Page 55 of The Herald's Heart
CHAPTER TEN
Talon cracked an eyelid and stared at the dew-speckled blades of grass a thumb’s length from his nose. The sun warmed his back, but his chest and legs felt chill with wet. A bird trilled nearby and set his head pounding. Where the hell am I, and why am I lying face down on the ground? The questions made his head pound harder. He closed his eyes and tried not to think at all.
A horse neighed in his ear and set his ears to ringing. Would his brain explode? He groaned and covered his splitting pate with his arms. His head spun so much that he couldn’t be certain, but the vibrations seemed to have stopped. Now if the earth would cease whirling as well, he might be able to ignore the buzzing at his back and return to sleep.
The cloth of his sleeves tickled his nose, so he let his arms go slack. The buzzing became a voice.
“I expected to find you at Hawksedge Keep, where King Edward said he’d sent you. Never did the idea cross my mind that I would find you stone drunk by the roadside.”
Talon groaned again and rolled over. He squinted up at the figure on horseback. Sunlight speared into his eyes, causing more pain and partial blindness. “Amis? What are you doing here?”
“Longshanks grows impatient and, hearing that the Earl of Hawksedge is missing, thought you could use my help.”
In the midst of trying to sit upright, Talon slumped back to the ground. “He’s dead.”
Amis sat beside Talon. “I beg your pardon, but the king is very much alive, at least he was when I left court four days past.”
“Not Edward. Hawksedge.”
“Excellent, then you won’t need my aid pulling your butt out of another fire or saving your life three times running. We’ll send word by messenger to Edward of the earl’s passing, and I can be on my way north to find an heiress who, rumor has it, might be willing to wed a poor second son.”
If the slightest movement did not cause his world to spin and his stomach to heave, Talon would have laughed. “I don’t need my life saved or any help pulling my butt from a fire. I can do that for myself. However, I could use your help discovering who murdered the earl in his private chapel.”
“I’m not certain I understand. I thought you awaited the earl’s return from somewhere. How is it that the earl was murdered in his own home?”
“The murderer was very clever. Whoever it was knew the earl locked himself in his private chapel to pray and managed to get candles into the chapel that gave out poisoned smoke. As near as I can make out, the earl died about a month before I arrived.” Talon remembered not to shake his head, and frowned up at the sky. His hopes of dealing with the earl and gaining a home had gone up in the smoke that had killed the man. Nor could he deliver the earl to Edward as ordered and pray the king would force the issue of inheritance out of gratitude for loyal service.
“Amazing. So you’ve a crime to resolve. You’ll feel better and more able to act if you sit up. Then you can tell me how you came to this sorry state.”
Talon lifted himself to a sitting position. The world spun, and his stomach turned. He braced his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. “Right now, I don’t recall how I got here, or why.”
’Twas a lie. He remembered all too well his painful parting with Larkin and the ale he’d called for. To drown his sorrows, he’d thought then. Drown good sense was more like. Still, the lie was convenient. He’d not have to explain Larkin to Amis.
“Were I to guess, I’d say ’twas a woman not murder that caused your present condition.”
Talon tilted his head and peered through his fingers at his friend. “How did you know?”
Amis dismounted. “Experience, my friend, experience.”
“Ah yes.” Talon resisted the urge to nod. The ground still heaved beneath him. “Last Michaelmas, the brunette.”
Amis’s mouth formed a thin line. “Right, the brunette.”
“If this is what you went through to rid yourself of her, I hope she was worth the trouble.”
“She was worth quite a bit of trouble, but drinking myself stupid did not rid me of her.”
Talon would have raised an eyebrow had the effort not caused him too much pain. “Then what did?”
“’Twas a small thing, really.”
“What, man?” Talon growled. “Tell me so I can do the same.”
“’Twas her husband and the two children I saw him with.”
“You gave her up because she had a husband and children?”
“Nay, because she had a husband and two children who looked nothing like him, or her.”
