Page 12 of The Earl

Chapter 6

The members of the order had been locked away all morning, but they were no closer to an agreement about how to proceed than when all four men had arrived in Conrad’s south solar. All morning he and Terric had circled each other, a natural extension of the more private conversation they’d had prior to the meeting. When Terric had pulled him aside to ask about Cait, Conrad had answered him directly, his tone unequivocal.

“’Tis your sister’s story to tell. When she does, I’ll gladly speak of it.”

The fact that Terric had accepted his stance, though begrudgingly, told him Roysa had not informed her husband of Conrad’s late-night visit.

They’d begun the meeting and soon reached this stalemate—Conrad believed one course of action was best, Terric and Lance disagreed.

“We have the authority to communicate directly with the king,” Conrad said again.

A midday meal had just been brought for them, but none had touched it. Terric, the most vocal opponent to his plan, stood from his seat and moved toward the tray.

“We cannot wait. The others granted us the authority to act because they expect us to do so.” He picked up a piece of dried meat. “I refuse to wait any longer.”

“The waiting,” Lance agreed, “is intolerable.”

He, too, followed Terric to the tray of food, his blacksmith’s arms flexing as he reached for a chunk of bread. Lance was now the lord of Tuleen, but Conrad could still see the boy he’d been. Brooding but steady, trustworthy to the core.

“I would not argue with you there.” He leaned forward, setting his elbows on his knees. “We would need considerable support from within the city’s gates. Taking London would not be a simple matter.”

Guy rolled his eyes. “You mean to say we cannot stroll into the city and demand all those loyal to King John lay their weapons at our feet?”

Getting Guy to be serious apparently took more than a plot to overthrow the king. The man feared nothing. Although his friend’s comment annoyed him, he knew better than to say so. It would only give way to another jest.

“We can try,” he said instead, shooting Guy a look that his friend cheerfully ignored. Although Conrad’s father had taught him to lead with nothing more than his eyes—such tactics didn’t work on the mercenary. “In fact, I very much like your idea. Let us do it exactly like that.”

“Very good, then. As it feels like action we must take.”

At first Conrad thought his friend continued to jest, but Guy’s tone gave him pause. He exchanged a glance with him to confirm it. This was more than a suggestion. The mercenary had a sense of things that could not be explained. Guy was telling him he had as much now. A fact Conrad would not ignore, no matter how unusual his premonitions may seem.

“You both need to eat,” Terric said, popping another piece of meat into his mouth.

Nodding, Conrad stood and approached the platter.

“Roysa said your cook is a man,” Terric commented, reaching for a mug of ale.

“Elizabeth died,” he said flatly. “The king’s evil.”

Everyone in the room froze. They all gave him the same look, as if death from such an illness was particularly dreadful.

Conrad despised pity.

“But I thought . . . when?” Terric asked.

“Just last summer.”

He knew what Terric was going to say. He’d thought Conrad’s parents had been the last two to succumb to the illness that had claimed so many lives at Licheford.

“No others seemed to be inflicted this time,” he said, refusing to think of his parents. “And thankfully, her wasting away was much more brief than the others.”

Neither bloodletting nor purgatives did anything to improve her, or the other victims, and although one of the finest physicians in England had attended to her—to them—the treatment had been ineffective.

With mumbled apologies, the men ate. Conrad was sorry to have soured the mood, but he would not hesitate to use it to his advantage. They needed to provide a united front.

“The other barons have given us leave to act on their behalf. We move toward London.”

The others were slow to respond. His tone brooked no argument, and none was given.