and Angelet. Let Alric guess if he wanted to. Rafe didn’t have to make it easy for him. He said, “I don’t need to see her. It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.” The words came out easily enough, but for some reason Alric just looked more annoyed than before.
“Maybe you haven’t changed at all,” he said.
“Don’t tell me about myself,” Rafe warned. “You don’t know me.”
“Of course I do,” Alric retorted. “We grew up together, we fought together, and we fought against each other. And when you had the whole country to choose from, you came here for shelter. Goodnight, Rafe. Welcome back to Cleobury.”
* * * *
Rafe spent his night dead asleep. He expected to be restless, disturbed by the return to his old home and anxious for the health of Angelet. But after days of sleeping outside and the whole time running from whoever was after him and Angelet on the road, Rafe couldn’t resist the appeal of a clean mattress and the soft linens of a real house. Everything about the manor spoke of comfort, and Rafe woke up feeling amazingly refreshed and even somewhat optimistic.
The good feelings didn’t last long, of course. Everywhere he went, he felt the eyes of the residents on him, and knew they were talking about him. Exchanging old gossip and new guesses about his plans. He could sense their interest, much as he could sense when someone on a battlefield was getting ready to go for him in particular.
His reaction, predictably, was to tense up, to prepare to fight, even though there was no actual attack coming. Still, it reminded him of what he should be doing.
As he left the manor house with his weapons and gear, he encountered Alric.
“Not running away, I hope,” Alric said by way of a greeting.
Rafe said, “I’m going to the practice fields.”
“Why?”
