‘I suppose we could head along the river towards Lamphey. It should be more sheltered there.’ As we passed, fragrant steam belched from the door of the castle kitchen and Maredudd nudged me in its direction. ‘I have been training since first light. Fetch some food, sis. I cannot do this on an empty stomach.’ I had forgotten to pass on to him Lady Margaret’s order that he should get food from the kitchen and now could not bring myself to mention it.

The head cook hated women in his kitchen. ‘Keep out!’ he snarled at me. ‘You will curdle the sauce!’

I ignored him and ran through to the bakery. The pastry cook was more amenable and tossed several pasties into a linen bag when I explained my errand. ‘Bring the bag back!’ he ordered but smiled as he handed it over.

I had not been long but when I got to the stables there was no sign of Lady Margaret or Maredudd. The duty groom gave a shrug and reluctantly set down the barrowload of horse dung he was wheeling out to the midden. ‘My lady was in a hurry,’ he said. ‘She said you should catch them up.’

‘Is there a horse I can take?’ I asked. A glance down the line of stalls did not reveal a saddled mount.

The groom shook his head. ‘No women allowed to ride out alone. Not without the Marshall’s say-so and he went to the hall for his dinner.’

I glared at him. ‘So how am I to catch them up?’

He shrugged again and bent to raise the barrow’s legs. ‘No idea,’ he said rudely and trundled it away under the stable arch, leaving me seething and anxious. There was nothing else for it; I would have to tell Lord Jasper.

By the time he had mustered a posse of men, all grumbling about going on a wild goose chase unfed, the rain had begun to fall in torrents. Although I had pulled the hood of my cloak well down over my brow I could feel the sting of the raindrops on my cheeks.

‘Margaret will be soaked,’ Jasper fretted. ‘What can have possessed her to go off like this? Thank the Blessed Virgin that Maredudd is with her at least.’

It was not until we were trotting past St Mary’s church and down the hill to the river that I plucked up courage to ask, ‘What did you say to her earlier, my lord? She was very upset by something.’

A guilty look crossed his face and he glanced about to see if there were other ears to hear. ‘Perhaps I should have told her this before but I did not want to give her too long to brood over it. Young Harri is to stay here at Pembroke. The king wants me to oversee his upbringing.’