Page 101 of Peregrine's Call
He looked up, realizing that he’d drifted off. Alric had been talking to him. “What?”
“I was saying that since we can’t be sure if the men after Pierce are still pursuing him and might find him on the road again, a better solution might be to keep Pierce here and send word to London.”
“You think the king would come here?” Tav asked, surprised.
“Not the king,” Rafe broke in. Clearly Tav had missed a large part of the discussion. “Remember Lord Drugo? He’d be well placed to know how valuable Pierce’s information is, and how best to get that information to the king.”
“Ah. Yes. Good idea.” Drugo was King Stephen’s spymaster. The knights in this room had dealings with him before, and although he was one of the coldest, most calculating men Tav had ever encountered, he was fair-minded.
Rafe nodded. “All right, then do we send word to Drugo and hope he hurries?”
“Better to ask directly.” That was from the elder Lord de Vere, who’d been mostly quiet, allowing Alric to lead the discussion. “A letter can’t convey the urgency, and in any case, a letter may go astray. Someone should ride to London and bring Drugo back.”
Alric looked to Tav immediately, and before he could ask, Tav said, “I’ll go.”
He should go because it was his duty, and because he couldn’t stand being this close to Robin when things were so awful between them.
“You’ve spent the past several weeks riding up and down the country,” Rafe pointed out. “We could easily send a different person. One of the men-at-arms…”
“No,” Tav said more firmly. “It should be me. I’ll leave at first light. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to the chapel before I sleep.”
Tav wanted peace, but he was mistaken in thinking he’d find it in the chapel. He sat on one of the benches, staring at the altar without seeing it. No matter where he was, he thought of Robin and the mess he’d made of her life. And his own. He needed to speak to her, to touch her, and to see her laugh. He needed to ask her how he could repair the damage he’d done, what she wanted him to do.
Perhaps the few days of separation would give her some time to forgive him a little, and then they could talk.
“Am I interrupting?”
Tav turned to see Alric standing next to the bench. He sighed. “Interrupting what? I’m just sitting here.”
“I thought you might be at prayer.”
He shook his head. Prayer required thought, and at the moment Tav could barely keep hold of a single idea within his head.
Alric sat down near him, his gaze also on the altar’s flickering candles. “You must be glad to have completed the task set for you,” Alric said. “And the information the king will gain is probably more valuable than he dreamed it could be. You should be proud.”
Tav shook his head. “I’m not proud of anything I did. In truth, Robin deserves more credit than I do. Without her, I’d have got lost in the Ardenwood or simply never even learned where Pierce was at all. The king should reward her.”
“Perhaps he will, but we just want her to be safe. That’s what any family wants.”
“She’s safe now.”
“Thanks to you. I don’t know what she was thinking, running off like that. God grant no one speaks ill of her…weall know she’s an honorable girl, but it would be all too easy for someone to get the wrong idea with her leaving Cleobury for weeks with no explanation.”
Tav said, meaning it, “She doesn’t owe the world an explanation. She wanted to help find someone we thought would contribute to the king’s cause. And she did. I never would have succeeded without her.” And look how he’d repaid that help.
“Thank you,” Alric said suddenly. “You watched over her and saved her from God knows what fate. The whole time Robin was gone, I worried about her, but Cecily said that if she was with you, she’d be in good hands.”
Tav bent his head. How many more people would he need to ask forgiveness from?
Alric went on, “Robin isn’t family by blood, but both Cecily and I will do whatever we have to in order to protect her.”
Thus ends any hope of talking to Alric about my mistake, Tav thought grimly.And Robin will hardly even say two words to me. So where does that leave us?
“After all this is done, what’s next for you?” Alric asked, echoing Tav’s own line of thought. “Do you need to return to your lord?”
“Not immediately, but soon,” Tav said slowly. “The last time we spoke, he hinted at some more business in France. Family matters with his estates, not the war.”
“You don’t sound very happy about that. Don’t you want a little peace?”
