Page 31 of Stay with Me

“And are you?”

“I am carrying news of the plague throughout Kent.”

“While you carry the news, you’re also relaying fortification instructions to the coastal towns.”

“’Tis what Simon believes.”

“He’s correct.”

“He is a cunning snake. In order to deflect suspicion away from himself, he has accused me of being a spy for the French.”

“He believes if he tortures you, you’ll share what you know in order to prove yourself loyal to the English.”

In so short a time, she’d obviously picked up on many clues. How had she so quickly deduced the current predicament?

“He has smeared your good name,” she continued, “and now you are on the run for your life.”

“Precisely.”

“Is there a way to prove he’s the one spying for the French and to clear your name?”

“I have memorized a secret code from a French missive I found on his writing table. If I am able to decipher it, I may be able to establish his involvement.”

“And if you fail to prove he is a spy?”

“I shall have little choice but to live out my days as an outlaw of the Weald.”

“Then there are other outlaws living in the Weald? And you will join forces with them?”

“Many of the outlaws are people I know well already.”

Her curt questions came to an end although he suspected she had more she wanted to ask.

There was so much he wanted to know about her as well. But where did he start his questions without overwhelming her? Could he inquire about her brother and why he needed holy water?

Before Nicholas could formulate a question, a call echoed in the forest outside the cave. He’d been careful to camouflage theopening. He didn’t think anyone would be able to find them. But for now, they needed to stay silent.

He leaned against her shoulder and tilted his mouth toward her ear. “Simon’s men are near.”

She nodded.

He didn’t push himself away from her. Resting lightly against her eased some of the strain against his back. As though sensing the same, she did nothing to dislodge herself, allowing him this contact.

For long minutes, she didn’t move or speak. And he was impressed again by her ability to remain calm under such trying circumstances.

When the voices drew closer and stopped outside the cave, he inched his dagger out only to find that she’d also withdrawn her knife. He hadn’t seen a woman use a knife proficiently before. Most were ignorant of how to protect themselves with a weapon or otherwise. But Sybil held the knife correctly, and likely was as skilled with it as she was with everything else.

Perhaps if Jane had been trained in some basic weaponry, she would have been able to defend herself better....

He closed his eyes and tried to block out the image of her lifeless and battered body after he’d recovered it. Her brother Eric had been the one to discover their mother. Both women—among many others—had been weak and defenseless, unable to protect themselves.

After discovering the abuses and atrocities perpetrated by the French during their destruction of Rye, Nicholas had taken a band of archers and gone after the raiders. They’d met up with the enemy at Dover while the rest of the French fleet waited offshore. They’d easily decimated the raiders, repaying them twice over for all they’d done.

But the killing of his enemies hadn’t brought him peace. Rather, it had only added to the torment in his soul—a torment that had stayed with him ever since.

Sybil didn’t take her attention from the opening.

Even after the voices faded, she remained motionless and alert, as if she was prepared for a diversionary tactic, where the guards pretended to go away to lure them out.

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