There was the world of men, who dealt in power and brute strength. And there was the world that was hers now, where she must decide the fate of sheep’s wool and grow softer by the day.

She did not miss the world of men. But she knew herself there. That is who I am, she thought, with a conviction that startled her nearly as much as the sudden tears that pressed behind her eyes. Armor and hard steel and strength. Not this soft uncertain woman who only felt whole when a handsome man smiled, who lived from touch to touch.

She bit her lips, banished the tears, and whispered to a waiting Edric.

“Tomorrow you will go. Travel slowly, and on the third day I meet you on the road out of Ardleigh.”

He nodded. She turned to see they were entirely alone now, the stable boy gone into the yard. Still she spoke softly as she moved to leave.

“Tell no one,” she said. “Most of all do not tell my lord husband.”

She must find Davydd. He was placed as squire to one of Ranulf’s knights, in hopes to swear fealty to Morency when he was old enough to be knighted. But still, she knew he could be trusted in this. She knew his allegiance as well as she knew her own mind, now.

“I am commanded to tell you one thing more, my lady.” Edric’s words caught her before she had taken more than two steps. “That there is someone called Naydra who brings danger to your cousin’s company.”

“Naydra?” she asked, puzzled. But as soon as the word left her mouth, she heard it. Not a name, but a neidr. A snake. A traitor.

Edric the messenger shrugged. “Is because of this Naydra that I am sent, and not a man more familiar to you, and that I was warned to speak only to the Lady of Morency but not the Lord.”

She felt her skin go cold even as her head gave a reflexive half-shake of denial. Madog suspected her husband, or at least did not rule him out as an informant to the king. But Ranulf had said he would wait, that he would breathe no word against her mother unless he must. In her head as well as her heart, she could not believe he would betray that promise. And yet, he was Edward’s man.

She must be careful. She must not suspect, lest she suspect wrongly and misplace trust. They could not know who it was, and she could not know if it was him. But it was another reason to go.

“That is all your message?”

“Aye, my lady.”

She nodded, and spoke as she made her exit. “Leave quietly tomorrow. The road from Ardleigh, three days.”