Elizabeth Elliott (35 page)

“Do not dare faint on me,” he commanded. “We must
be away from this place, and I cannot carry you through the bolthole.”

“Why must we—” She pressed her lips together. What made her assume he had gained her release from Kenric or Fitz Alan? Guy’s brothers would never willingly free her. Dante was here to help her escape.

So many thoughts crowded her head that she could focus on only one. Dante had finally returned for her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a fierce hug. He hesitated a moment, then his arms went around her as well. Her voice was little more than a broken whisper. “I thought I would never see you again. Why did you leave me at Lonsdale so long?”

“I thought you were safe there,” he said in a quiet voice. “Uncle Laurence liked none of us, but I never thought he would try to harm you. Lonsdale seemed safer than any place I could take you these past years.”

“You stopped writing, and I had no idea how to find you. Do you know how worried I was?” She drew away from him just enough to search his shadowy features. “Did you forget me?”

“Never!” His voice was harsh with remorse and his hands went to her shoulders again, as if to impress his words upon her. “I never forgot you, cara. Not even for a day. I do not lead a life you would be proud of, and having you near me now will only endanger your life. Those are the reasons I did not come for you sooner. I have no safe haven to offer you, but I would rather you die in my care than see you in the hands of a Montague.”

“The king told you of Guy’s message?”

“Aye,” he bit out, “and I have learned more since then. This morning I entered the castle disguised as a servant. I was in the great hall during the feast and saw everything, including Baron Montague with his hands all over you, as if he had some right to put them there.”

“He intends to marry me,” she said, quickly jumping to Guy’s defense. She would not voice her own suspicions, for
surely Dante had enough for them both. And they could both be wrong. She had to believe in Guy, even knowing that his trust in her was unlikely to be as absolute. “As soon as Guy recovers, he will order me freed.”

“He ordered you to this prison. His brothers want to hang you.”

“Guy did not order me imprisoned,” she argued. “He asked his brothers to keep me safe, but they mistook his words. Kenric and Fitz Alan know Roberto was our brother, and they are here to help Guy take his revenge on our uncle. Can you blame them for thinking me guilty?”

Dante’s soft, humorless laugh sent chills up her spine. “I counted on the fact that they would think you guilty.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“The poison was my work,” Dante admitted. “ ’Twas the only way to get you away from him.”

She backed away, her eyes wide with horror. If Dante wanted a man dead, he would die. The fragile hopes she had held on to for hours crumbled around her. “
You
murdered Guy?”

Dante caught her by the arms to stop her retreat. “Nay, Claudia. I could not risk that he would play the gallant and ask you to share his cup. The king also made me swear that I would not murder Montague nor any of his men. He will suffer, but he will not die. Not yet, anyway.”

She began to tremble. “Guy will live?”

“Have I not just said as much?” He reached beneath his cloak and produced a dark bundle he had tied at his waist. “Put on this cape. We must leave here or all will be lost.”

“I cannot.” She pushed the bundled cape back into his hands. She gripped her trembling hands together at her waist, her thoughts in turmoil. Dante had done this to her, and far worse to Guy. She wanted to slap him, to beat her fists against his chest until he knew a taste of the pain he had caused her. For one terrible moment, she wished he had never come back into her life. Now she had no choice but to send him away from her again. “I must stay here to undo
what you have done. Guy will come for me when he recovers from your poison, and I must tell him what happened. Do not worry. He will not hold me responsible for the deeds of another.”

“You are crazed!” Dante raked a hand through his hair. “He will hang you.”

“H-he loves me.”

Dante shook his head and released a long sigh. “You were deceived, sister. Montague does not love you any more than he trusts you, else you would not be here now.”

“ ’Tis Guy’s brothers who keep me here. Guy will—”

“Your precious Guy awoke hours ago.” Dante took her by the shoulders and gave her a small shake. “Guy is your accuser, Claudia. He thinks you poisoned him. If you stay here, he will order you hanged on the morrow.”

“Guy will—”

“He will hang you,” Dante repeated.

Guy is your accuser
. The words rang again and again in her ears. Guy did not consider her innocence for even a night. She closed her eyes, but the wave of pain she expected never came. Instead her hands began to tingle, then her arms and legs. She felt numb everywhere, yet couldn’t seem to stop herself from clinging to her own lies. “Guy will come for me.”

“Aye, with a rope.” Dante shook his head. “You must come away with me. Now.”

She had to stay. To be hung? Dante was right. Guy had deceived her. He promised that he would never hold her responsible for the actions of another, yet the taste of her brother’s poison had changed his mind on that score. His brothers would do nothing to change his mind. Indeed, she could imagine all sorts of vile accusations that Kenric and Fitz Alan would whisper in his ear to harden his heart against her. She was the outsider here, the most likely suspect, since none knew of Dante’s presence. Her lashes fluttered opened and she searched the shadows of her brother’s face, trying to see his eyes. “Aye, Dante. I will go with you.”

Guy awoke at dawn the next morning. In that instant he felt clearheaded. That seemed strange, as if there was some reason he should not be so alert. He rolled to his side and reached for Claudia. A wave of dizziness hit him at the same time he recalled what happened; the feast, the poison, and the half-remembered nightmare that followed. His physician had fed him some awful brew that made him retch until there was nothing left inside him. His muscles felt weak and useless.

“He is awake again,” Kenric said.

Guy’s unsteady gaze moved across the room to where Kenric and Fitz Alan sat at his table. They both rose and made their way toward the bed. Guy struggled to sit up. He wasn’t nearly as clearheaded as he had thought, and his hand went to his forehead in an attempt to steady himself. “Where is she?”

“There will be time for that later,” Kenric replied. He turned toward a trunk and pulled out a tunic and breeks. “The physician says you will not retch again. I will dress you, if you wish.”

