Children of Time (The After Cilmeri Series Book Four) (13 page)

“Okay,” I said.

We went to a different part of the clinic and Audrey gave me the kind of medical exam I hadn’t had since I’d been pregnant with Anna. She weighed and measured me and asked about various womanly issues. All was well until she put her stethoscope to my belly. She moved it here and there as she listened, but didn’t comment. One minute became two.

I watched her, my heart in my mouth. “Is everything okay?” I said, finally. The longer she didn’t talk, the more uncomfortable I had become.

Audrey took the buds away from her ears. “Any history of twins in your family?”

I shook my head slowly, while my heart raced and my stomach slowly sank into my shoes.

“Because I hear two heartbeats.”

Chapter Ten

17 November 1288

Bronwen

“
T
wo ladies are here to see you, Madam.” Dai, one of Chepstow Castle’s permanent retainers, hovered in the doorway to the women’s solar.

I looked up from the journal entry I was writing. “To see me?” Nobody ever wanted to see me, not while I was at Chepstow. As lady of the manor for Ieuan’s holdings in the north—at Buellt or Aberedw—I led a busy life. Here, Tudur was Llywelyn’s castellan, and he had an army of servants and household workers to run things for him. That’s how I’d gotten involved in the office work in the first place—to find something to do. Nobody had been more surprised than I that I was good at it.

“Surely they’re looking for Anna,” I said. “Please tell them she left this morning for Dinas Bran with Math and the children.” We’d thought it best to split up, to spread our influence across Wales more broadly in case trouble arose. For his part, Ieuan had left with a company of riders to patrol the southern coastline and wouldn’t return until tomorrow.

“I asked them already. They insist on seeing you.”

“Who is it?”

“They wouldn’t leave their names.”

I laughed. “Please send them in.”

For once, Catrin wasn’t attached to me. We’d had a long day of pacing and crying while I tried not to scream along with her, followed most recently by an hour-long nursing session. She’d fallen asleep ten minutes ago and her nanny, Elen, had begged to be allowed to wander off with her. Soon enough, Catrin would wake up, start crying, and they’d both be back.

Two women entered the room and curtseyed. I nodded at Dai, who closed the door behind them. “How may I help you?” I said.

The older of the two women hastened forward. “My lady, I have some disturbing information for you.” She spoke in French.

“First, please tell me who you are.”

The woman put a gloved hand to her mouth in a dainty gesture. Her behavior was far more refined than mine, for all that she called me
my lady
. “This is my daughter, Anne. I am Jenet, lady in waiting to Lucy, the wife of Roger Mortimer.”

My eyes widened. “The wife of—” I cut myself off at the sharp look she sent in my direction, belying the outward delicacy of her manners.

“We have something to tell you … to-to-to help Prince David,” Anne said.

I gestured that they should seat themselves and they did, though they perched on the edge of the bench as if it would break if they put their full weight on it. The two women exchanged a glance and it was Jenet who spoke again. “My lady, I fear that we have knowledge of a plot against the Prince.”

They’d had my full attention since they entered the room, but now my heart quickened. “What is the plot and how do you know?” I said. “And at what risk have you brought the information to me?”

“I have no fear for myself,” Jenet said. “Lady Mortimer resides currently at her estate in Lydney and since we were so close, I asked permission to visit my ill sister in Chepstow. A ferryman rowed us across the Wye yesterday.”

“Lady Mortimer chose not to travel to London for the wedding of William and Joan?” I said.

“She is pregnant again, and as she miscarried her most recent child, she didn’t want to risk travel in these early months.”

“I see,” I said.

Everyone knew that Lucy and Roger did not have a happy marriage. His imprisonment in the Tower of London aside, they normally spent most of their time apart. She endeavored to spend her time in the country, while Roger stayed in the city. Given that he’d once tried to murder Llywelyn, I had never been disposed to think well of him, but I’d since learned that he was a philanderer and mercurially violent.

“I’m sorry your sister is ill,” I said, “but very thankful you chose to see me.”

Jenet looked down at her hands. “I almost didn’t, but when Anne heard at the market that you were in residence ….”

“It is at my urging that she’s here.” Anne took her mother’s hand in hers.

