Nay, it was too bold, too risky. Too complicated. She would not dare it. She would not even think to try.

“Go and find Addis,” he ordered Paul. “Bring him here, but do not draw attention to yourself.”

“He is somewhere in the camps.”

“I do not care if he is in heaven or hell. Go find him. When you return, check whether Nesta is still in the chapel.”

Paul hurried out. Marcus shoved the table close to a bed so he could sit. Slowly and methodically he moved the parchment in front of the light, and read the entire message scraped into it.

Every line caused his blood to run faster. It was all there, the lords who were coming and when they might arrive. The presence of Arundal and Addis at the manor. The estimation of Carwyn’s numbers.

His gaze stared at that part in amazement. According to Nesta, four hundred were already spread out in those mountains, including five prominent chieftains and their men. Addis had estimated no more than one hundred and fifty after his scouting today.

Finally, at the end, he read the exhortation to move, and move now, that he had first deciphered. In those last lines there were enough references for him to know for sure to whom Nesta appealed.

His gut twisted. He should have followed his instincts that night with David, when he had wondered if Nesta’s parchments carried messages. They had, scraped into the surface and hidden beneath the obscuring inks. These designs were all that she had passed to others, but they had been enough.

And some, like this one, had not been intended for Carwyn or any Welsh leader. Nor for any marcher lord. Llygad’s dream had been much more audacious than that.

And much purer. Marcus cursed himself. He should have guessed that any alliance would not be with a lord sworn to the English crown.

He read it again, forcing himself to face the dangerous implications. Despite the chill claiming his soul and blood, he muttered a prayer of gratitude that he had intercepted this message, and another one of hope that he could find a way to save the woman who had written it.

Paul returned with Addis. The two of them carried some cups and a wine bladder, and jested and laughed as they entered. Anyone watching would assume that they intended to get drunk.

“It was all I could do to keep Arundal from joining us,” Paul said as he barred the door. “Hubert is bombarding his ear with the story of his life, and the evidence that someone would be getting soused warmed his interest.”

“And the lady?”

“She has retired to her chamber. With the priest gone too, the chapel is deserted.”

Addis looked pointedly at the parchment in Marcus’s hand. Marcus explained Nesta’s tapestry designs.