Exile's Return

by Alison Stuart

  That cold dread, the fear for Henry, clutched at her once more. She would leave this minute if she could.

  He considered her for a long moment. ‘But you’re wrong, Agnes. Nothing’s changed,’ he said at last. ‘Not while Tobias Ashby is at Charvaley.’

  She laughed. ‘Surely you don’t really plan to kill him?’

  His high cheekbones coloured at her derision. ‘That has been all I have thought of for the last ten years, Agnes.’

  ‘That is a boy’s dream, Daniel. Put the past away. You have a future now.’

  He stiffened. ‘I don’t understand what has changed between us, Agnes.’

  Nothing, she thought. It felt like every nerve in her body had been strung tight. If he touched her again, she would fall apart.

  Mercifully, when she did not reply he straightened, setting his jaw. She had hurt him and her heart yearned to take him in her arms again, murmuring apologies.

  ‘We will talk in the morning, Agnes. If nothing else, I cannot in good conscience permit you to travel alone. If you do not want my company then suitable arrangements will need to be made.’

  He gave her a perfunctory bow and turned on his heel, the movement catching the paper on the table. It fluttered to the floor and he stooped to pick it up. Before she could snatch it from his hands, he had scanned the contents.

  ‘James Ashby’s idea of a love letter?’ He turned back to her, handing her the paper.

  ‘His last letter to me.’ She took the paper, glancing down at the familiar handwriting. ‘He said more in those few short sentences than he said to me living. I found it in a book he gave me on that last day. I hadn’t thought to open it until tonight.’

  Daniel shook his head. ‘I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to read it.’

  She shrugged. ‘It’s of no matter.’

  He turned again for the door. ‘Good night, Agnes. Stay your plans another day and we will contrive to work something out.’

  She shook her head. ‘No. I must go, Daniel. I … I can’t explain.’

  He turned back, his eyes wary. ‘Agnes?’

  ‘I have a terrible … feeling about Henry. He’s in danger.’ The words sounded so foolish said aloud.

  In two strides he had returned to her, placing his hands on her shoulders and turning her to face him.

  ‘Is that what all this is about, Agnes? Henry?’

  She nodded.

  Daniel reached out and touched her hair, his hand once more cupping the back of her head and drawing her toward him, but not as it had been before, with lust in his eyes. This time she saw only understanding.

  He folded her in his arms, kissing the top of her head. ‘You are right, Agnes. It’s no longer about Tobias Ashby. That was a boy’s anger.’

  She pushed away from him. ‘Leave me, Daniel. I meant what I said. I will not share your bed again.’

  He turned, and with a strangled ‘I shall bid you good night,’ left the room, leaving her alone in the cold.

  ***

  Daniel returned to his bedchamber and found Kit standing by the fireplace, poking a recalcitrant log with the toe of his shoe. He looked around as Daniel entered.

  ‘I came to say good night,’ he said.

  Daniel shut the door behind him. ‘I went to see if Agnes … ’ He felt the heat rising to his face, like an anxious schoolboy wilting under his brother’s cynical gaze.

  ‘No joy there?’ Kit said.

  Daniel cleared his throat. ‘I may have been mistaken about her feelings for me … ’ Advancing into the room, he ran his hand through his hair. ‘Damn it, Kit, you’re the expert on women. Is it possible to understand them?’

  Kit shrugged. ‘Not in my experience, and trust me, I have plenty of opportunity to observe the female of the species. Let me just say, don’t abandon hope, if that is where your heart is leading you. However, if it is not your heart that is leading you, then I advocate finding an obliging serving wench.’

  ‘Wonderful brotherly advice,’ Daniel remarked, throwing himself into a chair by the fire.

  Kit remained standing. ‘I actually came to see if you were up to the ride back to Hampshire. We can leave tomorrow.’

  Daniel looked up and shook his head. ‘No. Hampshire will have to wait. I made a promise to Agnes to escort her to Charvaley.’

  Kit’s eyes brightened. ‘Charvaley?’

  ‘The Earl of Elmhurst’s seat in Lancashire.’

  ‘Oh yes, wasn’t he executed recently?’ Kit said, adding. ‘I do see the London newssheets.’