“Please tell me what you know,” I said.

“It has many pieces, my lady.” Jenet took in a deep breath and let it out. “I know for certain that Lord Valence arranged for an attempt on Prince David’s life two days ago, while his company rode through Gloucestershire.”

I pressed a hand to my heart. “You say
attempt
. It failed? It has to have failed or I would have heard!”

“Roger Mortimer’s brother, Edmund, discovered the plot before it could succeed,” Anne said. “We wouldn’t have come all this way to tell you if that were all the information we had. We have more.”

I went cold all through. “What more?”

“Please,” Jenet said, “if we tell you, you must promise not to reveal where you heard it.”

“I promise,” I said. “Of course, I promise.”

“There is a baron, a fine lord that Lord Roger refers to only as
the churchman
. In public, he supports Prince David, even going so far as to welcome his bid for the English throne, but in secret, he plots against him.”

“He intends to kill him?” I said, letting her mistaken comment about David’s desire to be the King of England go for now. “How?”

“Not murder,” Jenet said, “but a plan to discredit him. Lord Roger’s exact words were:
When the time is right, we will unveil the truth, and the upstart Prince will find himself in Hell’s deepest pit. He will have only himself to blame for his presence there.
”

“To whom was he speaking?” I said.

“To his wife.” Jenet cast her eyes down.

I stood. “You must return to your sister. Your lives might be forfeit if you were discovered here. It is very brave of you to have come.”

“We had to,” Anne said.

“I will ensure that Prince David gets this information,” I said.

Jenet and Anne rose to their feet too. “Thank you for seeing us,” Anne said. “You aren’t nearly as strange as we’ve heard.”

“Anne!” Jenet slapped her hand lightly on Anne’s arm.

“Well she’s not! And your baby is beautiful,” Anne said. “We saw her as we passed through the hall.”

I gaped at her, and then I laughed. “Thank you. And thank you for coming. You are Welsh, I gather?”

Jenet frowned. “No, of course not.”

“Then why—?”

“Prince David is King Arthur returned. It is wrong of Lord Roger to harm him in any way,” Jenet said, “and Valence is a despicable man. Lord Roger should not aid him.”

I clasped my hands in front of my lips and looked over them at the two women. “Again, I thank you for your loyalty. Prince David thanks you too.”

They smiled, curtseyed, and departed. As soon as they’d gone, I swept up my cloak and hurried from the room. I passed Elen and Catrin, who was still asleep, on the stairs.

“My lady! Are you all right—”

“I’ll be right back, Elen,” I said. “Keep Catrin happy until I return.”

I flew through the lower bailey. Nobody stopped me until I attempted to leave the castle without an attendant. The guard at the door warred with himself for a count of five as I stood in front of him, hopping from one foot to the other in my impatience. I sighed with relief as one of the younger members of the garrison hurried into the barbican. “My lady Bronwen, what is it?”

“I must visit the town,” I said. “You may come, but please don’t hinder me.”

“Yes, my lady.”

We hurried down the road and through the town gate. I turned down the side street that David had told me about and fetched up at Aeddan’s door. Before he left Wales, David had mentioned his visit and the Order of the Pendragon, knowing I’d commiserate and laugh. Although I hadn’t known who he was at the time, I’d actually met Huw a few days before at the market. When David described him, I knew instantly that the young man at the market stall, wheeling and dealing to sell his wool at the best price, was Huw. I knocked on the door.

Huw’s father, Aeddan, opened the door. “My lady!”

“Hi.” Being Ieuan’s wife meant I never had to introduce myself. “May I come in?”

“Of course,” Aeddan said.

I left the guard on the doorstep and entered the house. Huw straightened from his seat by the fire. “My lady, what is it?”

“I need you to ride to Prince David immediately,” I said without preamble. “He is in danger.”

Chapter Eleven

17 November 2016

Meg

“
D
id you see the vid?”

I heard the question as I stood in the guests’ kitchen at nearly midnight, fixing Goronwy another cup of coffee with too much sugar and cream (he took it exactly the way Bronwen did, which I thought was funny). At the rate he was drinking it, the man was going to become addicted in a week. I wasn’t going to tell him that the last two cups I poured for him had no caffeine in them. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Besides, the lateness of the hour meant we all needed sleep.

