“What now?” she asked Nicholas when they were alone. “What will you do?”
“First, go to the king and get him to denounce this.”
“Do you think he will?”
“If he values his life. After that, I intend to discover who started this and kill him and any others with him.”
“Nicholas,” she went to him and fell into his arms. “You can’t go around killing anyone who calls me a witch.”
He mumbled an oath and ground his jaw. “That is exactly what I am going to do.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nicholas thundered home.His horse’s hooves tore the ground beneath him. He cursed himself for never making friends with his men. He had many under him, but he trusted none of them with Kestrel’s life. He didn’t know what they would do if the king threatened them or paid them. For that reason, he would rather do this alone. She would be safe at Walter’s. He would end this.
He dismounted before the horse came to a complete halt at the castle doors. He rushed inside, calling for the king. He made his way to the great hall, the solar, the king’s bedchamber, but Richard was not in any of those places.
“Richard!” he called out.
“Cousin, what is this uproar about?”
Nicholas pivoted on his heel and moved his hand across his hips to the hilt of his sword.
“What are you doing here, Reg?”
His cousin looked terrified for a moment and then found strength from somewhere, mayhap his mother’s de Marre’s blood. “I came to see the king.” He lifted his chin. “As his guest.”
Nicholas cast him an angry snarl. “And you think that means I will not throw you out of my castle?”
Reg shifted from foot to foot. He looked just a slight shade paler.
“What do you know about this accusation that my wife is a witch?”
“Only what I have heard.”
“Which is what exactly?” Nicholas moved forward.
Reg stepped back. “That she appeared out of nowhere on the battlefield. Men say they saw her, and they saw you take her away. More people are coming forward.”
Nicholas wanted to be sick. How many men? What else were they saying? “Who was the man who first brought this to everyone’s attention?”
“I…I do not know.”
“I will find out,” Nicholas vowed, close to his face. “Now, bring me to wheremore people are coming forward. Who are they coming forward to? Where?”
“I…I…”
“Reg, you will no longer enjoy the privilege of living in a house I paid for if you do not start telling me what I want to know.”
“They are men from your garrison,” Reg told him without further provocation. “They were there at the battle. They saw her magically appear.”
“Nonsense! I was there, as well,” Nicholas argued, terrified that even Reg seemed to believe it. “She crawled onto the battlefield, hardly able to stand. I saw her! Now take me to where they are meeting!” he demanded and gave Reg a shove toward the stairs.
“They are your own men, Nicholas!”
“No. The king’s personal guard, but not my men.”
“The king’s guard was not there at that battlefield,” Reg reminded him. “Why bring me before them and have them hate me for betraying them?”