Noble Hearts 03 - The Courageous Heart (26 page)

“She’s gone to bed, Dunkirke,” she told him.

Ethan nodded and turned towards the kitchen door. Rebecca caught him before he could go anywhere.

“She said she didn’t want to be disturbed. She’s exhausted.”

“I have to talk to her. She’s in trouble.”

He tried to break away from Rebecca’s iron grip but she wouldn’t let go.

“I don’t know what the two of you are up to with your games at the Tower,” she addressed him like a mother who wasn’t sure if her child needed scolding or love, “but Joanna needs a bit of peace. I don’t see you bringing that to her.”

“I have to talk to her, Rebecca,” he pleaded, every nerve in his body aching with panic. “I have to tell her to stop what she’s doing.”

“And what is she doing?”

He opened his mouth but nothing came to mind. Nothing he could
tell Rebecca, that was. “I’m afraid she’s trusting the wrong people. I don’t want her going back to the Tower.”

Rebecca gave him a sad smile. “You’ve been telling her what you want all week,
my boy
. What have the results been? The both of you have been cross and reckless.”

“But-”

“Do this one favor for me, son,” she cut him off. “Let her be. Just for tonight. Get something to eat then go to your room and sleep. Give it tonight then deal with it in the morning.”

In spite of the coil of tension holding Ethan rigid he let out a breath. Rebecca’s advice sounded so much like what Toby would have said. He raised his eyes to the second floor of the inn as if he could see into Joanna’s room. Arguing with her had gotten him nowhere. The only other thing he could do to get her out of harm’s way was to end the whole mess and take her home, whether she liked it or not.

He nodded slowly to Rebecca. “I’ll give her tonight,” he conceded. “But one way or another, this ends tomorrow.”

Dear Joanna,

At long last we have arrived in the Holy Land! Never in all of my days could I have imagined that I would set foot on this sacred soil. Every grain of sand and waving tree seems filled with God’s love and goodness.
But it doesn’t look at all as I thought it would. I had imagined forests and hills not unlike our home in Derbyshire. Instead I find watery shores every which way I look and trees which rise up in bare trunks to a flare of leaves at the top. I shall have to revise my image of all of those Bible stories we heard growing up.

Ethan has been eager to reach the shore after too long at sea. His heroism in Cyprus did not go unnoticed by the king. Richard has dined with Ethan on several occasions, Sir Baldwin too. I couldn’t be more proud of the position ou
r
master has won for himself. Richard fi
nds him lively and personable.

Of course towards the end of the journey Richard found no one particularly personable as illness has overtaken him. He has roused himself to meet with the leaders already positioned around the city of Acre where we have landed, but it is clear that he is suffering. One of the sailors aboard our ship says he has seen the illness before in men who have been away from land for too long.

Sir Baldwin is ill as well, much to my distress. I have done what I can to care for him and comfort him even though my loyalties lie with Ethan. It still pains me that Baldwin has no one to care for him or speak up for him, so I have been attending to him whenever possible. He has confided many things in me, things that I can’t imagine he would have shared with anyone before. He called me his friend, which touched me. I want to do all that I can for him, but I am not sure where the boundaries of our friendship lie. In truth, dear sister, I would like to invite him to return to Windale with us when this is over, but I know that is not my place. He is above me in every way. I have never felt so bounded by my birth or so forlorn over the things I cannot do or say.

But I shall put all that aside and focus on the duty before me. As we have just arrived, King Richard has not yet fully set camp nor talked to Philip
of France
or Leopold of Austria, the other rulers here and our allies. He seems in a foul temper though and from what I have heard this past year has brought a great deal of disease to our allies who have come before us. I am sure the healing power of God’s holy land will make everything well.

