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Day Three
Rhys
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It was going to take more than a few hours to recover from the night before. The smoking ruins of the burned huts in the village would ensure that. But nobody had died, thank goodness, and Simon had passed out coins from his own purse, probably totaling an amount of far more value than what had been lost. Rhys would have given out coins himself had he any to give.
One house was a total loss, but the other two were only damaged, and their inhabitants had found beds amongst their neighbors. Simon had taken the ringleader and the archer into custody and promised they would be locked up until they could get to the bottom of what had happened. The rest, much chastened and subdued, even if only temporarily, had returned to the town. Whatever the end result, Rhys didn’t have much hope for improved English-Welsh relations, if such a notion had ever been possible.
Though Rhys gave up his bed to Catrin, he managed a few hours’ sleep on a pallet on the floor in the kitchen, before rising at dawn to begin work again. He returned some hours later, having, among other things, been to see Simon at the castle. He found Catrin sitting at the table at breakfast with Sian, Gruffydd’s wife. It was a sight he could easily get used to.
Before, as a noblewoman and lady-in-waiting to the queen, Catrin had been uncertain of her welcome in the village, but her actions had transformed the villagers’ perceptions of her. She was now one of them, as she had been as a girl. Gruffydd’s wife appeared to be treating her like a long-lost noble cousin. Rhys had some hope the events of the night would make Catrin feel like she had done enough that she wouldn’t see the need to involve herself any more in his investigation.
He had a terrible feeling, however, it would make her only want to help more.
“My lord Rhys!” Sian was around the table to greet him with a totally unexpected hug. As a rule, the Welsh were more demonstrative than the English, but she had never hugged him before, as if he were family. “You and Lady Catrin bless our house with your presence! It is wonderful to see you together again. I well remember the two of you rambling the lanes as children.”
Catrin smiled too, but then the light in her eyes dimmed a little. “It was a long time ago. So much has changed.”
“Very little for the better, my lady,” Gruffydd said, “except for you.”
Catrin shook her head, but Gruffydd wasn’t wrong, and it had nothing to do with what she looked like. Perhaps that was all the royal court cared about, but if it was, they were missing the entire point. At sixteen when she’d married, her red-hair and freckles didn’t fit the feminine ideal, but she’d had a slender figure, dainty wrists and ankles, and pale skin. Among the nobility, the more slender a woman was the better. With childbirth and maturity, Catrin had developed a woman’s curves, and Rhys had been pleased to see her set to her food last night with a genuine appetite.
And that was really the best thing about her: she was fully and totally alive. Since Llywelyn’s death, much of the time Rhys himself had felt like a walking dead man. In his conversations with his countrymen, few could see the point of doing much more or hoping for much more than to keep body and soul alive. Even the children’s play was more subdued than he remembered.
Not Catrin. Her innate joy filled not only her but the room, and from the reactions of Gruffydd’s family, it wasn’t just Rhys himself who realized it.
In his mind’s eye, he saw again the way she’d thrown herself between the townspeople and the village, careless of her own wellbeing, and he shuddered. That had been too close. He could feel his hair turning grayer at the temples just at the memory.
Catrin made room for Rhys on the bench beside her.
“I should be escorting you back to the castle.”
“There will be time enough for that.”
“The queen has no need of you in the mornings?”
“I never know when she’s going to need me, morning, noon, or night. The last few days, she’s been awake on and off all night and very out of sorts. Her back aches. I sometimes sing to her.”
“The baby’s time is near then,” Sian said knowingly.
“So the midwife thinks.”
“She’ll have missed you, then,” Rhys said.
“Perhaps. I will apologize.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, my lady,” Sian said. “You saved us. Surely the queen can appreciate that.”
Rhys wasn’t so sure, but instead of arguing he said, “You won’t be going without an escort again.”
“I am perfectly capable—”
“Not after last night, not to mention the fact that there’s a murderer on the loose.”
She sobered instantly. “You are right. I didn’t think.”
Somewhat mollified, Rhys turned to his adopted family. “The unrest amongst the townspeople shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone, and we can’t let it distract us from why they attacked us. We have had two deaths, one a Welshman and one an Englishman, both of whom appear to have been alone on the road in the night. Everyone in the village should be careful until we get to the bottom of this. I’ve already been with Simon this morning. He interviewed the ringleader, a man named Vincent, who claims nobody came up with the idea to attack the village—or if anyone did, it was he himself.”
“It was brave of him to admit it,” Catrin said.
“Brave ... or stupid,” Gruffydd said. “What will be his punishment?”
“He’s already been released,” Rhys said. “He was fined a week’s wages to the king and must pay for the loss of the three huts. Two dozen townspeople came up with the money this morning, and it’s already been paid to the coroner. I will see that it gets to the affected villagers.”
A thoughtful look entered Gruffydd’s eyes. “The town’s mayor has been in office for only a fortnight. I should take your advice and speak to him.” He looked a little contrite. “Perhaps if I’d done it sooner, when you suggested it, this might have been avoided.”
“Anything that results in less hatred can only be a good thing.” Rhys spread his hands wide. “I need you to be careful. All of you.”
“We will.” Gruffydd bobbed a nod.
“As will I,” Catrin said.
“You still shouldn’t have done what you did last night,” Rhys said, with a side-eyed look at Catrin, some of his disgruntlement returning.
“Then you shouldn’t have pulled me onto the back of the horse.”
It was true. He had nobody to blame but himself.
“You were gone when I awoke,” Catrin said, “and Gruffydd couldn’t say where you went. What else have you been doing?”
“I went to the millpond to look for tracks to tell me where Tomos was put into the water. Instead, I think I found where he was killed.”
Everyone at the table stared at him. “Blood again?” Catrin said.
He nodded. “More than enough of it, on the far side of the pond from the mill.”
Catrin harrumphed. “You should have asked me to come. You know I could have helped.”
“You have helped, and I am grateful.”
“I can help more.”
“And I value your assistance, but for now it needs to be from within the confines of the castle itself. I was already planning to do a great deal there today.”
At her glare, Rhys sighed and set down his spoon. The rest of the family was listening with rapt attention. “It is likely I will have to see the king today, and I cannot predict what his response will be when we truly meet face-to-face. I know we talked about you assisting me, and I value your company. I really do. But I cannot allow you to be caught up in whatever punishment the king has in store for me.”
Catrin eyed him. “I suppose I knew that. Last night’s encounter was only the first song in a longer set. You’re trying to protect me still, aren’t you?”
“If I can.”
“There’s no need. Really. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can,” Rhys said. “Or at least you could when you lived in England. But you’re in Wales now, and even though everything looks familiar, it isn’t.”
Sian, who was sitting at one end of the table adjacent to Catrin, put a hand on Catrin’s arm. “What he’s trying to explain to you is the same thing he has said to us time and again: if he goes down, he doesn’t want to take anyone else with him.”
Catrin pressed her lips together before nodding. “I will be careful. I promise.”
It wasn’t an assurance that she would stay in the castle and tend to her queen, but Rhys knew when to quit while he was ahead. Even with the horrors of last night—or maybe, because of them—it was all he was going to get today.
