be.
However, that didn’t mean he wanted to die any time soon, and Eldric merely mentioning Robert was a threat.
‘What are you doing here, Eldric?’ he repeated.
Eldric kicked at the dirt on the floorboards. ‘Attending a dinner tonight. It’s St Martin’s Day.’
Holidays. Celebration. Hugh wasn’t in the mood for merriment.
Standing, he signalled to the door. ‘I shouldn’t keep you, then.’
‘I came to take you with me.’
Hugh bit back a telling curse. Wanting no company, he’d purposefully kept quiet about his arrival. He’d wanted one night to wallow in self-pity upon being forced to return here. One night to drink as if copious amounts of ale in this hovel didn’t hold bitterness.
But that was not why he wanted to curse. It was because Eldric had been invited to a traditional dinner and he could bring a guest.
‘How long have you been here?’
‘Weeks.’
‘Weeks’ meant he had been here before the King had sent him. If Eldric was a spy, it didn’t have anything to do with him and Alice.
So perhaps it was true that he’d came on a detour. But no detour took that much time in a town the size of Swaffham.
‘Weeks’ meant something else. Friend or no, Eldric wasn’t on any mere detour. Even if it was futile, Edward had sent Hugh here on a mission to find the Half-Thistle Spy, and he didn’t like any interference. Eldric being here for weeks was definitely an interference.
Of course Eldric could have lied about his time spent here, and hadn’t, which should go in his favour. But there were too many coincidences that Hugh didn’t like.
He also didn’t like it that his flagon and his cup were empty.
‘The fare will be delicious at the mayor’s house,’ Eldric said.
The mayor’s house meant Alice. The one woman he shouldn’t see. Not in the state he was in. Not ever.
Knowing his going could only be a trap, Hugh answered, ‘Why not?’
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