Paladin by Sarah Woodbury

Author:Sarah Woodbury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Wales, king edward, medieval, medieval mystery, king of england, prince of wales, crouchback, historical mystery, rhys and catrin, welsh guards, welsh guard, middle ages
Publisher: The Morgan-Stanwood Publishing Group Inc
Published: 2022-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-three

Day Two

Justin

Justin couldn’t have been more pleased by his reception at Windsor Castle. He hadn’t been worried that his mother wouldn’t be happy to see him, but his new stepfather was another matter. It was one thing to help out the best he could in Nefyn at Catrin’s request. It was quite another to insert himself into Rhys’s doings without being asked. He’d known before he’d ridden into the castle that he would face these issues immediately, since Rhys’s name was on every person’s tongue.

Justin’s lord, Gilbert de Clare, had not been officially informed of the investigation into Alfonso’s death. He knew of it only because his spies had reported that both Miles de Bohun and Vincent de Lusignan had left their lords in haste (without stopping on Clare land). Only after they’d gone had the news of Rhys and Catrin’s urgent journey to Windsor reached his ears. Lord Clare had been required to guess what errand they all could be on. But given the news out of Windsor, it wasn’t hard to guess why they were going.

Gilbert was one of the proudest men in England, and he had been offended that the king hadn’t included one of his men among those he trusted to investigate his son’s death. Rather than pretend he didn’t know he’d been neglected, confront the king about it, or pout, he’d decided to act as if he had been asked.

So he’d sent Justin of his own accord, with the instruction to make himself indispensable. Earl Gilbert surely would be pleased at how little time it had taken. Or rather, Justin hoped he would! Sometimes it was hard to know exactly what he needed to do to keep his lord happy. Usually, he managed most of the time by doing exactly as instructed and only occasionally taking what he thought was a better path. So far, he hadn’t been punished for it.

Come to think on it, what he was managing with Earl Gilbert wasn’t far off from what he’d observed as the relationship between Rhys and the king. Rhys told the truth, always. He did what he thought was right, always. Few men had such courage in the face of someone who had the power of life and death over them.

It was an odd feeling, really, this sudden admiration for Rhys. Justin’s father, Robert, had been a good man. Justin believed that to be true with his whole heart. But he had done whatever Earl Gilbert said, when he said it, without question. Justin hadn’t been taught to question. As far as he could tell, Rhys did nothing but question. But then, he was a quaestor.

With Rhys married to Justin’s mother now, they were still feeling their way with each other, not just in terms of this investigation. Though Catrin had told him outright that Rhys had no intention of trying to replace Robert, Justin remained at war with himself on the matter. On one hand, he wanted to be loyal to the dead father he’d loved.

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