  ‘Agnes was … ’ Daniel hesitated, ‘ … sister to Elmhurst’s late wife. She was guardian to his children, but Whitehall in its wisdom granted custody to Elmhurst’s cousin, Tobias Ashby.’

  The name provoked the reaction he expected. Kit straightened, all humour draining from his face. ‘That’s a name I never thought to hear again,’ he said in a low, controlled voice. ‘Why in God’s name is she tangling with him?’

  ‘She is frightened for the children,’ Daniel said and went on to explain Agnes’s situation, leaving aside any mention of Agnes’s true relationship to the boy.

  ‘What does she hope to achieve by turning up on the doorstep? He is under no obligation to admit her,’ Kit said.

  ‘I don’t know what she intends, but I owe it to her to keep my promise to her.’

  A muscle twitched in Kit’s cheek. ‘I understand. It’s been a long day and we can talk again in the morning. Good night, Dan.’

  Although his body ached with weariness and the strain of the day, Daniel lay awake for a long time in his lonely bed, his arms behind his head, staring into the darkness as the day’s events turned over in his mind. The anger he had carried with him, that had sustained him for the last eight years, had been snuffed out by knowledge of the sacrifice his brother had made. He wondered if he would have had the courage to make the same decision.

  But what he had gained on one hand he had lost on the other. For the span of a breath his life had been complete; he thought he had found not only his family but also that elusive emotion, love. But Agnes had cut that ground away from beneath his feet, and he tried to remember what had passed between them the previous night that should have given him the clue that she had come to his bed for one reason only – pity.

  But he had made her a promise, and even if it meant delaying a journey to Hampshire with Kit, he would see her to Charvaley. If Tobias Ashby had not already found it, the King could wait on his gold and Tobias Ashby on the King’s justice. His mind settled, sleep claimed him.

  ***

  Agnes set the book down on the breakfast table. Jonathan Thornton leaned over and picked it up.

  ‘Spenser’s Faerie Queen,’ he read. ‘Not my taste in poetry, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Nor mine,’ Agnes said. ‘But James – Lord Elmhurst – gave it to me.’ She looked at Daniel, steeling herself. ‘Daniel, I need to talk to you.’

  Daniel looked up from buttering a slab of bread. ‘What about?’

  ‘James,’ she said, and tapped the book. ‘I should have told you something last night – it is about something James did.’

  Daniel glanced around the table at his brother and Jonathan and his wife. The younger members of the Thornton family had evidently already eaten, to judge by the scattered platters. ‘You are among friends here, Agnes.’

  ‘There is something hidden at Charvaley. Something that Tobias Ashby wants.’

  ‘You mean the King’s gold?’ Jonathan enquired.

  She stared at him. ‘How did you know about that?’

  Jonathan looked at Daniel, who glared back at him. ‘Oh dear, I appear to have spoken out of turn,’ he said.

  Agnes rose to her feet, her eyes only for Daniel. He had known all along about the gold. Everything – their meeting, his concern for her, his willingness to take her to Charvaley – became clear. It had been about the gold, not any concern for her well-being – or the children. For a brief heartbeat she considered hitting him, or at least taking the book a
nd leaving the room.

  She forced her anger down. James had trusted her with his secret; now she had to trust this man.

  ‘That was what it was always about, wasn’t it? All that talk about revenge on Tobias Ashby was nothing but a ruse,’ she said at last, forcing the words between tight, angry lips.

  Daniel coloured and shook his head. ‘No, you’re wrong. It was always about Ashby. The gold was just a convenience.’

  ‘And I was just a convenience?’

  Daniel cleared his throat and made a pretence of smearing honey on his bread.

  She looked around the table. ‘So you all know?’

  Kit leaned forward. ‘Personally, I have no idea what you are talking about, Mistress Fletcher, but it sounds most intriguing.’ He glanced at Daniel. ‘You can deal with my brother later. Evidently his conduct may have been less than gentlemanly. In the meantime, you can confide in us.’

  Kate Thornton looked at Daniel. ‘I think you owe Agnes an explanation.’

