“Perhaps I should return to the solar and try to sleep a little,” she said, wondering if anyone would believe her to be so feeble as that.
They did.
Raymond escorted her to the solar and she paused at the doorway to thank him. Simon, she realized, was waiting behind, his expression watchful. “It occurs to me, Simon, that my lord husband will wish to pay his respects to Father. Will you send a runner to Montvieux to tell him that the funeral will be tomorrow morning?”
If he was surprised, he hid it well. “Of course, my lady.”
“And perhaps you might bring me a bit of bread and wine at midday.”
“Of course, my lady.”
She would ask Simon about his suspicions then, in privacy.
Once alone in the solar, she stared in shock. She had left the chamber tidy, the trunks closed and the linens smooth on the bed. The shutters had been open to admit the morning breeze. It was now a room transformed. The linens had been torn from the bed, and the mattress had been shredded. The trunks had been opened and their contents flung to the floor. Rugs had been cast aside and the draperies on the bed tugged wide.
Someone had searched the room in her absence.
Isabella bolted the door behind herself and hastened to the treasury. So far as she could see, it had not been disturbed. Perhaps the villain did not know where it was hidden. She unlocked the hidden door with shaking fingers and heaved a sigh of relief.
All was as she had left it. There was no mistaking the three fleur de lis of Montvieux on the lid of the trunk there, the one filled with gold coins. How could she defend the coin that should be rightfully returned to Amaury? She could remain in the solar on this day and night, but on the morrow, she would have to leave the chamber for the funeral and the door could not be secured from the corridor.
Someone, also, had to have her father’s keys.
Someone might learn in that interval where the treasury was hidden.
There was, though, one good way to both ensure the safety of that coin and fill the hours of her day of solitude. Isabella lifted the blue dress from the trunk and considered it. Surely, if she wore the colors of Montvieux, Amaury would know that she realized he was right and agreed with him. She would wear his cloak, as well, to show her alliance with him in all matters.
And she would carry a surprise, one she imagined would be most welcome. Isabella fetched a thread and needle, then settledclose to a light to secure the first coin in the garment’s hem. The garment was cut full, with a generous volume of cloth, which meant the hem was long.
It might even be long enough to hold the entire contents of the trunk.
CHAPTER 15
By the time the skies brightened the following morning, Isabella was exhausted. She had not slept at all, nor had she eaten much. Only the bread Simon brought had been safe to consume, according to the poison stone. Given that revelation, she had not asked him who might have poisoned her father – it might well have been Simon. Or someone could have interfered with the food intended for her before he carried it to the solar.
Isabella’s fingers were sore and her back ached, but the chests in the treasury were all empty. She locked them away all the same, then donned her dress. It was heavier than it had been, but the cloth was sufficiently strong to hold the weight. She spun in place and there was no clatter of coins to reveal her secret. Yet again, she was relieved to have no maid.
She was braiding her hair when she heard the sound of approaching hoofbeats.
Amaury.
Relief flooded through her with such power that her knees weakened. She left the solar to cross the corridor and look out over the long road that led from the forest, her heart leaping at the sight of the knight in the fore of the arriving company. Shewould have had to have been struck blind not to recognize the dark destrier or the deep blue of the lead rider’s tabard.
Amaury rode like a returning champion and Isabella’s heart soared at the sight.
Let him come for Marnis. She would surrender it to him willingly if it meant they two could remain together. He protected her. He listened to her. He came at her summons.
It was more than she had ever been able to expect from another.
With Amaury’s arrival, she would have one ally, and a formidable one.
She would trust him fully and what would be, would be.
Two squires, relieved of the burden of baggage, carried the standards of Montvieux aloft, flanking that rider. A second knight rode behind Amaury and Isabella thought it had to be either Luc or Thierry.
She turned to find Simon awaiting her at the summit of the stairs, his expression inscrutable. She was too tired to explore the riddle of her father’s death. Amaury would help her with the pursuit of justice, she knew. “My lord husband arrives,” she informed the seneschal, unable to keep from smiling.
“I am glad of it, my lady.”