Noble Hearts 03 - The Courageous Heart (13 page)

Matlock returned his greeting with, “I thought you were dead.”

“So did I.
”
Ethan feigned
a laugh
. He held out a hand.

Matlock crossed his arms. “What are you doing here?”

Without acknowledging the slight or missing a beat Ethan said, “I heard Huntingdon and Jack were arrested. I thought I’d come see for myself.”

“They were arrested.
”
Pennington slid in to join their conversation. “Ethan of Windale, is it?”

“You know who I am, Pennington.” Treating the man as anything other than his equal would get Ethan nowhere.

“Of course I know who you are.” Pennington’s expression could have been a smile or a sneer. “Come to gloat over your rivals’ downfall?”

“Maybe. If that’s what it is. I still haven’t heard much. What charges have been brought against them?” If Joanna could see him she would marvel at how cool he was. That or slap him upside the head.

“Treason, of course,” Pennington answered.

“You don’t say?”

“Yes. Apparently your old friends have been plotting with Prince John to overthrow the king.”

“I wouldn’t put it past them
.
”
Ethan sniffed. Except that plotting didn’t sound like Crispin’s speed at all. Crispin was more of a quick knife in the dark sort of man.

He shifted his
weight
as the hostile thought settled heavily in his gut.
He hadn’t thought about his father’s murder in years. The dying embers of that old anger
put him even more on edge.
Crispin
deserved what he got
no matter what Joanna thought
.
Although if
he was honest, Crispin wasn’t the sort to play royal politics at all. Jack definitely wasn’t. And Aubrey would have both their hides if she so much as suspected they were playing king-maker.

“So what’s do be done about it?” he went on
, writhing with the notion that his worst enemy
was innocent
. “Is there going to be a trial?
Are we going to get to see them hang?
”

“I’m certain there will be
a trial
, if you can even call it
that
.” Pennington laughed.
“The
testimony
against them is ironclad.”

“
Testimony
?” Ethan’s pulse sped up.
This was the kind of information Joanna needed.

“Do you know where my daughter is?” Matlock’s question was so abrupt and directed with so much suspicion that Ethan flushed with guilt.

“Who, Madeline?” He cursed himself for the sweat that broke out on his forehead and back.

Matlock was suspicious. “Yes. She came with the traitors
,
but Roderick said she was whisked away by
a savior
when her peasant dog of a husband was arrested.”

“Roderick? How is my old friend?” Ethan put on the biggest fake smile he could muster and ignored the second half of Matlock’s story.
One thing that his conflicted feelings for the
past
could agree on was that he had to keep Madeline out of her father’s reach.

“He’s as miserable as ever.
”
Matlock
fell for the diversion
. “Probably skulking around the Tower somewhere.”

Ethan’s heart shot to his throat.
He scanned the room.
Roderick was in the Tower and Joanna
had only David to guard her
.
David was formidable, but Roderick was a snake.
If
he got his hands on Joanna
it would spell disaster.
He never should have left her.

“Where-”

Before he could ditch his plan and run to Joanna, t
rumpets sounded from the front room. A rumble of anticipation spread through the nobles. Like a wave they fell into bows and curtsies, starting near the door. Ethan
dropped to his knees with them, trapped. King Richard had arrived.

Joanna folded her arms across her chest and watched Ethan as he dodged through the busy
courtyard. She
closed her eyes and
rubbed her arm
where he had
touched
her
.
Anger tried to work its way up through her chest to her throat, but she was so tired of
the feeling
that she gave up fostering it.

She felt so alive when
Ethan
stood close to her, like she always had when she was with him.
Their brief kiss
the day before
had taken her right back to everything she’d longed for and missed for years.
It took her right back to feeling
helpless and abandoned
.

She
would not be help
less, not when she was needed.

She
opened her eyes and
took a deep breath, refocusing her thoughts.
Nothing mattered but keeping her master and mistress’s heads where they belonged
and getting them all home
. Not even Ethan.

She scanned
the growing crowd.

“Where did he go?” she mumbled.

David glanced up from the conversation he was having with a friend. He searched for a moment then said, “
Looks like he’s given you the slip, my dear
.”

Joanna
’s disappointment switched to
dark satisfaction
.
If Ethan thought he was being clever
leaving her with David
he had
missed his mark
.
Leaving her alone gave her the freedom she needed to act.
She
set off
for the
White
Tower
“
I wonder,” David’s quick words stopped her short.
“I
f you spent as much time talking to Dunkirke
as you did glaring
at him
,
the two of you would be well on your way to bringing your fourth child into this world by now.”

