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"Whatever for?" she asked with surprise.
"Well, he was in here asking Godfrey about something he'd sent him to the village for when Edda came in and teased the boy about his complete lack of direction. She said only a fool could get lost on the way back from the village, or someone completely ignorant of navigation. She then asked Alex had he not taught the boy to navigate by the moss on the trees during the day and the stars at night." Una grimaced and muttered, "The cow. She was making like 'twas all teasing, but she was criticizing him for all that."
Merry felt her mouth compress, knowing Edda's words had probably felt as sharp to Alex as her own insult to his sense of responsibility when she'd suggested it was not well done of him to plan a trip to Donnachaidh without first tending to his men's fighting skills here.
"I thought he'd snap at her, but no such luck," Una said glumly.
Merry raised an eyebrow at the disappointment in her voice. Una's comments made it more and more obvious that not only was she not warming to Alex's stepmother, but instead she seemed to be growing a stronger antipathy to her, but Merry had no idea why that was. Even the maid could not explain it, claiming 'twas just a feeling she had about the woman.
"Anyway," Una went on, drawing her attention back to her explanation, "yer husband decided he'd teach the boy what he could tonight and ushered him off up to the tower to train him in how to navigate by the stars."
"I did not see them pass through the great hall."
"Nay, he used the back stairs." Una turned and gestured to a stairwell in the back corner of the room. "It meets up with the stairs from the second floor about halfway up."
"Is there a guard on that tower?" Merry asked sharply, a bad feeling flowing through her.
"Nay. Well, there was, but he came down to find a warm drink just as Edda entered, and when Alex decided to take Godfrey up there, he said he'd keep an eye out and suggested the guard give his legs a stretch. He's going to send for him when he's done."
"Then he and Godfrey are alone up there?" she asked with sudden alarm.
"Aye," Una answered, and then asked, "What is it? Ye've gone all pale."
"Godfrey is Edda's nephew," Merry muttered, and rushed for the stairs, suddenly sure her husband should not be alone with Godfrey.
chapter Sixteen
Merry was perhaps halfway up the winding tower staircase when Edda suddenly stepped out of the shadows a step or two above her. The woman's appearance brought an abrupt halt to her headlong rush, and Merry eyed her warily and pressed a hand to the stone wall to steady herself.
"Edda," she greeted, managing to keep her voice polite.
"Why, Merry dear, wherever are you headed in such a hurry?" Edda asked lightly, gracing her with one of her sweet smiles.
Merry considered her briefly, and then said, "I thought to go join Alex and Godfrey on the roof."
"What a lovely idea," Edda responded at once. "I could do with a bit of fresh air myself. Why do we not go up together?"
When she hesitated, wondering how to handle this, Edda suddenly slipped her hand out from behind her back, revealing a small but lethal-looking dagger with a jeweled handle. Her smile suddenly as sharp as the blade's edge, she suggested, "Why do you not lead the way?"
Merry's mouth tightened, but she had little choice but to do as Edda said and started forward. It wasn't until she was passing Edda that she saw the door she'd been standing in front of. The door to the second floor, Merry supposed, stiffening when she felt the tip of Edda's blade press into her back.
"I had a feeling you might be a problem when I saw your expression as you read the letter at the table. Godfrey told me it was from his father. You recognized the name, didn't you?"
Merry nodded. "Evelinde said your sister was married to a Lord Duquet. I thought it too much of a coincidence that Godfrey's father was also a Lord Duquet."
"Hmm. I thought so," Edda said, and Merry couldn't help but notice that the sweet, affectionate voice was gone, a cold and even smug one in its place.
"I thought ye'd gone to yer room," Merry muttered, continuing grimly up the stairs.
"I did, but only to fetch my knife. 'Twas as I was leaving my room and walking by the stairs that I happened to glance down and see you seated at the trestle table in the great hall, reading the letter from Godfrey's father."
"Ye mean yer brother-in-law, do ye no'?" she asked dryly.
"Aye, he is that, too," Edda admitted. "Though I've never had much use for either him or my sister. They are a pair of mealymouthed, whey-faced cows; perfect for each other, but hardly interesting otherwise."
"And Godfrey?" Merry asked grimly.
"Oh, he at least shows some promise," she said, and then clucked her tongue and added, "Unfortunately, he is young yet and prone to make mistakes."
Thank God, Merry thought unhappily. Those mistakes were probably the only reason Alex still lived, and if she was lucky, he might make another tonight and she and Alex might yet get out of this.
"Speaking of my nephew," Edda said suddenly, prodding her with the blade, "do move more quickly, Merry, I am eager to see that all is well in the tower. If Godfrey hasn't erred yet again, Alex should already be lying broken on the stones below the tower."
Merry prayed that wasn't true and paused to peer back at her as she asked, "Why are ye doin' all o' this?"
"Because I am not ready to give up my position as Lady d'Aumesbery," Edda said simply.
"Killing Alex would not achieve that for you," Merry pointed out. "Neither will killing both of us. D'Aumesbery will merely go to Evelinde and Cullen and their heirs."
"No, it will not," Edda assured her firmly, and jabbed her angrily with the blade for the suggestion.
Merry winced as it made a shallow cut in her back, but merely shook her head and continued walking. To her mind, the woman's plan could never work. D'Aumesbery certainly would go to Evelinde and Cullen did Edda succeed in killing both Alex and her this night. The woman was obviously mad, she decided, and then reminded herself that being mad merely made her more dangerous. She then gave up trying to sort out Edda's reasoning in favor of trying to anticipate what was coming and find a way to save both herself and Alex.
Unfortunately, she had little time to think. They had almost reached the tower by then, and all too soon they were stepping out into the starlit night. Merry immediately glanced around, searching out her husband, but any hopes she might have pinned on him died the moment she saw him lying unconscious before Godfrey. He had either fallen across the top of the parapet when Godfrey had attacked him unexpectedly, or he had fallen on the floor and Godfrey had so far managed to get him half over the bulwark. She could not tell if her husband was dead or just unconscious, but knew he must be one or the other for he was completely still and silent as the boy pushed and prodded at his limp form, trying to push him up and over the wall.
"Dammit, Godfrey! Can you do nothing right?" Edda snapped, urging Merry across the tower toward them. "Alex should be lying broken and dead in the bailey below by now."
"Oh, aye," Godfrey grunted, not bothering to look around as he worked. "And if you think 'tis that easy, why do you not get over here and try to push him off? I have no stomach for this bit of business anyway."
"That became more than obvious to me with your repeated failures to kill him on the way to and back from Scotland," Edda said dryly, catching Merry's arm and drawing her to a halt several feet from the pair. "Unfortunately, you shall have to manage it on your own as I am presently otherwise engaged."
"Ha ha," Godfrey snapped, sounding nothing like the sweet, shy lad she'd known since arriving at d'Aumesbery. It seemed Edda was not the only actor in the family. "Why do you not--"
