They called him a prince, and so he must act as one. There would be no more running. It was time and past that he face his fate, no matter how cursed it may be, just as all other princes of his land had done.

It was only on his way out of the room, as they passed the window where Lady Eluned stood looking out, that he finally asked her. He knew she would know.

“My mother did intend to go to the sisters at Cairusk.” It had comforted him to think of her there, knowing how greatly she preferred her prayers even to her family. He used to think she only waited for her husband to die, so that she might retreat behind a cloister’s walls.

“She is there. She is happy to live much removed, from what little I have heard of her.” Lady Eluned seemed strangely subdued. “Full well will it soothe her to know she has a child who lived.”

There was no condemnation in it at all, but he felt damned by the words. Another sin to tally, that he had let his mother wonder and worry about his fate.

“My brothers,” he said. “My father.” He saw her close her eyes briefly, almost as in a silent prayer. “I would know how they died, and where they are interred.”

It was Lord Robert who answered.

“Your father fell in battle, an arrow to the neck and a quick death. Aiden too was wounded and died quickly, a blow to the head.” Here he put a hand on Gryff’s shoulder, firm and bracing. “Owain was captured and imprisoned, but fell ill within a fortnight and died before he could be taken to the king for judgement.”

Gryff almost asked what the illness was, but decided it didn’t matter. It might have been poison sent by Rhodri, or only the flux, or a common sweating sickness. If the illness had not killed him, the king likely would have. Traitors to the crown did not meet happy fates, even if they were only boys.

“He was buried in Malmesbury, and your father and Aiden in a small churchyard near where they fell.” It was Lady Eluned. She did not turn to him, but looked out over the fields and sky as she spoke. “I discovered the place, and two years ago was granted leave by the Church to move their bones to Aderinyth. They rest there now, in the valley where your ancestors are laid.”