‘We’ll see what happens,’ he said instead.
She gave him a scowl, and then her frown turned contemplative. ‘They’re moving.’
Hugh brandished his own pole. ‘And so will I.’
‘I don’t know how this will work.’
He wasn’t worried that she wasn’t clever enough to do the job of spy, he was worried that Alice would be too perceptive.
‘There will be a parade. Bump into people—feel their purses if necessary.’
‘I can’t believe we’re doing this. That this is what has brought us together.’
He tried not to read too much into the meaning of her words. ‘We’re not together, remember? We can’t discourage your true suitors. Plus, I’m the one having to scramble on my knees to catch the tiny creatures.’ He darted a look at her scandalised face. ‘Or not. You merely have to worry about the parade.’
‘I was doing fine before, when I couldn’t share my worries with anyone, but now I seem to be useless. Fretting. I’mneverlike this.’
She never had been before, but now her family was threatened. If he could gut the King for putting this burden on her, he would.
‘Don’t worry. We’ll see it through. And you’re not fretting. You’re thinking of all the things you have to do and all the ways you might get caught. All spies have those concerns.’
She smiled up at him, her hands clenched within her fur-lined cloak for warmth and her feet quickly dancing on the soft dirt to hold back the cold.
He felt like smiling back. Here they were together and, at least to outward appearances, looking as if they celebrated a tradition.
Alice was not the King’s mistress. Merely trying to save her family from ruin and hanging. And here he was, trying to protect her soft heart by saving birds. When in truth he’d shatter it, becausehewas the true threat to her family.
He had days still—weeks if the weather turned foul. There was time to find a solution, and protect his friend. He had given a vow, a traitorous one, but he would keep it or die.
He’d faced adversities his entire life. He would prevail against this one as well.
* * *
‘Your pole looks splendid!’ Alice exclaimed.
‘I didn’t catch any wrens,’ replied William.
‘None of the other men or boys did either.’ She pointed to the top. ‘I think you have the most wren feathers and holly, and your pole looks the heaviest.’
‘It isn’t heavy.’
Alice hid her smile. She could see William’s arms shaking.
‘Of course it’s heavy—just not heavy for you because you’re strong.’ She nodded to the other boys. ‘It would be heavy forthem, though.’
William’s grin widened. ‘I’m going to make them lift it!’
Alice waved as William stumbled ahead to his friends and the rest of the revellers. Somehow she and Hugh were the last in the parade that wound through the town.
‘Thank you.’
‘For what?’ he said. ‘We found no seal today.’
But for the first time since the King had commanded her she felt a glimmer of hope. If nothing else, she was trying everything she could to find the traitor. She wasn’t good at bumping into people, or feeling the purses around their waists. But at least there was ale being drunk, and her clumsiness was taken as a consequence of the crowds and the drink.
‘For saving the wrens.’
‘You never saw a thing.’
