He was at the threshold when he heard Lady Eluned raise her voice a little to say, “But now you must tell us, Nan, how it is you have found a prince in your travels.”

His stomach dropped. He froze, not even breathing, and turned his eyes up to look at Lady Eluned.

She watched him steadily, perfectly composed. She glanced at Nan’s puzzled face, and raised her eyebrows in polite surprise. “Did you not know?”

Nan blinked at her, uncomprehending, then turned to Gryff for explanation. He could say nothing. He could only wait for Eluned to say it.

“I see I must introduce you.”

They were all looking at him now, everyone in the room. He pushed his hood back, because there was no use in hiding. A feeling of unreality came over him as Eluned’s eyes fixed on him and proclaimed his name.

“This is Gruffydd ab Iorwerth ap Cynan Goch, the last Prince of Aderinyth.” Her eyes never left his, not for one syllable of it. “This is Nan,” she said to him, infinite power in the way her hand settled lightly on Nan’s shoulder. “And she is under my protection.”

Chapter Nineteen

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Nan was staring at him, dazed.

“Prince?” she echoed, as though she had never heard the word before.

“Tywysog Aderinyth,” Lady Eluned supplied, giving the word in Welsh as though that would clarify the matter. Her hand never left Nan’s shoulder and her eyes never left Gryff until she said, “Forgive me, my lord,” and sank into a very deep courtesy.

“Nan,” he began, and stopped. He did not know how to continue. She looked bewildered at Lady Eluned’s show of deference, then looked back at him with disbelief.

“All have believed you dead these five years, Prince Gruffydd,” Lady Eluned informed him when she rose. “All but my son.” She clasped her hands lightly before her and turned her eyes to her lord husband for a brief moment. The ladies who had been embroidering near the window until they had heard the word prince now stood gawking at him, and she addressed them. “We wish to be private. Go now. You will say naught of what you have heard here, or I will know of it.”

Nan flinched a little at the words, and looked as though she took them as a command for herself. She had even lifted her foot in preparation to walk away, but Lady Eluned’s hand came gently to her shoulder again. Protection. Nan was under Lady Eluned’s protection.

“The abbey was your hiding place,” said Robin in a voice of discovery when the other ladies had gone. “The abbey in the wilds that burned.”

“I feared for my life.” He said it to Nan, who was staring somewhere in the vicinity of his chest. “I feared Edward would imprison me.” He saw confusion crease her brow at the name, and said, “King Edward.”