There should be elation in this victory, but she could not shake a melancholy that ruined her contentment. It had been much harder than she had expected to take this step. When the Welsh escort rode up, she had even experienced a moment of panic. Suddenly, desperately, she had wanted to keep Genith nearby a little longer, safely tucked in her arms. They had been parted for so many years, and this brief time together had been bittersweet and heavy with memories.

Now they were parted again. If something went wrong, it might be forever this time.

She tried to shake off her sadness by thinking of Edward’s plan, and the importance of foiling it. He wanted to make amends, it was said. A long time coming, those amends, and calculated to cost him nothing. Such was the way with powerful men. Even in penance they gained more than lost.

Well, she also had amends to make. The world would say she did it for revenge, but then the world, and the King, had always misunderstood most of it.

Rising out of her reverie, she completed her washing more methodically. It felt good to finally be clean again. Too many days on the road had left her soiled and sticky and feeling old.

She bent at her hips and splashed her face with water. Hands planted in front of her knees, she raised her face to the heat to dry.

And froze.

There had been a sound behind her. No louder than a breeze, it had accompanied her movement. The servants returning from market, no doubt. She sat back on her heels and listened for their steps and talk.

She heard nothing more, but her pulse began pounding. Her soul knew what her senses denied.

She slowly turned her head and looked over her shoulder.

Marcus of Anglesmore’s tall, strong body leaned confidently against the chamber’s doorjamb. His dark golden hair fell carelessly around his head and jaw, and the dim light in the chamber sculpted his face into stony planes in which dark eyes blazed as he watched her.

His hard expression made the back of her neck prickle. She calculated the danger he might present, and the time since Genith had departed.

She turned back to the fire, forcing composure on herself. “How long have you been there?”

He did not answer.

“The women?”

“They are safe and unharmed, but silenced.”

“How did you know where to find us?”

“You were seen leaving London and heading west, and travelers passed you on the road. Still, this took longer than it should have, and I am most displeased. Clever of you to pay some of those travelers to lie about the roads you would take on this journey.”

She waited for more. They stayed in silence for a long stretch.