note the glance Henry exchanged with Ariel. “You do not trust me to safeguard your sister’s virtue? Perhaps I should take insult, my lord. Perhaps I should indeed be questioning the whereabouts of your man, but for different reasons.”
“Different reasons?”
Gisbourne’s eyes glittered and dropped slowly down to the Pembroke lions emblazoned on Henry’s sleeve. He seemed to grow very still, as if he himself could not quite believe the connection his mind was trying to make, and when he glanced up again, it was to a point high on the wall of the great hall, undoubtedly in the general direction of a certain tower room.
“You will forgive my bluntness for saying it, but I also have valuables that must be safeguarded,” he said evenly. “Captain Brevant! Yourself and four of your best, if you please. We will all escort Lady Ariel to her chambers and ensure no harm has befallen your man.”
Trapped, Henry and Ariel could do nothing but allow themselves to be accompanied from the dais. Out of the corner of her eye, Ariel saw Sedrick surge to his feet, but on a sharp glance from Gisbourne, he was suddenly surrounded by the same guards who had been in jeopardy of having their heads crushed moments before, only now they were not laughing. Robin stood uncertainly by the table, his face pale and taut as he watched the De Clares being led away under armed guard.
Gisbourne paused and looked back. “By all means, call your young man to accompany us,” he said to Ariel. “If the walls do indeed seethe with infamy, he would be better in our company.”
The easier to lock us all together in the same cell? Ariel wondered.
With her heart thudding in her throat, she attempted to smile at Robin as he joined them. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was as anxious as she to know what Gisbourne would do when it was discovered Eduard had not been left standing guard. Would he sound the alarm and search for him? Would they search the princess’s tower and find him there, condemning them all to donjon cells deep beneath the bowels of the keep?
Ariel had pondered, during the ride to the castle, if that was to be her last glimpse of the outer world. She wondered now if this was to be her last long walk without the weight of chains dragging at her ankles and chafing her wrists.
There was no one standing guard at the entrance to the Queen’s Tower. No one stood outside or inside the door to the chambers assigned to Lord Henry. Gisbourne’s face betrayed no emotions as the inner bedchamber was searched and proclaimed empty; if anything, his expression became more thoughtful by the footstep, as if he was envisioning which methods of torture would loosen their tongues the quickest.
“In the solar, perhaps,” he suggested magnanimously, waving to Brevant to lead the way up to Ariel’s apartments. The door was flung wide and he strode across the threshold of the small anteroom like Caesar striding over the seventh hill of Rome.
“Such diligence,” he mused, casting an acerbic eye around the obviously dark and vacant chamber. “Where could he be, do you suppose?”
“Perhaps he was called away,” Henry offered lamely. “Or—”
“Or perhaps he had more pressing matters to attend to?”
Gisbourne was watching both Ariel and Henry, like a cat waiting to pounce. So intent were all three not to be the first to falter under another’s stare, they did not see the door to the inner chamber open quietly beside them.
Eduard FitzRandwulf was suddenly upon them, halted by the same look of surprise that jolted the others in the room.
“My lords,” he said, his hand falling instantly to the hilt of his sword. “Is something amiss?”
“Where have you been?” Gisbourne demanded, craning his neck to see past the knight’s broad shoulders. “What have you been doing?”
Eduard’s eyes narrowed. “I assumed the Lady Ariel would appreciate a fire in her chamber, and since none of the castle servants appeared to hold the same considerations, I tended it myself.” He paused and addressed Henry as any indignant vassal might. “My lord, I can assure you no one has ventured near these rooms without my knowledge.”
“I have every confidence this is so,” Henry said, his smile not quite as jaunty as normal. “And now that we are returned, you may avail yourself of the bountiful repast Lord Gisbourne has so graciously provided.”
“I have already supped, my lord,” he said brusquely.