Page 56 of To Love

“Please, sit,” she said. “First, I am not your instructor here. Say what you will, give your honest opinion.” She started from the beginning, telling all but Gareth and Alden, who had been privy to their investigation from the start. Ending with their suspicion of the priest, Elara finally glanced at Alden.

He watched her closely. The look he gave Elara was one she’d come to know well. He had admitted just last eve that he had been impressed—“in awe” were the words he used—by Elara’s intellect from the very beginning. They laughed at how both hid their desires for each other during her instruction. In some ways, she had known from the start. In others, the depths of his feelings for her were a surprise.

“If he is our traitor, we must learn of it immediately,” Alden said.

The room went silent. No one spoke as they considered their predicament. Elara offered, “With seven of us watching, ’tis possible we may catch him, or the maid, in a mistake. But with the campaign in Winchester—”

“Not Reading?” Darien asked dryly, already knowing the answer, no doubt.

“Nor Reading,” she confirmed. “We worry it could be compromised.”

Elara kept to herself the fact that Stirling was leading the mission and, until very recently, had been a suspect himself, which could put the men in danger. Eamon even suggested the possibility of not sending the men at all, which would be a huge blow to Matilda’s forces and chances of taking the city.

“If the traitor is not uncovered, will we still send men?” Amalia asked, echoing Elara’s thoughts.

“We will uncover him,” Gareth said. “Or them. It is the only way forward.”

Elara hoped he was right. “We watch. Listen. Find ways to interact with both. And meet here again tomorrow. I fear there is naught else to do unless either makes another move.”

“With seven of us watching . . .” Roland pursed his lips, as if considering something. The earl’s son had always been one of Elara’s best students, and she was glad for he and Amalia to have found each other. “If either of them misstep, we will know of it.”

“Seven is better than two. Eamon will do so as well.”

“And Stirling too?” Evelina asked.

Elara and Alden exchanged a glance.

“Not yet.”

He would be angry, kept out of the inner circle, but better to be cautious than risk them being wrong about Lila and the priest.

“He has behaved suspiciously as well,” Alden began.

“Nay,” Dairen interjected. “I do not care for the man, at times, especially in training. But there is none more loyal to Matilda’s cause than he.”

“Agreed,” Gareth added. “But we wish to be cautious.”

“If he realizes we are watching him . . .” Elara cautioned, knowing she did not need to finish her thought as the others nodded.

“Tomorrow then.” Amalia said, standing. As the others followed suit, Gareth did as well. When their eyes met, though he did not outwardly reveal any disappointment, Elara could tell he felt as she did.

“Tomorrow,” she echoed, to him specifically.

He sighed, and she understood.

Chapter

Twenty-Three

For three nights, the group met in Elara’s chambers. Three nights he could not touch her, talk privately with her. Three nights of torture.

The days were worse.

The only time Alden saw Elara was during Strategies instruction, and he did not dare stay afterward to speak with her. It was dangerous enough that he and the other men all snuck through the darkened corridors into her chambers, unseen. To raise suspicion would not do, and so he watched her from afar.

And Elara had been relegated to stolen glances as they desperately attempted to catch the traitor. Watching the maid and Fr. Percival had uncovered nothing. They’d even agreed to have Evelina speak to him directly, under the guise of asking a question about when he had married her and Gareth. In conversation, she’d raised the upcoming campaign—once a secret mission, even among the men, but now a well-known fact. Nearly all of the men would be heading soon to Reading, where they would be meeting up with Matilda’s forces.

Except, they would not actually rendezvous in Reading but Winchester.