  Daniel toyed with the buttered bread, as honey dripped down the sides onto his hand. ‘I hold a commission from the King to recover a consignment of gold Unites stolen by the Earl in July. Elmhurst apparently went to his grave without disclosing where he had hidden the coin. They told me in Bruges that Agnes may know something about its location.’ He set the bread down and looked at Agnes. ‘Agnes, I confess to seeking you out for that reason, but everything that happened since then … ’

  Hot, stinging tears of humiliation sprang to her eyes. ‘I don’t think I can ever trust you again.’

  Daniel winced as if she had hit him. Agnes held him in her hot angry gaze, glad that she had turned him away last night, whatever it had cost her.

  ‘Trust is a valuable commodity and easily betrayed.’ Kate Thornton’s tone was icy. She glanced from Agnes to Daniel. ‘But from what I have come to know of the two of you in the past two weeks, whatever perfidious motives Daniel may have had in seeking you out in London, Agnes, I think what lies between you now is a true friendship. Don’t throw it away.’

  ‘I want to know more about this gold,’ Kit interrupted the awkward silence that followed Kate’s speech.

  Agnes hesitated, tapping her fingers on the cover of the book. She had come this far; she may as well throw in her lot with these men.

  She held up the leather-bound book. ‘Last night I discovered James’s last letter to me. It’s a coded message.’

  Jonathan leaned forward, his elbow on the table. Kit sat back, his arms crossed, a frown creasing his brow. Daniel tilted his head to one side, a mannerism she had noted from their time together. All three of them had lived in the shadows, and what she needed now were men capable of facing Tobias Ashby.

  ‘Tobias asked me about the gold in London, which means he hadn’t found it before James’s death. I denied all knowledge of it, but I will tell you what I do know. Some men came late one night with four leather satchels and deposited them in the library. James said I was the only one he trusted, and I held the lantern as they brought the satchels inside.’

  Jonathan narrowed his eyes. ‘Did you see what was in the satchels?’

  ‘No, and neither did I see what James did with them. They were gone from the library next morning. I could tell they were heavy from the way the men carried the satchels but I didn’t see the contents.’

  Daniel nodded. ‘Four hundred gold Unites, freshly minted in the Tower and sent north to support the quelling of the uprising.’

  Kit gave a low whistle, his sharp gaze catching Jonathan Thornton’s eyes.

  Agnes set the book down, laying her palm flat on its cover. ‘I couldn’t bring myself to look at this book – until last night, and that’s when I found James’s letter. If I’ve read the code correctly I think he has hidden the gold somewhere in the children’s nursery at Charvaley. I have lain awake half the night trying to think where it could be hidden. I can only think that there must be a secret chamber I don’t know about.’

  Jonathan sat back in his chair and for a long moment the only sounds in the room were the gentle hiss as a log settled on the fire and the patter of the rain on the windows. ‘James Ashby’s gold could be the difference of months if not years to the King’s return,’ he said at last. ‘Why do you think the hiding place is in the children’s nursery?’

  Agnes opened the book and demonstrated the code.

  “The children guard that which they seek.” Jonathan frowned. ‘The children’s nursery? Why there?’

  ‘It’s an old house, older even than this one,’ Agnes said. ‘There would be hiding places that were long forgotten. What if James had stumbled on this one when he was a child in that same nursery? He had no brothers or sisters who survived infancy. No one to know except him.’

  ‘If we could retrieve the gold … ’ Jonathan Thornton mused aloud. ‘Kit … ?

  Kit nodded. ‘It’s not a task for one man.’

  ‘No!’ Kate pushed her chair away and rose to her feet, colour high on her cheekbones. ‘Don’t even think it. You made me a promise, Jonathan Thornton.’

  Jonathan rose to meet her, taking her hands in his. ‘I made you a promise never to take up arms again,’ he said, ‘and I have honoured that promise, Kate, but if the recovery of this gold can facilitate the restoration of the King, would you have me walk away? This is a different case, it’s not the same as openly taking up arms and riding into battle.’

  ‘A fine distinction, Jonathan!’ Kate shook off his hands and strode over to the window, where she stood with her arms wrapped around herself. She turned back to look at her husband, her face once more composed.

  ‘I know I cannot stop you, Jon,’ she said after a long moment, ‘and God knows we have suffered long enough under the rule of Parliament. Go, if you must, but come back to me.’

  Daniel looked at his brother. ‘Kit? Your wife is not here, what would she say?’

