"Yer friend who works in the castle?"
"Aye."He crossed to her and kissed her cheek."Hilde will see to ye while I'm gone.If ye need anything, Ros and Tam are in the corridor."
"I am perfectly capable of sitting in a room by myself for an hour," she replied.
"I know ye are."He kissed her again."But I feel better knowing ye are not alone.We will be back before noon."
He left.Seumas gave her a small nod on his way out.
Una stood in the drawing room and listened to their boots on the corridor flagstones until the sound faded.
***
Chapter 20
The King's Chamber
The king's privatestudy was a room Cormac knew well.Not the great audience chamber where petitions were heard, but the smaller room behind it: a roaring fire, plain furniture, maps on the walls, a jug of wine on the sideboard that the king poured himself when he did not want a servant present.Cormac had sat in this room more times than he could count across two reigns, and it was private and comfortable.
He and Seumas were shown in by a steward who left immediately and closed the door.The king's guard remained inside the room, within easy distance.He had guarded the young king during his exile in France and remained his loyal guard still.
King David was at the window.He turned when they entered, and the expression on his face was the one Cormac recognized as genuine: warm, alert, amused.He was still young enough to have not lost his eager enthusiasm when amongst friends.
"Shadow."He crossed the room and clasped his hand."Ye look well.Life agrees with ye."
"Your Majesty."Cormac inclined his head."Thank ye for the audience."
"Come, sit, we are not standing on ceremony."The king moved to the sideboard and poured two cups without asking."Seumas.Ye look hale."
"I am, thank ye, Your Majesty," Seumas said, accepting his cup.
They sat.The king settled back in his chair."Tell me everything.I have heard some parts from my enforcer, but I wish to hear more from ye."
***
CORMAC TOLD HIM.THEkidnapping plot, the intercept on the road, the gang operating through the burgh.He told him about the thane's daughter used as bait and what had nearly befallen an innocent woman caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.He kept it plain, and the king, even for one so young, listened without interrupting.
