Had James been correct? Were the English attacking the Bruce’s stronghold in his absence?
She opened her mouth to scream when a young man appeared at the tree line, his finger to his lips.
Averyyoung man, a young Englishman with frightened brown eyes, and Tosia stumbled back when she realized who stood before her.
“Simon!” she squealed and shifted her gaze around the gardens to make sure no one saw the lad. “What are ye doing here? If any of the king’s men find ye, my words will no’ be enough to keep your head upon your shoulders!”
He dipped his tawny blond head, as if registering the danger he presented, then lifted his youthful face to hers. His fair eyes were shadowed, as if haunted.
“Yes, I know. But I cannot let this lie, and if it means my life, so be it.”
Tosia pursed her lips at his attempt at bravado.
“What can ye no’ let lie?” she asked, stepping closer to the trees. Better to keepthispeculiar interlude hidden.
“I’ve overheard information that does not sit well with me, not as a good Catholic or as a moral man. My mam raised me better than that. Your king, he’s had a missive to meet with the King Edward’s representative, yes?”
Tosia froze, a creeping, icy sensation reaching to her neck. How did this lad know of that meeting? What did he know?
“Aye. They left this day to prepare.”
The lad cursed under his breath. “Can you find them? Send someone to warn them?”
“Warn them?” Tosia said in hushed voice. “Of what?”
“Your king, or better, your own man, might already have an idea that the English plan to lay a trap. But ‘tis worse than you realize. The king’s advisers are willing to sacrifice their own for this ploy.”
Tosia clutched at her chest. “What do ye mean?”
Simon flicked his eyes back and forth in the trees. “They plan to burn them in the Locherbie estate house. The outside of is made mostly of clay and stone, but they have tucked wood and peat and the like around the edges and hidden it in wooden crucks of the building. Once they are all inside.”
Tosia recalled what James had said about the previous events where the English previously burned unsuspecting Scots in churches and manses. “But my husband, the king, and his men won’t enter until the emissaries are present and in the manse. They are no’ fools.”
“No,” Simon said, shaking his head sadly, “but they are more honorable, even the man with the reputation — the Black Douglas, your husband? Even his most dire actions are naught compared to what King Edward’s advisers deign to do.”
“Nay, they are taking precautions . . .”
The lad waved her protestations away. “The King Edward is willing to kill his own men. The emissary? His coterie? They are not the only English headed to Locherbie. The first group is the sacrifice, the lure. And they have no knowledge of the second group that even now preparing to lie in wait until your king’s men arrive.”
All of Tosia’s blood left her head, and she swooned. The English lad grasped her arm to hold her upright.
“How do ye know all this?” she whispered.
His eyeswerehaunted — sad and haunted and the windows to a soul trying to do what was right.
“I am with the party that is laying the trap,” Simon told her in a terse voice.
Tosia swallowed, trying to dislodge the tightness in her throat. Her whole body wanted to shut down in shock, and she willed herself to focus.
A chime of laughter rose from the kitchens as several young women spilled into the gardens, and Simon slipped silently back into the wood.
“I have to go. My absence will be noted, and as I don’t plan to rejoin them, I will have much to account for.”
Tosia grabbed his sleeve. “Wait! Why are you telling me this?” she asked in a rushed whisper.
The lad dropped his eyes again. “You saved me, milady, when your husband, and truly anyone else in your position, would have seen me dead. I knew it to be providence, the grace of God and your kind hand that kept me alive. I vowed that I’d do whatever I could to repay that miracle. You are too kind a woman to be caught up in this, and many of my fellow soldiers are more violent and immoral than I care to admit. This kindness, to save your husband and perchance your king from a vile ambush, ‘twas the best way I could conjure to repay what you did for me. For my family.”
Tosia’s heart went out to the lad — in this moment, he reminded her again of her brother so strongly, her chest throbbed. Oh, this poor youth, too young to be a party to such darkness.
