Page 95 of The Knight's Pledge
“Why didn’t you come to me with these concerns, these suspicious?” the king pressed. “Asa young girl?”
“You wouldn’t have believed me,” Effie said.
“You’re right,” Henry agreed. “It’s absurd. A respected noble, the richest house in Northumberland?” His gaze roved over the group of Thomas Annesley’s children still seated on the benches. “There is no proof beyond hearsay. And of course, we also have the accusation from Lady Vivienne Paget. Lady Paget? Your charge?”
“That woman,” she sinewy, dark woman sneered, “ambushed and killed my husband during a hunt in the wood around Darlyrede House. She killed him dead—shot him from his horse with an arrow while she cowered in the trees in the midst of her fellow criminals.”
“Were you present at the time your husband was killed, Lady Paget?”
“No, thank God,” Vivienne Paget gasped. “But there is another here who was, and will testify. Lord Edwin Hood.”
The kindly lord was called and came to the center of the aisle.
“Lord Hood, do you confirm the accusationsof Lady Paget?”
“I was present that day, Your Grace, yes,” the lord said. “And I did witness the death of Adolphus Paget, as did Lucan Montague and Padraig Boyd, who sought to save LordPaget’s life.”
“Who fired the fatal shot, Lord Hood?”
“I cannot say, Your Grace. Most of the band wore masks.”
“But Miss Hargrave was part ofthat company?”
Lord Hood glanced sorrowfully at Effie. “Yes, my liege.”
“Was she bearing a weapon?”
“Yes, my liege.”
“Did you see her fire it at any time?”
“Yes, my liege. She shot Sir Lucan Montague in the foot.”
The crowd gasped again.
“You are dismissed, Lord Hood.”
The king looked back to Caris Hargrave. “You deny having anything to do with your daughter’s death?”
“I certainly do, Your Grace,” Caris gasped. “I found her body after Thomas Annesley had ravaged her. My husband, a skilled surgeon during the wars, managed to save Cordelia’s child’s life. That I hid her true identity out of a desire to protect her from the terrible truth, I must confess, is true.”
“Why would Thomas Annesley kill the woman who was carrying his child, and whom he was to marry thefollowing day?”
Caris shook her head. “I don’t know, Your Grace. Perhaps he was mad. Or, perhaps…” she paused slyly. “He suspected that the child Cordelia carried was not his. She was very…well-loved amongthe villagers.”
“You’re disgusting,” Effie hissed. “I know the truth about what you did to those poor girls, and so did my motherand my father.”
Caris looked directly at Effie now, with a wash of thick, false pity on her lined, gray face. “I still love you, child. And I hope you and your little boy will return home with me. It matters not to me that he is the bastard childof a commoner.”
Effie’s stomach lurched as if she were again ten years old and looking helplessly into those lying eyes.
The king thankfully broke the spell. “Miss Hargrave, have you any evidence to prove any of your accusations against the lateLord Hargrave?”
“Besides my written testimony, and that of my relation, Your Grace?”
“I have read your supposed testimonies, and remain unconvinced. Although filled with quite the tales, any nitwit could ascribe to paper that Christ shall come into London on a unicorn, Miss Hargrave. It doesn’tmake it true.”
“Then, no, Your Grace. I do not.”
