Chapter 66: Her Only Hope

By the time the rest of the manor started to stir, Stefan had his plan worked out. It was sketchy in places and depended on the princess having both the courage and the will to save herself, but it might just possibly work, and it was, so far as he could see, her only hope.

The sheriff’s deliberations were cut off when Leofred opened the door and formally announced that breakfast was ready, adding that Millicent had both her things and the princess’s packed.

Taken aback, since the idea of bringing Millicent along hadn’t crossed his mind, Stefan wasn’t quick enough to come up with some reason why he couldn’t before Leofred, affecting an air of regret, went on, “As much as we will miss our dear companion, it would hardly be fitting for the princess to travel in the company of nine men without a female companion.”

Put like that, Stefan had no choice but to agree, despite his certainty that Leofred wasn’t so much wanting to assure that the princess was properly chaperoned as to have the whining, nattering old woman gone from the lodge.

After breakfast, Stefan left Matthew to oversee the final preparations and started off for a last walk to the lake where he’d spent some of the happiest times of his boyhood. He’d only made it as far as the compound’s back gate when Wilham caught up with him, calling out that Matthew needed him.

With as little sleep as he’d had, Stefan’s temper was not at its best. “What for?” he snapped.

Wilham shrugged. “He didn’t say, but I think it has something to do with the horses and the packs.”

It had to be something more urgent than that for Matthew to send for him, so, with a regretful glance over his shoulder, Stefan turned around. He covered the ground back to the lodge in a matter of moments to be met by the usually unshakable Matthew, who called frantically, “Come, my lord, look!”

The rest of Stefan’s men stood by their assigned mounts, staring glumly at the piles of crates and bags Millicent had stacked by the side door.

Matthew pointed a shaking finger at the heaped-up baggage. “We need a wagon for all that!”

Leofred, standing nearby, nodded. “It took a wagon to get it all here.”

“Well, get the wagon!” Even as Stefan barked his order, he recalled that in the weeks he had been there, he’d seen no wagons—only a stack of iron rims and horse harnesses hanging from hooks. Turning on Leofred, he demanded, “Where are your wagons? What have you done with them?”

“We burned them.”

“You burned them?”

“We were out of firewood. It was that or freeze.”

Since no answer Stefan could make would turn ashes back into a wagon, he gritted his teeth and grunted, “Then we can’t take all this now. The princess will have to send for it later.”

“She can’t go without her clothes!” Millicent cried out, as aghast as if Stefan had just suggested the princess travel stark naked. With that, she sat on a bulging bag of garments.

“My maid and I will stay here and wait for my cousin, the king, to send a wagon for me and my things!” Aleswina sat down on a bag next to Millicent.

The princess, Stefan knew, was playing for time, hoping to get a reprieve and, with it, a chance to escape. Not about to be thwarted by a pile of frocks, he reshuffled his men. He and Matthew had planned for Wilham to ride behind Owain, and Alford behind Alfred, freeing their horses for the princess and Millicent. Now he ordered Wilfrid to ride with Udolf.

“There, Your Royal Highness, I give you a horse to carry the things you feel are most vital, and trust that your cousin, the king, will send for the rest.” Not waiting for her reply, he turned to Matthew. “We leave as soon as the horses are packed!”

An hour later, following a final exchange of farewells with Leofred and grateful bows from the other servants, Stefan mounted Chessa, took hold of the lead rope to the horse carrying the princess, and started off, ignoring Millicent’s shrill—“Wait! Wait! We didn’t pack the lady’s night things!”

As the overburdened horses plodded along, Stefan nudged Chessa ahead. Once he had the distance he wanted, he shortened the lead rope and began. “We will reach Gothroc soon, Your Royal Highness, but before we arrive, there are matters of importance of which I must speak.”

The princess made no response.

Drawing a breath, he went on, “The first is that the king will require an accounting from me regarding your absence, and I will tell him what I assume to be the explanation—that you left the convent in the company of your maid due to your uncertainty over taking your final vows; that the reason for your uncertainty was your secret love for him; that, unaware this love was returned, you departed before the royal guard arrived with news of your betrothal to travel with your maid on a pilgrimage to religious shrines throughout the surrounding kingdoms, until, by God’s will, I found you; and that, on hearing from me the news of your betrothal, you have gladly returned, eager to be his bride. I expect you will be in agreement with this account.”

Stefan waited until Aleswina gave a barely perceptible nod.

“Still, it is likely the king will wait long enough before announcing the marriage banns to ensure that you have remained chaste in your time away from the convent. What I say next is in no way meant to suggest that I have any doubts about the truth of this, only that I would be remiss if I did not warn you that the king would not knowingly let you give birth to another man’s child and allow either you or that child to live.” In what he could only hope was the right balance between delicacy and frankness, he continued, “In a palace the size of the king’s, there are serving women who know of remedies for pregnancy that can be had for a price. I do not, of course, presume to suppose there is any need for you to avail yourself of such remedies, but, should you need the funds for any purpose, I am now returning the valuables you brought with you.”

Taking the leather pouch with the princess’s money and keepsakes out from under his tunic, he pulled Aleswina’s horse close enough to pass them to her and in return got a brief, tremulous smile and a faint murmur that might have been “Thank you” as she slipped them under her kirtle.

With the hardest of what he had to say over, Stefan moved on to explain his reasoning about how she could escape the curse that had killed her mother and Gilberth’s five previous wives, concluding earnestly, “Once you have chosen the guard or a servant who looks at least something like the king, you will need to arrange the time and place for your encounters. That will require bribes. Keep them small so they don’t incite greed and, for God’s sake, do not let your maid, or anyone as nattering as she is, know about it, or the king will be looking for his seventh bride.”

Glancing sideways, Stefan met Aleswina’s eyes. They were wide open in what he hoped was understanding and not shock. In either case, he had done his best. The rest was up to her.