Free The Uninvited Guest by Sarah Woodbury Page B

chin with one hand. “My
father is not going to want to hear that.”
    “ Was he wearing it last
night?” Gareth said. “I didn’t notice.”
    “ Nor I,” Gwen
said.
    “ To complicate matters
further,” Hywel said, “I have more bad news.”
    “ Worse than a new treachery
from Cadwaladr?” Gareth said.
    “ Cristina’s father is
unwell,” Hywel said.
    Gwen dropped her hand. “What do you
mean—unwell?”
    “ When Cristina went to his
room this morning, though he was breathing, she couldn’t wake him,”
Hywel said. “Lord Tomos is sitting with him now, but he has yet to
speak.”
    Metal-toed boots clattered in the hallway
and the three companions looked towards the doorway, expectant. A
moment later, Taran’s face appeared. “You’d better come. Our
assassin is missing. I’ve sent out a company of riders after him
but we have no idea how long he’s been gone or in what direction he
went …”
    “ Christ on a cross!” Hywel
said. “What next?”
    As they trotted after Taran, he explained,
“When Evan went to the stables to relieve the watch, he found the
door to the cell locked but the boy gone.”
    They reached the bottom step and passed
through the doorway into the great hall. Hywel put a hand on
Taran’s arm. “Wait a moment. Did you say that the door was still
locked from the outside?” In his incredulity, Hywel’s voice carried
throughout the hall.
    Gareth lowered his voice. “We’d do better to
take this outside, my lord.”
    Gwen looked around. The hall was full of
diners eating breakfast. Every single one was looking at the four
of them. The news of Enid’s death had spread throughout the castle.
How could it not? They weren’t going to be able to surprise the
murderer with the news, but at the same time, it meant that Gwen
and Gareth could pursue their inquiries openly.
    “ At once,” Hywel said.
“This way.”
    Instead of leading them through the great
hall, he reentered the corridor that paralleled it, took them past
the stairway and his own rooms, and out the side door into the
courtyard. He paused only when he reached the stables. Alun and
Evan, both good friends of Gareth, shifted uneasily before the open
door to the assassin’s cell.
    The cell was empty. Hywel pulled up short.
“Tell me what happened.”
    “ We don’t know, my lord,”
Evan said. “I arrived at my shift this morning, checked on the boy,
and found him gone.”
    “ And the guards who were
here before you?” Hywel said. “What do they have to say for
themselves?”
    “ They were at their posts
when I arrived, but asleep,” Evan said.
    “ I’ve already questioned
them,” Taran said. “When they came on duty, the prisoner was in the
cell. They know nothing about what passed in the night, up until
the moment they found me snapping my fingers in their
faces.”
    “ And the guard at the
postern gate?” Gareth said.
    Taran sighed. “Also asleep, with no memory
of the night’s events.”
    Gwen put a hand on Hywel’s arm. “Poppy juice
would do it, my lord. It isn’t easy to come by, but the contents of
that vial, small as it was, would have been enough to dose the
guards—and perhaps Lord Goronwy too.”
    “ Does the herbalist keep
any here in the castle?” Hywel said. “I should have asked him as
soon as we found that vial in Enid’s pocket.”
    “ It wouldn’t have made a
difference, my lord. He used to keep it in the cupboard, but he has
been unable to acquire any more since Cadwaladr took what was left
to use on me,” Gwen said. “It’s too bad, because it relieves a
patient’s suffering when the pain becomes too much to
bear.”
    “ God damn it. Cadwaladr
again.” Hywel ran a hand through his hair. “I kept the key to the
cell with me. I loaned it to Gareth last night, but he returned
it.”
    “ The guards were awake when
I left,” Gareth said.
    Gwen bit her lip. She didn’t like even a
hint of wrongdoing within Gareth’s vicinity but Hywel took little
notice and waved a