  Kit’s mouth quirked and he glanced at Kate. ‘Probably much the same as Kate, but I am weary of jumping at shadows and skulking behind hedgerows in Hampshire. I want … I need the King’s forgiveness.’

  Agnes saw no humour in Kit’s face, just a terrible sadness, and she realised what the price for Daniel’s freedom had cost his brother.

  Kate gestured at Agnes. ‘You do realise that the only way to this gold is through this woman. Would you endanger her life for a few gold coins?’

  Kit shook his head. ‘Kate’s right, Jon. It is not just about us. Daniel and I know better than anyone what Tobias Ashby is capable of.’

  Agnes looked from one to the other.

  ‘Thank you for your concern, Lady Thornton but the choice is mine,’ she said. ‘Not only does he have the lives of two innocent children in his hands, but Tobias Ashby betrayed James.’

  ‘How?’ Kit asked.

  ‘He came to James with stories of unrest in the Army. He persuaded him that in the event of an uprising, he could bring all his troops and more besides. James believed him and committed to joining Booth’s uprising in Chester. He was taken on his way to join Booth – by his own cousin.’

  Kit scowled. ‘He was a fool and now he is a dead fool.’

  ‘I tried to warn him,’ Agnes said, ‘but he believed his cousin’s blandishments. Tobias Ashby wants only the Elmhurst title and estates,’ she paused, ‘and the gold.’ She picked up the book. ‘Now I have what he wants and the power to knock on his door and demand admittance.’

  ‘What are you proposing, Agnes?’ Jonathan asked.

  She swallowed. ‘If you are willing to help me, I can gain entry into the castle. With one of you posing as my manservant, I could buy some time to find the hiding place. You could take the gold and I … ’ she tailed off. In the dead hours of the night the plan had seemed so simple, now it seemed childish.

  ‘You want the children,’ Kate said.

  Agnes nodded.

  Kate looked at her husband. ‘Well?’

  ‘With one of us inside Charvaley, it could be done in a single night,’ Jonatha
n said.

  ‘Ashby knows me,’ Kit said.

  ‘And you would not pass as a manservant,’ Agnes said, looking at Jonathan.

  Jonathan straightened. ‘I would have you know that I once enjoyed a formidable reputation as a master of disguise.’

  ‘She’s right,’ Kate said. ‘Not you, Jon.’

  ‘It’s my commission,’ Daniel said. ‘I was only a boy when Ashby last saw me, I doubt he would remember me.’ He glanced at Agnes, ‘And I owe it to Agnes to keep her safe.’

  ‘Very well,’ Kate said. ‘Agnes, with Daniel inside Charvaley and these two outside, I entrust these men with your life.’

  Agnes drew a sharp breath. ‘The truth is I fear for the children more than my own life.’

  Kate crossed to her and took her in her arms. ‘Agnes, if there is any danger, please promise me you won’t throw your life away for gold.’

  Agnes stepped back and met Kate’s clear, grey eyes. ‘Never for gold, but I would for the children.’

  Kate nodded. ‘I understand.’ She looked around at the three men. ‘I presume you will wish to leave as soon as possible? Now I think these two need to talk.’ She ushered her husband and Kit out of the room, leaving Agnes alone with Daniel.

  She crossed her arms and glared at him. ‘Well? Was it always about the gold?’

  He returned her gaze. ‘I said what I had to say, Agnes. When I left the Lowlands, it seemed a simple proposition to endear myself to you, get into Charvaley, and make good my escape – with the gold. Then I met you.’

  She narrowed her eyes. ‘How can I believe anything you told me is true?’

  He shook his head. ‘Everything I have told you about myself is the truth, Agnes.’

  ‘It’s what you didn’t tell me,’ she said. ‘You didn’t trust me.’

  ‘I didn’t know you,’ he protested, ‘but I do know you now, Agnes and I –’ He swallowed. ‘I owe you my life.’

  Agnes stared at him. ‘Your life?’

  ‘Yes, my life. Marsh fever can kill but because of you I didn’t die. If I were indeed a knight of old, I would kneel at your feet and pledge my life in your service, but as you well know I am a former slave and a privateer and any such gentlemanly notions were long since beaten out of me, so you will just have to learn to trust me.’