Midnight Eyes by Brophy, Sarah (well read books .TXT) 📕

The younger man snorted in companionable agreement. “These days, there are very few lucky men wearing the king’s livery.” He stood and leaned up against the wall next to his pike, looking broodingly out over the deserted corridor. Matthew quickly stashed away the money in his pocket, knowing that reminding the man of his recent fleecing might not make him all that forthcoming with the information he needed. He stood up stiffly and grabbed his stolen pike to lean on, shaking his head in commiseration.

“Aye, things have certainly changed. This used to be a fine enough life, but now…” He shook his head again and sighed, for good measure.

The guard took the bait and leaned forward conspiratorially.

“You know how the king has become obsessed about his security?” He dropped his voice. “Well, they are saying that he isn’t all that wrong to be. I’ve heard whisperings that there are important people trying to make certain that he doesn’t live all that much longer. One of these days, mark my words, he’s going to wake up with a knife wedged between his ribs.”

Matthew nodded his head, his agile mind quickly adding the new facts to the old. “And that prophesied dagger belongs to Robert Beaumont, right?”

The guard grinned. “Not now it won’t. He won’t live long enough to be anyone’s assassin.”

Matthew joined the boy’s laughter, but his stomach clenched tightly. Robert had finally managed to get himself into a situation that even Matthew didn’t know how to get him out of.

Trying to sound only mildly interested, Matthew scratched his thumbnail over his nose. “I fought with the man once on the Welsh borders. I find it hard to imagine he would have anything to do with treason.”

“Ah, but that was before they forced him to marry Lady Deformed. Marrying that one would be enough to change anyone, to my way of thinking. I mean I’ve heard that she is missing her nose and at least one arm…”

Matthew had to grit his teeth and hold on to his pike very tightly to stop himself from planting his fist right in the middle of the boy’s face. The thought of breaking his nose became strangely satisfying as he listened to the seemingly endless litany of Imogen’s imagined defects. He didn’t bother to remember that five months ago he had thought much the same thing himself. What mattered now was that he knew different. He knew her, liked and admired her. It was a hideous barbarity that one small detail had taken on such grotesque proportions.

When he couldn’t bear to hear anymore he cut the boy short. “But surely marrying Roger Colebrook’s sister couldn’t be all bad, regardless of how, uh, ugly the lady might be. I mean, it almost puts you in bed with the king himself.”

The man chuckled. “Ain’t that the truth.” He sighed and shook his head before adding, “I don’t think those two men want to be in bed together, not in any sense. There ain’t much love lost between them. After all, they say it was Colebrook himself who denounced his brother-in-law.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Beaumont probably said too much in front of his ugly wife and she passed it on to her brother. Families can be such queer things. I mean, I knew this one man who…”

Realizing that they were straying from the point, probably forever, Matthew said something vague about needing to be elsewhere and walked quickly down the hall. As soon as he was out of sight he set about finding the most discreet way to leave the castle.

Once in the courtyard he strode toward the stables as if he had every right to do so.

Amongst the king’s vast selection of horseflesh, it took him some time to locate Dagger’s stall. The horse whinnied in greeting when he recognized this new intruder.

“Shut up, you idiot, or you can explain to the groom just what the hell I’m doing saddling a traitor’s horse. That’ll be just before they turn you into so much hound’s meat,” Matthew growled darkly but gave the horse an affectionate pat on the neck all the same.

He saddled the horse quickly and swung stiffly up into the saddle. Back in the courtyard Matthew continued his show of bravado, reckoning it would be all that would get him out of this hornet’s nest. Not that the sentry on the gate seemed all that interested in checking the credentials of an old man on an elderly horse. They waved him on as soon as he claimed to be on an important mission for the king.

They might have been more questioning if they had seen the speed that Matthew took off with when he was far enough away from the noisy wooden drawbridge. He didn’t waste time questioning his luck. He leaned over Dagger’s neck and coerced him into a faster gallop. He had to get Imogen on that boat out of England as quickly as possible. There was no time to waste, because after he had achieved that, he was going to have to come back here.

He might have promised Robert that he would make sure Imogen was safe, but to Matthew’s way of thinking that wouldn’t be at Robert’s own expense. It was becoming sickeningly clear that Robert desperately needed his help.

His mouth settled into a grim line as he rode away from the castle. It didn’t sit well with him that he was leaving the boy, especially not when he was up to his neck in trouble. He didn’t like it at all, but there was sod all he could do about it until he had fulfilled his other obligations. Once they were completed, then he could try to help Robert.

Not that he had any idea how he could help, but maybe, after he had got the wife out of the country he could come back and do what could be done for the husband.

Even if it was only to see he got a decent Christian burial.

Imogen turned