Page 46 of Retribution

She shrugged. “Possibly here, but we can do it in the open,” she said. “Or… what about that inn where you took me when we were escaping the robbers?”

“Old Lloyd’s?”

“That is the place.”

“Would Cambridge let you go to an inn, unchaperoned, to meet a man? That seems unsavory, even to me.”

Again, she shrugged. “If he believes I am doing what he wishes for me to do, I think he would allow it,” she said. “May I send you word tomorrow about it?”

“Aye,” he said. His gaze lingered on her a moment longer before a hint of a smile crossed his lips and he stepped out into the corridor. “I really must depart. But I will speak with you tomorrow, my lady. That is a promise.”

It was her turn to smile. “That is so very kind of you,” she said. “I appreciate it more than you know.”

He simply nodded, flashed her a grin that went from one ear to the other, and left through the rear yard. Cleodora watched him go, thinking that the man was more puzzling than she cared to admit. The man who had risked himself to save her had seemed rather straightforward and virtuous, but she realized that was because she’d built him up in her mind a little to fit that heroic theme. But this man was different. The truth was that Aidric St. John was a man like any other—and men, as a whole, were confusing creatures. She still trusted him, but his behavior that afternoon told her to be on her guard a little. She could do that as long as he helped her escape Cambridge.

As long as she got what she wanted in the end.

But… God’s Bones, what if what she wanted was him?

She wondered.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“You truly believe she is trying to manipulate the man?” Orion asked. “Manny, I’ve known Aidric St. John for some time now. I’ve served with him. He is not a fool.”

Orion and Gerard were in the Guard of Six gathering room, lingering over the carved oaken table, smelling the leather from the chairs and the dust from the beams overhead. The chamber was always semi-dark, simply because it was never meant to be a bright and cheery place.

It was a place where men met and conversations were had.

And this was a difficult conversation.

“I am not saying he’s a fool,” Gerard said in a low voice. “I am simply saying that he is involving himself with one of the Seven Jewels of London. These are the most sought-after women in the world. He is greatly attracted to this woman and that is clouding his judgment. That is all I am saying.”

Orion wasn’t sure about that assessment. He eyed Gerard a moment before shaking his head.

“Let me ask you something,” he said, watching Gerard nod. “Is it possible that you are so hardened that even when a perfectly honest man tells you the truth or displays humanity, you simply cannot see it? You are a de Velt, Manny. Your family was born in the blood of others. It is in your nature to see the worst in men. Mayhap that is what has happened here, because the Aidric I know would not allow himself to be manipulated. That is saying he is a weak man and I know he is not weak.”

“Not weak,” Gerard said. “You are putting words in my mouth. I am simply expressing a concern to you, Orion. You needn’t get nasty about it.”

With that, he stood up and paced away from the table, clearly unsettled with the discussion in general. He’d sought Orion out because they knew one another and he hoped that Orion might help him see clearly about the situation.

But Orion didn’t seem to see his side of it.

Gerard had been dwelling on the meeting from that morning since he returned to Westminster. He had heard the lady’s words and he’d heard the entire conversation between her and Aidric, but he still wasn’t sure what her game was. Certainly she sounded sincere, and if he were a less skeptical man he might believe her, but the problem was that he was skeptical and he didn’t believe her. But, then again, he might not have even believed his own mother if the woman told him the truth. As Orion said, it was simply in his nature to be suspicious.

But that nature had served him well in his line of work.

At least, it had until the day he was exiled from the Executioner Knights.

It was ironic, truly, that perhaps the real reason he was so keen to disbelieve Lady Cleodora was because something similar had happened to him on the last mission he’d undertaken for the Executioner Knights. There was a rumor that he had done something so egregious that it caused him to be thrown out of the unit, but the truth was that it wasn’t so sensational. The truth was that the Executioner Knights had been on a mission involving an English earl who had ties to the French and was secretly allowing French mercenaries to come ashore on his lands in the hopes of causing trouble for King Henry. Henry had had his share of trouble during his reign and in this instance, the mercenaries were supposed to harass some of his most ardent supporters.

The Executioner Knights were solely in existence to prevent threats to the crown before they ever reached the king. While the Guard of Six was the circle of protection around the king, the Executioner Knights were in place to prevent danger from ever reaching them. Sometimes it did and that was something that couldn’t be helped, but in the instance of the earl and the French mercenaries, Gerard had infiltrated the French mercenaries in the hopes of reaching the earl and capturing him and sending him to the Welsh marches for imprisonment. Everything was going quite well until the earl’s daughter got involved.

That was when Gerard began to lose his grip.

The earl’s daughter was, in fact, a warrior herself. As it turned out, she was the driving force behind the French mercenaries and not her father, but by the time Gerard discovered that, he was already in love with the woman. She knew that and she used it, something that cost the life of an Executioner Knight operative, and Gerard had no excuse for it. He had no defense. It had been enough to have him removed from a position he truly loved and was truly good at.

He didn’t want Aidric making the same mistake he had.