Page 42 of Retribution

“Then why tell me?”

She began to quiver, her features tightening. “Because I do not want to do it,” she whispered. “I am not an assassin and he wants me to assassinate the king.”

Aidric grew serious. “Is that what he told you?” he said. “Exactly?”

She nodded, trying to hold back the tears. “Aye,” she said. “He said now that Edward is returned, he wants Cambridge dead. Cambridge knows that you saved me from robbers yesterday and he knows the great lengths you went to in order to help me. He also knows that you are a guard of the king, as both de Baume and I told him.”

The light of understanding began to flash in Aidric’s eyes and he thought he knew what she was going to say. “And he thinks I saved you in order to somehow bring me into contact with him?” he said. “Does he think I am going to kill him on the king’s behalf?”

Cleodora shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “Not at all.”

“Then what?”

“He wants me to seduce you,” she said as plainly as she could. “He wants me to use you to get close to Edward so I can kill him. But I am not an assassin. I do not even know the first thing about it. I am terrified that Cambridge is going to punish me if I do not do what he wants. I am telling you this because I hope you will help me.”

“Help you how?”

She couldn’t help the tears that were welling now. “Help me escape,” she said. “Help my father escape. He has lands in France and we could escape there, far from Cambridge and his reach. I know it is a great deal to ask, but I am not a killer. I am also not a whore, in spite of the position I find myself in. I never wanted to be a Jewel, you know. I was forced into it and it has been a horrific existence since the very day I was selected. And now with Cambridge’s demand, I just want… I want it to end. I want this entire nightmare to end and there is no one else I can turn to.”

She hung her head, weeping softly, as he watched her. The problem was that there wasn’t one cell in his body, not one beat of his heart, that didn’t believe her. In fact, he believed her implicitly. This was not a woman trying to manipulate him.

This was a woman trying to survive.

After a moment, he reached out to take her hands gently in his. He didn’t know what else to do. It was a moment of warmth and the lightning he’d felt once before struck again. A buzzing rippled up his arms, originating where their flesh touched. He’d never experienced anything like it. But the woman was, indeed, in a horrific position and there wasn’t much he could do for her other than try to give her some comfort.

“My lady,” he said hoarsely. “Why have you come to me with this? Are there no others you could ask for help?”

She shook her head, tears dripping off her chin. “There is no one else,” she said, looking at him. “My lord, I am kept like an animal in a cage. I am not allowed to see anyone or speak to anyone. Cambridge keeps me like a pet and he is very possessive over his pet. He is very jealous of anyone I speak to, especially men, which is why his orders with regard to you are so unusual. He told me to seduce you. That is not something he would have ever asked of me were he not desperate, and what is worse is the fact that he phrased his order under the guise of having me protect him.”

Aidric’s brow furrowed. “You?” he said. “Literally protect him?”

She nodded. “He said that it was my duty to protect him from the man who wanted to kill him.”

Aidric stared at her for a moment. “You know that is not true,” he said softly. “The king has no interest in eliminating Cambridge. I can tell you that for a fact.”

She shrugged, looking at her hands again. “I do not know if he actually believes it,” she said. “I tend to think he is simply lying so I will do as he wishes. Men would be suspicious of a male assassin should Cambridge send him after Edward. You would stop him. But would you ever suspect me? I think not. And Cambridge knows it.”

Aidric thought that was rather astute of her, but then again, a woman truly trying to manipulate him might say something like that to throw him off his guard. He believed her; he truly did. There was nothing she’d said so far that had raised any concerns with him. But he knew that Gerard and Britt were listening—and since they couldn’t see her face, or read her body language, they had a lot less than he did to go on.

Should he trust her?

… could he trust her?

Perhaps he needed to jar her a little to see if she’d change her story.

“It is a predicament, to be sure,” he said after a moment. “Though nothing will be solved today, know this—there will never be, at any time, any opportunity for you to get close to Edward. I will never take you to Westminster and I will never allow you near the king, so if you have told me all of this to throw me off my guard so that you can somehow complete a task given to you by Cambridge, know now that it was for naught. I will not permit you to manipulate me. I will not tell Cambridge that you have told me any of this, of course, but I cannot help you. If he wants you to kill the king, you’ll have to find another way to go about it.”

Cleodora’s eyes widened. That wasn’t the response she had been expecting. “But I told you that I cannot do it,” she said. “I told you all of this so that you could help me escape Cambridge. I did not tell you this to gain your sympathy. You helped me once before and earned my trust. I hoped you would help me again.”

He grunted and stood up from the chair. “You are a courtesan,” he said simply. “You have been trained in communication and politics and intrigue. You could be very well using what you learned on me and I will tell you now that if that is the case, you have wasted your time.”

It was a complete turnabout from the man who had been kind to her. Even just a few short seconds ago, he’d held her hand. He’d shown her sympathy. But now…

Now, he’d changed.

Cleodora stood up, too, her back stiff with outrage.

“I have done no such thing,” she said angrily. “At no time did I try to manipulate you. I have simply told you the truth. Are you so blind that you do not see honesty when it is presented to you?”