Silence. Silence was the only defense. Breathe in; breathe out. Try to think of nothing. Try to hold down the rage that rose in my breast; try to keep the pain from my face. Your thoughts blaze like a beacon from your eyes; yours and Finbar’s. Keep it back. Calm. Calm like a stone.

“You’re too soft, Hugh. This would be child’s play. But you never did like blood on your hands.”

He turned to the lady Anne. “What of your younger son, sister? What would you give, to have him home safe? If she could lead you to him, would you not have her speak, by any means you could? She could be made to speak, oh, so easily. But Hugh here, for reasons best known to himself, doesn’t seem prepared to do it. That makes me wonder. That presents a whole new set of questions.”

Don’t look at the lady Anne. Concentrate on breathing. In. Out.

“She’s only a child,” said Red very quietly. I realized suddenly that this whole thing was not about me. It was meant for him. It was part of some game only these two men understood. It was some sort of test. But which of them was being tested?

“She has nothing to tell. She came to my aid when I was in difficulty; I offered her shelter. That’s all there is to it.”

There was complete silence in the room. Richard raised his eyebrows quizzically.

“Not such a child, I think,” he said silkily. His back was to his daughter, and to the lady Anne. His hand came up, and one finger touched my cheek delicately, and then ran a slow pathway down my face, and my neck, and my breast above the neckline of my plain gown. I felt the blood drain from my face, and my insides clenched tight with remembered terror, and I caught my breath. I did not see Red move, it was so fast. But there he was, his large hand closing around Richard’s arm, rather tightly, and lifting it away.

“Enough,” he said softly. There was no need to raise his voice; the tone had said it all. “This is my household, uncle. The lady is my guest. Perhaps I did not make that clear.”

“Oh, you make it clear enough, Hugh, my boy, clear as crystal.” He was rubbing his wrist, his expression now comically rueful. He had quite a repertoire. “I hope it’s as clear to your mother, that’s all I can say. She may be less enthusiastic about giving house room to the—lady.” The little pause before the last word was exquisitely timed. But he had not read his audience as well as he might. Elaine had a small frown on her brow, as if she were thinking hard. Lady Anne was distressed. Nonetheless, she beckoned to me as I stood frozen in the center of the room, and I summoned up what dignity I had left and went to sit on the embroidered stool at her side. In that one gesture she had said more than many words were worth. She might disapprove of what Red had done; but he was her son, and this was his household, and she would see that his guests were treated correctly, whatever it cost her.