“Guard!” he shouted, but closed his eyes at the sharp pain the effort caused him. “Come here for a minute. I need to talk to you.”
When Chetwynd opened his eyes, he saw Isabel moving toward him down the narrow hallway. Certain she was a hallucination, he blinked his eyes. But when he opened them again, she was still there, only closer. Although he was aware of people behind her, he couldn’t take his eyes from her face.
With her hair still uncovered and her head held high, Isabel seemed to be moving in slow motion. Afraid to say a word and break the spell, Chetwynd watched her in silence. The smile on her lips kept getting wider. The realization that Isabel was truly there, and her expression of pleasure at seeing him, made his heart twist with something that was both pleasure and pain.
His hands were on the bars at the window, and Isabel lifted one of hers to touch him. He grasped her hand in both of his and whispered in a husky voice, “Are you all right?”
Isabel nodded. She could see that there was blood in his fair hair, but she did her best to ignore it. He was alive and happy to see her. She remembered that she was supposed to reassure him that she was unharmed and tell him that he would be released when King Louis arrived, but she couldn’t speak. There seemed to be an obstruction in her throat.
There were questions Chetwynd wanted to ask her, but all he could think to say was, “I want to hold you.”
Isabel’s lips were pressed together, and Chetwynd realized she was fighting hard to keep from crying. He didn’t want to make her cry until he could hold and comfort her, so he looked beyond her for help. He saw both Justin and Gilda. Relief flooded his body at the sight of the two people he had depended upon so often for support. They would take care of Isabel.
Aware that Isabel was still struggling to maintain her composure, Chetwynd spoke in a calm voice so as not to upset her. “What has happened, Justin? Can you get me released?”
“King Louis is on his way to Aachen, Chetwynd. As soon as he arrives, Lothar will be leaving and you will be released. That should be tomorrow.”
Chetwynd narrowed his eyes. Why couldn’t he be released now? he wondered, but he was afraid to ask. He was still holding Isabel’s hand, and it was trembling. Gilda had moved to stand beside her. He couldn’t be sure from his small window, but his sister seemed to be supporting Isabel. Gilda spoke to him in a reassuring voice. “It won’t be long now before you’ll be free and can join Isabel, Chetwynd. King Louis traveled to Saint Ives to fetch the queen, and he is on his way back to the palace. Lothar gave us permission to speak to you and give you a chance to see Isabel. He is sorry for what happened earlier.”
Although doubting what she said about Lothar, Chetwynd nodded his head. “Good, good.” Something was going on, and he couldn’t imagine what it was. Clearly everyone wanted him to remain calm, so he would try to do that.
They had reached an awkward impasse, and Justin hesitated, wondering what to do next. They were supposed to be reassuring Chetwynd that Isabel was all right, but Justin could tell they hadn’t succeeded. He had never thought of Chetwynd as overly perceptive, but he certainly shared a connection with Isabel. There was no doubt in Justin’s mind that Chetwynd could read Isabel’s feelings and knew that something was wrong. He would have preferred to tell Chetwynd of Isabel’s injury and explain that it was an accident, but he was afraid that would make the situation worse.
“We’ll take care of Isabel,” Justin promised. “I think she needs some rest, so we’ll take her to your chambers where she can wait for you.”
Chetwynd wanted to shout, No, don’t take her away, but he just nodded and kissed her hand.
Suddenly he heard shouting in the hallway. The commotion was out of Chetwynd’s view, but he saw surprise on Justin’s face, and he thought he recognized one of the arguing voices. Isabel pulled away from the door. When she was no longer filling the small window, Chetwynd could see that Jerome was being dragged down the corridor by two guards.
“Unhand the lad!” Isabel shouted, and Chetwynd was sure she would have advanced on the guards if Justin hadn’t held her back.
They were the first words Isabel had spoken, and Chetwynd gave a sigh of relief at hearing them. The power in her voice told him she was all right.
Ignoring Isabel, the guards were trying to restrain a struggling Jerome. In spite of their efforts, the much smaller lad had dragged them to Isabel’s side.
Gilda stepped forward to distract the guards. “Why have you taken our squire?” she asked as though she were out in the courtyard instead of in a dungeon. “He belongs with our party. No doubt he came looking for us. I know he can be impulsive, but release him into Lord Justin’s custody and we’ll take him away with us.”
The reasonable sounding demands coming from the small, beautiful woman distracted them for only a minute. “We had instructions to let you speak with the prisoner,” one of the guards answered her as though their actions needed explaining. “There were no instructions about this one. He was causing a disturbance outside the dungeon, demanding to speak with a prisoner. He refused to go away. We’ll let him cool off in a cell for a while.”
Although one of the guards still held his arm, Jerome ignored the conversation between the guards and Gilda. He grinned at Isabel, clearly delighted to see her, and then turned to Chetwynd. “Ingram and I spotted the kidnapper.
