The chance had paid off. He was afraid of losing Nicholas’ support.
Was this guy the father of all the future assholes out there?
“Of course, Your Majesty.” She turned to Elia and rolled her eyes with exhaustion—and then realized that Reg was watching her. She held her hand to her head.
“I’m afraid I’m feeling unwell,” she told the head maid. “Would you take me to my room, Elia?”
“Of course, my dear. Excuse us, Sire.”
“No, wait. I will escort her.”
The head maid sighed and took Kes’ arm. “He will have my head and then yours if I leave her alone with anyone. Even you, Sire.”
Richard looked down his long nose at her. “I suppose you are correct.” He smiled suddenly. “And to show you that I mean no harm, I shall bid the lady good eve right here.” He turned to Kes and bowed, wishing her good night.
She smiled and turned on her heel, anxious to be away from him. She didn’t want to be around the king without Nicholas. She was afraid she might tell him what a poor example of mankind he was. Nicholas would come back and find her hanging in the outer courtyard.
“Elia,” she said, turning to her as they walked. The head maid was fast becoming Kes’ closest friend. “The earl doesn’t like him. I know that many Yorkist supporters have turned to the Lancaster side. Why does Nicholas continue to support him?”
“Because for Nicholas, the alternative is worse.”
Kes looked down at her feet. Ah, yes, the other mountain blocking any path toward Nicholas. “Lancasters.” Of which she was one. Of course, he never had to know, but she didn’t want a relationship built on lies.
“Aye, Girl. Come, let us go to your room and speak there.”
Kes nodded. They walked the long halls in silence until they reached her room.
“I will stay with you until Nicholas returns.”
Kes appreciated that. What would Elia do if the king tried to get in? Kes didn’t want to find out.
She showed Elia how to shove a chair beneath the door handle to make it almost impossible for anyone to get in.
“Now, as I was saying about Nicholas and the Lancasters,” Elia said, sitting on the edge of the bed. She patted a spot for Kes to join her. “They killed his parents.”
“Yes, he has spoken of it before,” Kes told her.
“What you do not know is that they killed his sister and two younger brothers as well.”
Tears colored the rims of Kes’ eyes. His whole family.
“He doesn’t speak of them or of what he saw. But I remember.” Elia’s eyes changed to olive green when she looked off into the distance as if she could see the past again. “They were good children, always obedient.” She sniffed and pulled out a handkerchief. “They were happy.” She stopped to wipe her eyes and cry a little. Kes hurried to her and rubbed her back.
“We were traveling to Leeds to visit with the children’s grandparents when we were attacked. They must have been following us. They knew who the de Marres were. Everything happened so quickly. I was young. Just nineteen. I was riding…closest…to Nicky.” She wiped her eyes heedlessly. “They came out of the trees. At least fifty strong. They knew they would need that many to overtake Sir Albert de Marre when he was protecting his family. But he couldn’t fight them all. I escaped with little Nicholas after they killed his brothers and we rode through the forest with the sounds of his mother’s screams piercing the air, and our hearts. His sister and his father screamed after that. And then they screamed no more.”
“Oh, Elia,” Kes cried with her. “How horrible. I can’t imagine what a nightmare that was for you. And for poor Nicholas. Of course it had the most traumatic effect on him. Seven is such an impressionable age.”
She wiped her eyes and noticed Elia staring at her.
“Kes, when are you going to tell me why you speak the way you do? Who are you?”
What? What had Kes done to give anything away? For a minute, she was too shocked and frightened to say anything coherent. After a few attempts at speech, she stopped and closed her eyes. She prayed for help, and then began.
“Elia, you must not speak of this or tell Nicholas that I’ve told you. Do I have your word?”
“You have it.”
It had to mean something, or Nicholas wouldn’t trust her the way he did. Kes liked her and she was going to burst if she didn’t tell someone other than him.
“He found me on the battlefield.”
“Aye, he told me that,” Elia said. “You wandered—”
“No. I appeared out of thin air, as he explains it. For me, I was in an office on the West Side rubbing a brooch left to me by my great-great-great-aunt, the duchess. One second I was there, in twenty nineteen. The next, I was here in fourteen eighty-five. In the middle of a medieval battle.”
Elia was quiet for so long, Kes thought her story had put her asleep with her eyes open.
“Twenty nineteen…” she echoed. “You traveled through…time.”
“You believe me?”
Elia nodded. “I suspect one of our merchants may be a time traveler, but I say nothing lest he be accused of witchcraft.”
Kes’ stomach twisted into a knot.
“And Nicholas saved you?” Elia asked, seeing her worried frown.
“Yes. Some men rode toward me with their swords swinging. They meant to kill me, but Nicholas stopped them.”
“Did he stop all of them?”
“I…I don’t remember.”
“Think,” Elia pressed softly, her gaze was serious. “Did any see what Nicholas saw and live?”
“Maybe.” Kes’ eyes opened with fear. “You think they will say I’m a witch?”
“They might, and if they know he cares for you, you become their greatest weapon against the man they could never beat before.”
Kes’ heart drummed hard. It felt as if it were thrashing in her throat. Why would she
