Gryff looked to Lord Robert for confirmation of this grim declaration, feeling the hope of his home slipping away again.

“Never would I gainsay my lady wife in such a matter as this one. But I think me she will agree that Will is best positioned to know Edward’s true mind.” He paused, and Lady Eluned inclined her head, conceding this as truth. “Even now, Will is at court.”

“So too is Rhodri there.” Lady Eluned looked at him from her place by the window. Whatever she sought in Gryff’s face, she seemed not to find it. Her cool gaze moved to her husband. “Does he know the true prince lives, Rhodri would not waste an instant to find him and see him dead.”

Lord Robert nodded and looked into his cup, considering. Gryff had lately learned to hear words that went unspoken, to judge a mood and a moment by more than what was said. Lord Robert was straightforward, trustworthy, as cheerful and warm as Gryff had first perceived. Lady Eluned was none of those things, and though her knowledge was greater it seemed she was now giving a decision to her husband: the decision of what exactly to do with him. Gryff did not know whether to be glad of this or to despair.

“Is there no one else who knows you live?” asked Lord Robert finally.

“Only one man, and I will not name him.” If he could do nothing else, he could keep Hal safe and free of all this. “He is no lord, and he will keep the secret well.”

He told them then, of how he had been smuggled out of Lancaster’s keep by a man now dead, and how at the abbey only Brother Clement had known his identity, and he was dead too. Gryff had thought it an advantage, that it would allow him to begin a new and nameless life of his own choosing. And it was an advantage – it had kept him alive. But as he told it, he could only see a long trail of broken ties and lost lives stretched out behind him. Somehow at the end of it, he still lived.

Robin appeared with a tray of food. He said not a word. He only set it down and left, but not before giving a look to Lady Eluned that seemed sorrowful, another to Gryff that seemed accusatory. As he walked out, he snapped his fingers at Fuss, who had been sitting unnoticed at Gryff’s feet. The dog looked up at him as if asking approval before answering Robin’s call and bounding out of the room.