Page 84 of Laird of Flint
Despite the chill of the pantry, she remained there for several moments, trying to make sense of what she’d heard.
Peris wanted to get rid of Hew because he was “meddlesome.” What did that mean?
Whatever they were up to, Peris believed his soul was damned. Enough so that killing a defenseless man would hardly tarnish it further. What “business” could the physician be up to? What “spoils” did he intend to share?
She took a thoughtful bite of buttered bread.
Hew had spoken about a secret investigation. The monastery thefts. Could that be the matter they were discussing? But what could the physician have to do with that?
She had to share what she’d heard. But she couldn’t go to her father. She didn’t want him to worry. Not before she got more details.
She needed to tell Hew.
With any luck, he’d forget all about her indiscretions of last night, especially after she gave him this startling news.
She stuffed the bread into her mouth with a haste that would have horrified her father. Then she snatched up a block of cheese, a crock of butter, and tucked the rest of the loaf under her arm. Praying the two conspirators had had time to return to their beds, she stole from the pantry, across the great hall, and up the stairs.
“Sir Hew!”
Carenza’s whisper was sharp and urgent enough to rouse him from a deep sleep.
“What is it?”
He pushed himself up, wincing as he forgot about his injured palm.
“I need to talk to ye.”
Dropping some sort of parcels on the bed, she moved to the hearth and stirred the coals to life so they could see each other.
He raked his hair back and blinked the sleep from his eyes.
Carenza looked charmingly disheveled. He realized he actually preferred her that way. She might need to appear perfect for her clan. But he rather liked her imperfections.
She wheeled away from the fire and said, “’Twasn’t an accident.”
He was still half-asleep. “What are you talking about?”
“The opium.”
Was she upset about what she’d said to him while she was drugged?
“There’s no need to fret. I’ll forget what you said last night. And you can forget what I said the day before.”
“But that’s just it,” she said. She neared the bed and began unwrapping the parcels. “Are ye hungry?”
“In the middle of the night?” he asked. Then he realized he was. “I could eat. What have you got? And where did you get it?”
“Cheese. I’ve just been to the pantry,” she said, drawing her eating dagger and slicing off a piece for him.
He shoved it into his mouth, talking around it. “The pantry? How did you…” How had she managed to escape? Some guard he was. He wondered if she’d been up for hours in an opium stupor, gushing to every man in the keep how much she wanted to kiss him.
“That’s not important,” she said. “’Tis what I heard that’s important.”
“What you heard?”
“Men whisperin’,” she said, popping a piece of cheese between her teeth, chewing as she spoke. “One of them was Peris.”
“The physician?”
