Stephen shifted his gaze back to the prince and tried to discern if he meant what he said.
“Owain Glyndwr has heard you are fond of Lady Catherine.” Stephen really did not want to say this, but he saw no way around it. “More than fond.”
When the prince did not react, Stephen began to wonder if he was a little slow in the head. He judged the distance to the door again, then decided to get it over with.
“Glyndwr believes Catherine is your mistress.”
He watched the prince, waiting for a violent reaction.
Prince Harry rested his chin on his clasped hands. “This is unfortunate,” he said quite calmly. “Glyndwr is mistaken if he thinks the king would release her for my sake, no matter what she is to me.”
The prince appeared to be lost in thought for a moment.
“There must be talk about Lady Catherine and me for Glyndwr to have heard this.” He looked at Stephen and lifted an eyebrow. “Tell me, Stephen Carleton, what do you believe?”
“Lady Catherine is an honorable lady,” Stephen said at once. “She would never do it.”
The prince smiled. “I am glad to hear you share my high opinion of her.”
Forgetting his earlier caution, Stephen added, “But I did hear talk among the men at Ross Castle. It is well known the two of you are close.”
“Damnation,” the prince muttered.
After that, the prince made Stephen recount every detail of their capture and the events since. By the time Prince Harry dismissed him, Stephen was dizzy with fatigue.
Stephen paused at the door. “If we both tell William it is not true—about you and Lady Catherine—perhaps he will believe us.”
The prince smiled. “You are a brave man, Stephen. I shall be glad to have you at my back.”
Why did the men who took Catherine and Stephen not send a message yet? William was nearly mad with worry and frustrated past bearing.
Edmund was more alert today. Though he was not out of danger, he seemed likely to survive. William pressed him about why he thought their attackers did not just happen upon them.
“Why would a half-dozen well-armed men on good horses be on that quiet path to the abbey at just that time?” Edmund asked.
Men of that ilk should have been at Worcester, whether they be Welsh or English.
“I tell you, William, they knew her name.”
“But I’ve questioned every man, woman, and child in the castle,” William said, pacing the sickroom in frustration. “If we have a traitor in the castle who passed the word you were taking her to the abbey, someone should have heard or seen something.”
After a long pause, Edmund said in a low voice, “She’s run from you before.”
William stopped his pacing.She’s run from you before.The words were like a knife in his belly.
He turned slowly to face Edmund, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Are you suggesting Catherine arranged this herself?”
“All I’m saying, ’tis peculiar,” Edmund said.
He remembered what she said the night before he left for Worcester.It is you I need rescuing from now, William. You bring me misery of a kind Rayburn never could.
“She wouldn’t leave Jamie,” William said.
“She meant to take the boy, but I told her no.”
“You’ve been against her from the start!” he shouted. “I tell you, she wouldn’t do it.”
“You would not let her leave the castle on her own,” Edmund persisted, “so she might have used the kidnap as a ruse to get away.”