But of course Ethan is eager to attack the city of Acre itself. He had a taste of battle in Sicily, a larger bite in Cyprus, and now he is eager for glory. I heard him say that King Richard was amused by his show of valor and promised to let him lead the siege when it should happen. I’m not sure I look forward to that, to tell you the truth. It seems dangerous to me, and you know how I detest danger. Then again, you were always so much more like Ethan in that respect than I ever was. I remember countless times that the two of you would run off into the danger of the woods at night or risk the downright frightening wrath of Lord Harold by pestering the livestock. I will leave the danger to you.

I do hope that Ethan comes out of this in one piece. He talks courageously, but it is clear to me that he misses home with his whole heart. I have a feeling, sister, that he misses you. He tells the king all manner of stories about you. I shouldn’t share that with you, but it’s only fair. You’ll have to scold him soundly for making you into the heroine of his fireside tales once we are home. Until then, I hold you in my heart and pray for your safety and happiness every night.

Your loving brother, Toby

Joanna
crept
through T
he
Stag H
unt’s
courtyard
as silently as she could
.
The first rays of dawn were only just
beginning to touch the horizon.
The tiny window of Ethan’s room above the stables was still dark. For a moment
she
paused, caught between wanting
to go to him and confess what she’d gotten herself into
and never wanting to see him again. He was too much of a temptation. She didn’t know if Toby would laugh or shake his head at her over the way
he made her
wanted to forget
herself
and her duty
. One thing was certain, she was no heroine of a fireside
tale
.
And
Ethan
was no
self-sacrificing
hero.

The streets of London were beginning to buzz with life as she made her way to the rendezvous point she’d been given
before leaving the Tower
the day before. London never truly went to sleep
,
no matter how dark the night. There were always eyes watching, voices whispering.
Logic told Joanna they were paying her no mind, but
she still had
the overwhelming feeling that every early-rising maid or wandering vagrant that she passed knew she was on her way to murder a king.

The street corner where she’d been told to meet
Roderick
was deserted as Joanna approached. The sick lump in her stomach grew heavier. What if Pennington thought she was a traitor after all? What if he didn’t have faith in her to keep up her end of the bargain.
What if he went back on his
word once she’d done the deed?

Her heart thundered against her
ribs.
It was too late to entertain those thoughts.
The l
ives
of the people she loved
were at stake.

A hand reached out of a shadow and grabbed her
as she passed between two buildings
. Joanna shrieked. Strong arms yanked her into an alley, a hand clamping over her mouth.

“Hush now, sweet one.
”
T
he voice of Roderick churned her fear to a fevered pitch. “We wouldn’t want you screaming and waking the neighbors, would we? Not today of all days.”

Joanna recovered herself enough to yank away from him. She pivoted to face him, unable to get far enough away from him in the tight alley. Roderick broke into a sly grin, fingers curling around a strand of her loose hair.
He licked his lips.

“We’re not here for a liaison,” she whispered, trembling. “Give me what you have to give and go away.”

“Well no
w
,
sweet one
, if that doesn’t sound like an invitation I don’t know what does.” Roderick chuckled, the sound as grating as a rusty gate. He leaned towards her. Joanna flinched
,
stiffening as his mouth brushed close to her ears. “We could have so much fun, you and I, if there were more time in the offing.”

As she was weighing the possibility of kneeing him in the groin and runnin
g
,
she felt s
omething smooth and long press
into her hand. Her breath caught in her throat. She closed her hand around
a glass
vial and fumbled to slip it into her pocket.

“There now,” Roderick hissed against her cheek. “You have what you’ve come for and no one is the wiser. Of course, if you’d like to remove any shade of doubt from the minds of anyone passing by we could always add a few more meaningful details to our encounter in the dark.”

His hand slid up her side to grasp her breast. Joanna wrenched away from him. S
haking as though she had a fever, s
he shot out of the alley and along the street towards the Tower. The thin fog was beginning to burn off as the sun rose. It swirled as Joanna ran. She was shocked that Roderick would let her go so easily. Then again, he knew as well as she did that she had a deadly mission to perform before the day was out.