Her instincts thrilled at the prospect. Her indignation had other ideas.
“
We would not!
” she protested.
“
Believe me when I say that there is absolutely nothing between Ethan and I and there never will be
again
!”

“Again?” David arched a bushy eyebrow.

She didn’t want to go there. “Never.”

“So you
say
.” David
caught up to her and
patted her shoulder with fatherly affection. She wanted to pull away but she owed the man too much. “What did he do then?” he asked. “What could have been so terrible that you spend so much of yourself in punishing him?”

His way of putting it sent Joanna off-balance. “He killed my brother.
”

David’s brow flew up. “Did he? I wouldn’t have thought Dunkirke could kill a fly, let alone a brother.”

“He didn’t do it personally, but it was his fault.” Joanna swallowed,
blinking
towards the White Tower steps
to ward off grief
. “
Toby
sacrificed himself to save Ethan because….” She stopped, pursing her lips over the words. She couldn’t
reveal her brother’s secret.
She couldn’t think about it w
hen there was work to be done.

“
Is there any other way to get into the White Tower besides those stairs
?”
she said instead.

“
You could wriggle through a window
,” David
teased
with a wink
.
At least he let
her
past go.
“But if you’re thinking of going in search of your master
that way
I don’t recommend it
.”

She turned back to him once more. “Alright, then what do you recommend for going in search of my master and mistress?”

“I recommend that you don’t,” David answered. “But I can see you aren’t going to take
my
recommendation.” He sighed. “I don’t want to see you in danger
any more than our Dunkirke does
, my dear. But y
ou would probably do best to enter the White Tower by blending into
the staff
. Don’t try to pass yourself off as a noble. Make like you are one of the Tower drudges instead.
And don’t draw attention to yourself.
”

Joanna nodded, determination building in her gut like a storm. “Thank you, David. I’ll do this as quickly as I can.”

Before
David
could
second guess his advice and stop her
, Joanna
set out and
melted into the throng of nobles
. She
looked for anyone or anything that would mark her as a Tower servant
. It
wasn’t as easy as
David had made it seem. She wasn’t dressed to blend in with anyone.
Even without the headscarf she didn’t look like she belonged
.

She reached the side of the White Tower and followed the wall around, looking for anyone who looked like a true servant. It was a stroke of luck that she found a young maid emptying chamber pots.

“Excuse me.
”
S
he
committed to her ruse and schooled her face to troubled subservience
. “I’m new here and I can’t find the way back in. Could you help me?”

The
dark-haired
maid looked up at her
with cheery blue eyes
. “Where are you trying to go
,
dearie
?”

“To the dungeons, to help feed the prisoners,” she said, hoping it would ring true.

“You’re either very
early or very late for that.”

“Oh.”

The maid straightened
and shook her head
. “
Well now what’s the use of hiring so much extra help if none of you knows what you’re doing?
”

“I know.” Joanna
tried on an embarrassed laugh
, hoping she
didn’t look like a transparent fool
.
At least there was some credibility to her being there.
“I should still report to the dungeon tho
ugh, just to let them know I’m
here. Could you show me the way in?”

“There’s only one way in.” The maid dumped the last of her chamber pots and moti
oned for Joanna to follow her.

“
Watch your step. This
place is packed with nobs, all trying to get something out of the king while he’s here,” the maid gossiped as they went. “But between you and me, it’s not that organized. King Richard hasn’t been to England for years and the men that say they are loyal to him are mostly just pretending so they can run the place in as they see fit in the
king’s name while he’s gone.”

“
People do that
?” Joanna gasped.

The maid nodded. “
Been doing it as long as I can remember.
”

“But that’s … that’s,” Joanna stumbled.

“That’s the Tower,” the maid shrugged.

Joanna held her stomach, fighting the urge to be sick. Maybe Ethan was right about court politics.
As they crossed the yard she watched the groups of nobles whispe
ring and sizing each other up. Plots were think in the air.
She’d never dreamed people could be so bloodthirsty and power-hungry
, and without the logic of law or morality
.
It set her teeth on edge.
She had to get Crispin, Aubrey, and Jack out of this mad place.

They walked
on
around the White Tower to the long wooden stairs where every noble for miles was
lined up, waiting
. Grand as they were, t
hey
all
parted for a maid holding chamber pots.

“What are you about with those in the middle of the morning?” the guard at the top of the stairs complained
, holding his nose
when the maid came close.

“The bowels of the king don’t wait for the right time of day to empty,” the maid answered importantly.

The guard made a face to his friend. “You could wait to empty
those
though
.”