“I can dress myself,” Guy muttered, wondering if he could live up to that claim. He rubbed his throat and looked around for something to drink that would ease its rawness. Given the soreness of his stomach, a drink of anything might do more harm than good.

Kenric tossed the clothes onto the bed. “You must walk again to work the poison from your system.”

“Your physician wanted to let blood last night,” Fitz Alan added, when Guy held up a hand to ward them off. “He also wanted to pull a few teeth for good measure. We persuaded him to reserve those treatments for morning if you did not improve. If you have wish to save your teeth, ’twould be in your interest to walk with us.”

Guy wanted nothing more than to lie back down and sleep. Kenric and Fitz Alan also looked worn, as if they had been awake all night, which Guy supposed they had. Both were still dressed in the clothes they wore to the feast. He
pushed back the covers. “I will flatten that charlatan if he comes anywhere near me with tongs.” He struggled into the tunic, aware that it should not take so much effort but determined to seem less affected than he was. “Where is Claudia?”

“In the dungeons,” Fitz Alan answered. “Here are your boots.”

Guy’s hands froze on the laces of his tunic, his voice an icy whisper. “She is
where?
”

“The dungeons,” Kenric repeated. He glanced at Fitz Alan, then back at Guy. “You said yourself to lock her up.”

“I said to
guard
her,” Guy shouted. He grabbed the breeks and tried to ignore the way his stomach protested as he bent over. “I wanted you to keep her safe from any who might accuse her of poisoning me.
Christ
. I hoped you two would not be among their number.”

A violent wave of dizziness caught him off guard, and he would have fallen over if Fitz Alan had not steadied him. Guy shoved his hand away. “Did either of you stop to think through what you have done?”

“Aye!” Kenric snapped. “We saved you once again from the wench. ’Tis obvious from the piles of dead rats in this place that she knows her craft well. She tried to murder you the very day we arrived. Yesterday she all but succeeded. Had I known you would remain so blind to her guilt, I would have ordered her hung.”

Guy grabbed the front of Kenric’s tunic, his teeth clenched. “ ’Tis fortunate you did nothing so rash, brother. I would have killed you.”

“You are not in your right mind.” Kenric removed Guy’s hands from his tunic with ease.

In his weakened state, Guy could not put up much of a fight. He sighed in defeat. “Aye, ’tis truth. I could not kill you, but I would have been sorely tempted.” He sat on the edge of the bed and began to pull on his boots. “Rats are the only creatures Claudia would harm by intent. Did you not stop to wonder why she would become so alarmed at the
thought that a mere dog might die of her poison if she planned a similar fate for me?”

Neither Kenric nor Fitz Alan replied. Guy made a sound of disgust. “Did it occur to either of you that Baron Lonsdale might have a spy at Montague? That the poison came from his corner?”

“Aye,” Fitz Alan answered. “We ordered the gates closed and the guards on the walls doubled. No one has entered the fortress nor left it.” He gave Guy an admonishing look. “We are not quite the fools you believe us to be. Of course there is a possibility that Lady Claudia is innocent. Yet there is also the fact that our thoughts are not cluttered by an infatuation for the girl.”

“You were the only one poisoned,” Kenric pointed out. “Your squire tasted every flagon of wine brought to our table, yet he and everyone else remained unaffected. That means the poison came from someone who could slip it into your wine without notice, one of us, to be more specific. You know we would not poison you, nor would Thomas or Evard. That leaves Lady Claudia. By all appearances, she is a gentle lady and much devoted to you. Yet is it coincidence that she also hails from a family that favors poison to murder their victims?” Kenric shook his head, making his opinion obvious. “You are bewitched by this woman, made blind by your affections for her. She is not made perfect just because you are in love with her. Nor does that make her free of guilt without a shred of proof to name her innocent. We did what was necessary to protect you, what you would have done yourself, were you in our place.”

Looking at matters from Kenric’s perspective, Guy knew his brother had a point. Kenric and Fitz Alan had little reason to put any trust in Claudia. Guy scowled and remained silent, not ready to admit the soundness of Kenric’s logic. Love did not blind him to the possibility of Claudia’s guilt, but he loved her for reasons that made him certain of her innocence. And he knew her far better than his brothers or anyone else would ever know her.

“I appreciate your concern for me,” he said in a quiet voice. “I know you think me addled, but in time you will discover I am right about Claudia’s innocence. The reason I asked you to guard her is that I am certain there is at least one spy within Montague, perhaps more. By now, ’tis likely Baron Lonsdale knows the two of you are here. He will guess right enough that we intend to lay siege to Halford. He may even fear we intend to march on Lonsdale itself. Kenric, your army alone could take Lonsdale. There is not a fortress in England that could withstand our three forces combined.”

He looked between his brothers, seeing realization creep into their expressions. Satisfied, he told them the most damning evidence of all, what the drug prevented him from warning them about yesterday. “At one time, Baron Lonsdale believed my family would not retaliate were I to die under suspicious circumstances within his fortress. He planned to make my murder seem Claudia’s doing. Her death at the hands of my men was to sate any need for vengeance. Weigh that against the fact that Claudia is not a fool. You think she would poison me when she knew that she would be judged guilty by you both? Even if she hated me so much that she wished to murder me, why would she do so before we were wed, when in less than a fortnight she would be made a wealthy widow?” Guy shook his head. “She is guilty only if she has a strong wish to die an unpleasant death.”

Kenric and Fitz Alan exchanged uneasy glances.

Fitz Alan spoke first. “Your missive did not tell us these details of Baron Lonsdale’s plot against you, nor did you inform us of the facts when we arrived. Had we known …” He shrugged his shoulders, the unspoken words a silent statement that the knowledge did not prove her innocence in their minds.