“Have you seen Joanna?” Ethan asked as he paced his way into the kitchen for the third time
since dawn
.
He had intended to escort Joanna to the Tower and to keep a watchful eye on her
while
he said what he had to say to the king
, but she wasn’t there.

“Maybe she had a lie
-
in?
” Bess suggested with a shrug as she stirred the porridge for breakfast.

“I doubt Joanna has had a lie—
in a day in her life,” he muttered, crossing back to the hall.
Unless it was with him.

The wiry young man David had hired to replace him as dogsbody stumbled past, forcing Ethan to step up on the stairs. He craned his neck to see further around the bend in the stair
case
, as if Joanna would appear and beg his forgiveness for being late. Instead Madeline turned the corner, Meg in her arms, Wulfric trailing behind her.

“Madeline,” he greeted her in relief. “Have you seen Joanna? Is she up there?”

Wulfric charged the rest of the way down the stairs and jumped into Etha
n’s arms. Ethan hugged
the boy, distracted.

Madeline paused. “She was gone before we woke up. I assume she’s made an early start at the Tower.”

The buzzing in Ethan’s chest grew heavier.
He never should have let Rebecca convince him to leave Joanna alone the night before.

He
put Wulfric down without speaking to him. Wulfric whined as Ethan
rushed back through the hall and the kitchen to the courtyard.
He
curse
d
under his breath, running a hand through is hair and glancing around the garden as if Joanna would be there.
He’d never been filled with such a sense of urgency and wrongness.
If
Joanna
was angry with him she would have
sought him out and
shouted at him. Silently disappearing was bad.

He marched out of the inn’s yard and down the street towards the Tower.
It was the only place she could have gone.
With every step he imagined some more frightening reason why Joanna would have
spoken to Pennington
.
He bumped a fruit seller
as he charged through the street
, knocking him sid
eways without apology. He
strode on, one purpose in mind.

“Let me in,” he
ordered
the guards in no uncertain term
s as he reached the Tower gate.

They were used to seeing him now, knew who he was and his connection to far more things than he cared for them to know. They opened the gate enough for him to enter.

Instea
d of heading to the White Tower
, Ethan
marched down the line of buildings to the kitchen.
The
cooks and servants balked at the sight of him bursting into their midst. “I’m looking for Joanna
Dunkirke
,” he announced.

Instead of getting a quick reply, the kitchen staff stared at him. The younger maids glanced to their betters. Finally a large woman with her sparse hair pulled back in a knot broke away from the hearth to approach him.

“Visitors are not allowed in the kitchens,” she scolded. She was so sizeable and forceful that she marched Ethan backwards out into the cool morning air of the yard. “Don’t let me see you prying your way into my kitchen again!”

“Please,” Ethan implored her, holding onto as much pride as he could. “I need to know where Joanna
Dunkirke
is. I need to know if she is in trouble.”

“Trouble?” The cook arched an eyebrow at him. “What kind of trouble would she be in?” She scanned him up and down as though he were the answer.

“I don’t know,” Ethan told her. “Just tell me, did she arrive at work today?”

The cook narrowed her eyes at him. “She did, if you must know.”

Relief washed over Ethan, making him dizzy. “Where is she? I just need to talk to her for a moment.”

The cook laughed. “Good luck with that, son. Joanna
is attending the king today. Her little friend Lucy needed help serving him since there are so many bloody courtiers
around
.”

Ethan nodded and peeled away from the woman. The relief he’d felt for a moment was gone. His deep sense
of danger
flared hotter. As wonderful as Joanna was, it took months, years
,
to be admitted into the king’s company, even as a servant. He knew that better than anyone.

He took the steps to the White Tower two at a time. The door at the top was shut and guarded.

“
Is
the king
awake?
” he
asked
.

The guards
knew who he was
, but their stares were wary
.
They’d given him the same knowing looks
for
week
s
. It started his back itching all over again.