“I heard about it.”

The second voice belonged to our nurse, whose name I didn’t remember (Deb, I thought), but I didn’t recognize the first speaker.

“My boyfriend had just come on when they arrived. There was a flash which whited out the video, and then the three of them fell in the pool.”

“Did they fall through the skylight?” my nurse said.

“You mean as if from a plane?” the first voice said.

“I hear it was open, so it could have happened that way.”

 The first speaker scoffed. “Rubbish. What kind of sense would that make?”

“Then what?”

 “I hear they’re part of a secret government study to travel from one place to another by scrambling our atoms, like in Star Trek or Dr. Who.”

“Don’t be daft. How likely is it that one of them just happened to have a heart event and drop into our pool, while another is up the duff?” the nurse said.

I wasn’t attuned to British slang, but I’d heard the phrase in reference to me earlier. The nurse meant I was pregnant.

“What then?”

“I don’t know. But I like them. And the woman is having twins.”

“I heard. I’m going to see Danny later if you want to come with me and have a look …”

Their voices faded down the hall, along with their footsteps. I looked down to realize that as I listened, I’d shredded a Styrofoam cup into fifty pieces. Before I could convince myself that the impulse was stupid, I followed the two nurses back to the waiting room. Once there, they took the elevator to the second floor, but I kept going to the opposite end of the building, to where the administrative offices lay. Although I hadn’t explored very far, I had poked my head through the door on the main floor, just to see what was there. During normal business hours, which wasn’t now, a secretary at the front desk guarded the entrance.

I peered through the window in the door. At this hour, a security guard reclined in the secretary’s chair, watching a show on a mini-television. I pulled back after a quick glance. He hadn’t looked up. I went to the main elevators. Our suite lay on the fifth floor, but the complex had a basement too. I wanted to see that footage and I guessed that the
Healing Waters
spa hadn’t wasted a view on their security guards, who were supposed to be watching the cameras anyway.

Down I went, all by myself, and the elevator doors opened to reveal a brightly lit—albeit empty—basement corridor.

“Hey! What are you doing down here?”

I’d hardly stepped off the elevator when a man in a blue uniform came around the left-hand corner.

“I was looking for a bathroom,” I said, with a hand to my belly as if I was a desperate pregnant woman.

The man’s brow furrowed. “You have one in your room.”

“It’s occupied.” I stated this flatly, and got a smile. He tipped his head in the direction he’d come. “You really shouldn’t be down here, but if it’s urgent, it’s the first door on the right as you walk down the hall.”

“Thank you!”

I hurried down the corridor. As I turned the corner, I glanced back. He lifted a hand to me and I waved before ducking into the bathroom. After thirty seconds, I edged open the door and peered through the crack. When I didn’t see anyone, I slipped out and continued down the hall. The corridor jagged to the left again and I realized I must be under the administrative offices, which is exactly where I hoped to be. Three doors down on the left, a sign said, “audio-visual”. I turned the handle.

It was locked.

And then the door opened to reveal a slender man, a little taller than I, with dark hair and eyes, wearing the same blue uniform as the man I’d spoken to by the elevators. “May I help you?”

“Hi!” I said, as brightly as I could, and trying to turn on the charm. “I was wondering if I could see the video that shows me falling into the pool?”

The man’s head jutted forward as he stared at me. “What? How do you know about that?”

“I heard a nurse talking about it. You’re Danny, right? She said you showed it to her and I’d really like to see it too.” I almost added
please
but decided I didn’t want to come on too strong.

“Ma’am, you aren’t supposed to be here. I can’t show you—”

“I know you’re not supposed to,” I said. “But since you already showed one of the nurses …”

He gaped at me, seemingly too stunned to reply.

“Really, I’m the only person you
should
show it to, since you violated my privacy by showing it to anyone at all.”

I had no idea if Wales had privacy laws, and certainly a business and its cameras were a gray area. Still, Danny swallowed such that his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He leaned into the hallway, looked both ways, and then caught my arm to pull me into the office. “Let’s make this quick.”