A man appeared at the side of the barn. The light was low, but she knew at a glance that he was the Welshman’s brother. The resemblance made her angry, even as she felt a lurch in her stomach to see an echo of the face she held in her heart.

He slipped into the building, and she had a brief glimpse of the other men within. There was no way to say how many were there.

She breathed deep and reached behind her to pull out the dagger Gwenllian had given her so long ago. As night began to fall she whispered her prayers of thanksgiving, added another to ask for aid in her task, and yet another to ask forgiveness for the mortal sin she would commit. God would surely forgive her. He loved the Welshman no less than she did.

She gave Fuss one last scratch under the chin. Then she stepped forward into the darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Six

––––––––

They brought him Rhodri’s body a little more than a week before the wedding was to take place.

“There was one other dead, my lord prince, and three wounded who yet live. All have confessed that they followed his command, with murder in mind.”

The captain of the guard continued, explaining that those who survived could not agree on who the attacker had been – only that it had been done quickly and suddenly, just as twilight fell – but Gryff knew it was her even before he saw the single blade that had been left in Rhodri’s throat.

He removed it himself, slipping a nail into the hole where the hilt should be and pulling it free. His hand would not let it go. He looked down at the body and remembered the rat dead of a poison that had been meant for him all those years ago.

He gave orders for the surviving conspirators to be questioned further, and announced they would be judged according to Norman law. When his captain suggested that Rhodri’s head be set on a spike above the tower, as Edward had done to his enemies, Gryff forbade it immediately. The men of his guard seemed to think this was because he thought it too gruesome a sight for the wedding feast, but he had not even considered that.

“We will not follow such a savage example,” he announced. Not all Norman ways were superior. “Let him be buried in the valley where all princes of this land rest, for he was my father’s son. But the ground will not be consecrated, nor will his grave be marked.”