possibly have been thinking?”
Ariel glanced at Eduard, then met Henry’s accusing glare. Strangely enough, now the initial shock was passed, she started to feel quite calm. And not a little resentful that a man known to have cuckholded many a groom and husband himself could be standing so righteously before her now.
“I obviously was not thinking, brother dear. I was just doing.”
Henry hissed the air out from between his teeth and raked a hand through his hair, grasping the tawny ends in his fist as if he would have liked to rip it out in chunks.
“Ariel … ! Damnation, Ariel … do you know what you have done?”
“I have a fair idea,” she answered coolly. “I have greatly reduced my value as a virgin bride.”
Henry blinked. A few blond threads came away between his fingers as he lowered his fist and leaned it on the foot of the bed. He blinked again and seemed to gather his wits enough to force a sardonic smile. “Well, I am sure the donjon guards here at Corfe will not rue the loss overmuch; they seem to prefer their doxies experienced. And once they are finished passing you around, you might just want to have a fond memory or two to savour. I doubt the same may be said for your brother,” he added, casting a cold eye in Eduard’s direction. “After tonight, he will not have too many pleasant memories at all.”
“What does Robin have to do with this?” Eduard asked.
“Gisbourne has him,” Henry said succinctly. “How he got him, I do not know, but according to Brevant, when he went with Gallworm to announce the king’s imminent arrival, the boy was trussed like a hog and unconscious in the corner of Gisbourne’s anteroom awaiting the governor’s pleasure.”
Eduard’s face blanched for all of the two breaths it took him to funnel his rage into action. He crossed the room in three long strides and started snatching up his clothes, donning his braies and tunic as fast as he found them, not troubling himself with any belts save the one that sheathed his sword.
“Where is Brevant? How long ago did he see Robin?”
“Brevant is below, in my chambers. He came straight here from the Constable’s Tower, uncertain of who you would want to see rescued more—the princess, or your brother.”
Eduard stamped his feet into his boots and strode out of the room without another word. Ariel, who had made haste to pull on a shapeless bluet, was not far behind him, running down the stairs, all flying hair and whiplashing linen.
Henry caught her before she flew through the doors to his chamber, his fingers like iron bands around her arm.
“We have not finished saying all there is to say; we have only delayed it.”
“Fine! Good!” she cried furiously. “It will give you time to see how”—she grit her teeth and wrenched her arm out of his grasp—“happy he has made me!”
Brother and sister entered the chamber in time to see Eduard selecting an arsenal of daggers out of the belts and bucklers lying amidst their armour.
Brevant stopped speaking and looked up sharply, but a brisk order from Eduard started him talking again, low and swift.
“—on the upper floor. There will be guards in the passage below the tower and two more posted at the bottom of the stairs. He had his favorite whore in the room with him, probably to prime him and share the fun.”
Eduard glanced up and a muscle jumped in his cheek. “How long before he will be missed?”
“Gisbourne? With the king coming—” Brevant’s eyebrows bunched together in a deep, hairy vee over the bridge of his nose. “Not much past dawn. Gallworm will be pissing himself to prove how efficient he is, so he’ll not let his master sleep until his usual midday debauch.”
A quick look told Eduard there were only two scored lines remaining on Henry’s night candle to mark the proximity of dawn, and he had to stop and peer again as if he could not believe he had slept so long.
Grimly, he tucked the last blade into the lethal array in his belt and clasped a hand around Brevant’s arm. “Can you still get to the princess? Can you bring her here now?”
“Now?”
“Did you not just say we have until dawn?” “Aye, but—”
“But what, my friend? Are you turning squeamish—or do you have a better use for your ballocks at the moment than testing the mettle of your own plan?”
Brevant stared intently. “You see to the boy,