Page 84 of No Place in Time

Everyone froze. Isabel’s hand hovered over the cup.

Benedict moved smoothly. “Isabel, that’s not yours. This one is.” He lifted the other cup on the table and handed it to Isabel.

Isabel looked confused. “They’re all the same—”

“That one is Lady Cecily’s,” Benedict said. His voice was smooth. “She prefers this vintage.”

Benedict handed Cecily her cup. She stared at it. She thought he had poured all the wine from the same bottle. In fact, she was sure of it.

Her cup. The one they didn’t want Isabel to drink.

The wine she’d been drinking every evening for months.

The bitter taste she’d grown accustomed to.

Her illness. The weakness. The trembling hands. The fog in her thoughts.

She understood then.

They were poisoning her.

She looked up slowly. Benedict was watching her. Julian looked away, refusing to meet her eyes.

They knew she knew.

She stood up, shaking. The glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor. Wine spread across the stones like blood.

“No,” she said. “I won’t—”

The room swayed violently. Her legs gave out. She felt hands catching her. Julian’s? Benedict’s? She couldn’t tell which. Their faces swam above her, distorted and strange.

“Please,” she whispered. “Don’t…”

Her world came apart at the edges.

42

CECILY

1301

“Where are you going?”

Finn paused with one boot half on. Cecily was watching him from the pallet, propped on one elbow.

“To find answers,” he said, pulling the boot all the way up. “There’s a monastery east of here. About half a day’s ride. They keep family records.”

“A monastery?”

“Yes. Births, deaths, lines of succession. I want to know what happened to the Veyrons after I disappeared in 1239.”

She sat up fully. “I should come with you.”

“No, you should rest. You were exhausted yesterday.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back before dark.”

The door closed behind him. Cecily lay back down but couldn’t sleep.

She loved waking in the same room with him, the simple routine of sharing meals. At night, they slept in their clothes as they always had, back to back for warmth in the narrow bed. A careful distance. It was a pretense of marriage, she knew, but she loved it anyway. He treated her with a quiet regard that was new, a stark contrast to the man who once mocked her pride.