“I am sorry to hear it.”
He nodded.
“May we walk? I do no’ wish anyone to overhear what I must say.”
“Aye. Down to the shore?”
“Please.”
She wanted to take his hand. Wanted it so much she ached. But there were people all around, and she did not wish to attract notice. So she folded her hands at her waist, an act of self-discipline.
“I must confess, princess, you have my curiosity at a pitch. Wha’ does this concern?”
“Your brother.” She barely spoke the words, so he had to bend his head to her and listen.
“My—”
“Wait. Wait until we reach the shore.”
A bright day, and no mistake. Darlei had to narrow her eyes as she watched the boats bouncing on the waves. White horses danced as far out as she could see.
He waited with that patience that seemed so much a part of him till they reached the shore, where the sound of the waves might cover whatever she wanted to say.
“Now,” he prompted her.
And she said without looking at him, “I believe your brother wishes to murder me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Deathan eyed thewoman beside him, who looked not at him but continued to gaze out to sea, as if she had not just spoken the last words he expected to hear.
Her profile was strong, strong. That stubborn, pointed chin and the nose that was perhaps a bit too robust to grace the countenance of a woman.
She looked deadly serious.
“What?” he asked, hushed. “I think I canna ha’ heard ye right.”
“You did.”
She drew a breath, trying to master her emotions or perhaps seeking words. His was not her mother tongue, after all.
“Last evening after supper I heard Rohr talking to a young woman, in the corridor outside your mother’s small solar. They did not know I was there.”
Oh.Deathan blinked rapidly in an effort to assimilate it. This could not be good. “Wha’ did ye hear?”
She moved closer to him, her arm brushing his, still staring out to sea as if she did no more than admire the view to the horizon.
“He is in love with someone else—the girl to whom he was speaking. She is carrying his child.”
When Deathan did not speak, she shot him a glance. “You do not look surprised. You knew?”
“Aye.” His mind struggled with it. “Wha’ has that to do wi’ him wanting to—tomurderye?”
“I should say, it is the young woman in question who wishes me dead. She beseeched him to forsake our betrothal and marry her instead. When he said he must obey the king’s orders, she—” Darlei stopped abruptly.
“Aye?”
“She told him to go ahead and wed wi’ me, and then he could make sure I did no’ survive long. As a widower, he could then wed wi’ her, and their child would be the heir to—to all this.”
