“Please, Greylen, I’m really better. I’m going crazy.”

“Do you promise you’ll be careful and let your guard know the minute you need help?” he asked.

“We’re back to my guard?”

“Need you ask?”

“I guess not,” she said. “Do you suspect anyone in particular?”

“Aye, we’ve narrowed it to two, both have ties to MacFale.”

“What will you do?” she asked.

“When I’m certain who’s to blame, kill him.”

“Kill him?”

“Aye.”

“Can you do that?”

“The man came to me under false pretense, Gwen. He killed our babe. I feared you would die as well.”

“You really mean to kill him?”

“Good God, Gwendolyn—AYE!”

“I just…I never really thought about what you do or that it’s you who sees it through.”

“’Tis who I am, Gwen. ’Tis what I do. I’ve protected our home, our land, my entire life.”

“Just be careful, Greylen. Whatever you do, please be careful.”

If only she’d listened to her own worries, if only she had been more careful. She never would have found herself in the situation she was now in. She’d never meant to cause her husband the anger and helplessness she knew that he must have felt. She’d acted only on instinct.

She’d been waiting for Greylen to return on the keep steps, having been doing so for the past few nights. And she always had Isabelle and her guard with her. Tonight it was Ian. It was a beautiful night. The sky was full of stars and the moon cast a glow over the entire courtyard. Isabelle had just excused herself to get her a shawl, not that she’d asked for it, but Gwen finally stopped arguing and waved Isabelle away.

Gwen was talking quietly with Ian when they both noticed a form slipping through the gates and creeping along the outer wall toward the stables. Ian placed a hand on her knee, squeezing it to indicate that she remain still and silent. From where they sat between the balustrades, they must’ve been concealed within the shadows. And Isabelle’s departure into the keep had mistakenly led the man to believe no one was about. As the man opened the doors to the stables, Ian stood to follow. “Go inside now,” he whispered.

Gwen watched Ian walk to the stables and reach for the latch to go inside. But for some reason she didn’t go inside, she couldn’t. Instead, she crept down the stairs, crouching next to the balustrade as she waited for Ian to come out. Long minutes passed before she saw smoke coming from the stables and the man who entered first leave by himself. Her only thoughts were of helping Ian. She ran.