Page 28 of To Love

“There is talk of sending a contingency from our order to Winchester. If such an occasion occurs, I will be leading the men and would have you at my back.”

“It would be my duty and honor,” he said.

“Good. So you will join us, if the need arises?”

Alden was confused. “I am yours to order, my lord.” Stirling did not need his permission to send him into battle. Why, then, did he ask such a question?

“I find it preferable to go into battle with those who are willing.”

“Is not every recruit willing? Hence the reason they agreed to be here?”

“Not all,” he said, a cryptic statement if ever Alden had heard one. “Speak of this to no one. Good eve, Master Alden.”

Dismissed, but not wishing to continue on his path to Elara’s in sight of Stirling, he instead doubled back to his own sleeping quarters and waited, considering.

As always, his thoughts meandered back to Elara.

I am equally impressed by your visage and intelligence.

Alden had found it difficult to concentrate on his training that day. Or rooting out the traitor. On anything other than his conversation with his instructor last eve. Believing she might desire him, and knowing as much, were two very different things.

He wanted to see her.

Alden had access to her now. He could go to her private chambers, where she would be waiting to speak with him. He wanted nothing more than to do that now, even if they could not be together.

But Stirling’s odd behavior continued to replay in his mind. What if the swordmaster was behind the supply inconsistencies? What if he was the traitor they sought, and he suspected Alden was working with Elara? He’d gone to her chamber, something Elara said he had never done before. Had sought him out, asking Alden to fight with him when such a request was not necessary.

Knowing he needed more answers, Alden left his chamber to seek them.

Chapter

Twelve

He never came.

Elara refused to be disappointed. She had little to report and likely Alden had no news for her either. Perhaps that was the reason for his absence. Or perhaps she had overstepped by prompting a conversation that the two of them should not have had. Either way, it did not matter. She’d been tasked with finding their traitor, and she would do so.

With or without her inside man.

“Mistress Ada, a word, if you please?”

The kitchen maid had been chosen from the village to serve at Blackwood after losing her former master to battle with King Stephen’s forces. Elara had spoken to her on occasion and liked the maid. She also served the hall and was one of the hardest working of all the staff at Blackwood.

“Of course, my lady.” Ada left the kitchen as Elara gestured to the cook that she was speaking to the maid. Heading into the corridor that led outside, as Blackwood’s kitchen was in a separate building than the keep, Elara pulled the maid aside.

“I’ve a task for you,” she said, knowing that her next words would be considered unseemly by many. But finding the traitor could save lives, including her own father’s, and Elara would do anything to ensure his safety and keep their cause secure.

“Aye, my lady? What is it that you wish?”

Elara leveled a gaze at the maid that the Queen of England, a woman Elara had met many times, might envy. She was shrewd, perhaps more so than her husband, and Elara channeled such energy now. “I wish for you to listen, and observe, for me. Speak to no one of our conversation, report anything unusual to me when I return to speak with you, but do not seek me out.”

And now for the bit Elara wished she could omit, but was necessary.

“Do this, and have none learn of it, and I will see that your mother is well taken care of. The village healer has not been able to help her, aye?”

The girl’s eyes wide, she said nothing, but nodded.

“I will send for another healer from Brackenford.”