Now he had to wonder if it had all been planned. But the King couldn’t know what Alice meant to him—couldn’t know it was he who carried the Half-Thistle Seal. Well trained, all too careful, he’d watched his back.
His obligations, his vows, were dangerous but necessary. Life-saving for Robert and his family. Whether the King was speculating or not, he needed to be more careful.
The same went when it came to Alice. Alice who was far more noble and brave than he. Not only in her wanting to help others, not only in her stalwart attempts to keep her family from the King’s wrath. Because she had the courage to walk beside him. To tell him of her feelings, her wants.
She wanted him. Still. Traitor that he was.
Coward that she knew him to be.
Only a coward would avoid a woman declaring herself so sweetly, so resolutely.
He reeled from her words. She didn’t care about his past—she wanted him, his touch. She wanted to pledge herself before this town, and God, to him.
A traitor.
He could never have her. Poor, from a dishonoured family. He had never deserved her.
Yet, fiercely, he wanted to be selfish for once in his life. Hadn’t he paid enough debts already? Hadn’t he earned some happiness as he’s taken the jibes of the townsfolk, as he’d fed his father to sober him up?
He wanted simply to hold her hand. Never for himself. If he did, he’d be sentencing Robert’s happiness. If he did, he’d be damning her and her family.
Still he sought a solution. He hoped it wasn’t in vain.
He looked at his cup—empty, never filled. There were days when he knew to drink deep, and nights when he didn’t dare. This was one of them. At least the weather was as foul as his mood and no one would disturb him.
He hadn’t drunk since the Boar’s Head Feast. He might never drink again. But he needed a drink, needed to free himself from this town, and his memories.
He had nowhere to go.
This house—tidied because of Bertrice, was repaired enough to withstand a storm. He wanted to demolish it all. Because no matter how many days or weeks went by he couldn’t solve the dilemma that was right before him. How to save Robert...how to save Alice.
And why was Eldric pounding on the door?
No, too light to be his friend, too insistent to be polite.
He yanked it open. A boy was shoved through, tripping over his feet and falling to the ground.
‘Hugh!’ a woman yelled.
Alice.
He pulled her in.
* * *
She was cold...so cold. The wind and ice were no longer stabbing her, but she felt no relief. ‘Where’s William?’
‘I’ve got him. He’s safe,’ Hugh said.
Her eyes stinging, she watched Hugh pull William onto his lap and press his cheek to the boy’s lips. Hurriedly, he yanked off his shoes and stripped off his clothes.
‘Get out of your clothes.’
Her teeth chattering, she shook her head. ‘Him first.’
‘I’ve got him. I can’t take care of both of you. Alice, get your cloak off. I’ll get the rest.’
Her bones were frozen, her arms no longer her own. ‘I can’t. I carried him... I can’t lift them.’
