"It would appear that she has left the convent."

"But where could she have gone? Surely someone would have noticed if she had taken one of the horses from the convent stable."

Alice went to peer through the grate. "There is a sheet of parchment on her bed."

"Sister Katherine is excessively neat. She would not leave personal items scattered about."

Alice glanced at her. "Unless she meant for someone to discover it."

Joan's gaze grew more troubled. Without a word she lifted the heavy ring that was attached to her belt. She selected one of the iron keys from it and inserted it into the lock of Katherine's door.

A moment later Alice walked into the tiny chamber. There was little to be seen other than the narrow bed, a small, wooden chest, and the rolled sheet of parchment that lay on the straw mattress.

Alice started to reach for the parchment. She paused and glanced at Joan. Joan mutely nodded her permission.

Alice picked up the parchment sheet and carefully unrolled it. A heavy gold ring set with a green gem fell onto the bed. Alice examined it closely. "Does this belong to Sister Katherine?"

"If it does, she has kept it hidden all these years. I have never before seen it."

"It looks familiar." Alice glanced up. "I believe that Lady Emma wears one very similar to it. She said that Sir Vincent gave it to her when they exchanged their vows."

"Worse and worse," Joan muttered. "What does the letter say?"

" 'Tis only a short note."

"Read it."

Alice frowned intently over the painstakingly precise script.

The bastard son has paid for the sins of his father and mother. It is finished.

"Dear heaven, what does she mean?" Joan whispered.

"Katherine no doubt believes that she has had her vengeance." Alice rerolled the parchment. "She cannot know yet that she failed."

Joan's keys rattled on the iron ring as she turned toward the door. "I shall ask one of the nuns to talk to the villagers. Mayhap someone has seen Katherine."

Alice glanced through the narrow window of the cell. Outside the gray mist had grown darker. "It grows late. I must return to the keep before someone becomes anxious about my absence." Namely Hugh, who might even now have awakened and begun to plan his vengeance against Rivenhall.

Joan led the way out of Katherine's cell. "I will send word to you if I locate the healer."

"Thank you," Alice said quietly. "I think it best if poison is not mentioned, Prioress. You know how people fear it."

"Aye. I shall not speak of it," Joan promised. "God knows we do not need any rumors of poison spread about on this manor."

"Agreed. I will speak with you tomorrow, madam. Now, I must hurry home if I am to resolve this situation before a new storm is loosed upon these lands."

Benedict was waiting for Alice in the great hall. He greeted her with an urgency that spoke volumes.

"Thank the Saints you have returned," he said. "Lord Hugh awoke less than an hour ago and immediately asked for you. When I told him you had gone out, he was most displeased."

Alice unfastened her cloak. "Where is he?"

"In his study chamber. He said you are to go to him at once."

"I intend to do precisely that." Alice started for the stairs.

"Alice?"

She paused, one toe on the bottom step. "Aye, what is it?"

"There is something I have wanted to tell you." Benedict glanced around quickly to make certain that none of the servants was within hearing distance. He took a step closer to Alice and lowered his voice. "I was with Sir Hugh when he fell ill."

"I know. What of it?"

"The first word he spoke when he realized that he had drunk from a poisoned cup was your name."

Alice flinched as though she had been struck. A great weight settled on her. "He thought I tried to murder him?"

"Nay." Benedict smiled wryly. "At first I believed that was his meaning. I told him it was not possible. Then he made it clear that he was asking for you because he knew you were the only one who could save him. He blamed Vincent of Rivenhall from the beginning. He never once suspected you."

The intolerable burden lifted from Alice's soul. She gave Benedict a shaky smile. "Thank you for telling me that, brother. It eases my heart more than you can possibly know."

Benedict flushed. "I know how much you care for him. Sir Dunstan says that a man of Lord Hugh's nature does not allow himself to indulge in soft emotions. Sir Dunstan told me that Lord Hugh scoffs at love and would never give his heart to a woman. But I thought you should know that he at least trusts you. Sir Dunstan says that it is most unusual for my lord to trust anyone."

" 'Tis a start, is it not?" Alice whirled and hurried up the stairs.

She clutched Katherine's note and the ring very tightly as she swept down the corridor at the top of the staircase. She came to a halt in front of Hugh's door and knocked sharply.

"Enter." Hugh's voice held a bone-chilling edge.

Alice drew a breath and opened the door.

Hugh was seated at his desk. There was a map spread out in front of him. He looked up when Alice entered the chamber. When he saw her he surged to his feet. His palms flattened on the desk. His eyes were savage.

"Where in the name of the devil have you been, madam?"

"The convent." Alice studied him closely. "You appear to have recovered from your ordeal, sir. How do you feel?"

"I have regained my appetite," Hugh said. "And I seem to have acquired a taste for vengeance."

"You are not the only one who craves that particular dish, my lord." Alice tossed the parchment and ring onto the desk. "Today it appears as though you were the victim of a woman whose hunger for vengeance is even greater than your own."

Chapter 19

"The healer was the poisoner?" Hugh looked up from the short letter Katherine had left on her bed. He was stunned by what Alice had told him. But he could not deny the evidence she had brought back from the convent.

"Judging by that ring and the words of the note, I suspect she was the woman who was betrothed to your father." Alice sank down onto a stool. "I would hazard a guess that when Sir Matthew returned from France he sent word to her that he intended to break the betrothal."

"So that he could marry my mother, do you think?" Hugh forced himself to keep his voice utterly calm and detached. But an unfamiliar surge of emotion flooded his veins. Mayhap his father had intended to claim him.

"Aye." Alice's eyes were warm and gentle. "I believe that is very likely the case, my lord."

Hugh looked at her and knew that she understood everything. He did not have to try to explain what her news meant to him. As usual, Alice comprehended his meaning without his having to find the words.

"And Katherine retaliated by poisoning my parents." Hugh released the edges of the parchment and watched as it slowly rerolled itself. "She murdered them."

"So it would seem."

"It is as though the history of my life was just rewritten," he whispered.

" 'Tis a great sin that the truth was hidden all these years."

"When I think of how I was taught from the cradle to hate all things Rivenhall—" Hugh broke off, unable to finish the sentence.

I will not forget, Grandfather.

Hugh felt as though the mighty stone pillars upon which his entire existence was founded had suddenly shifted beneath him.

His father had returned from France with the intention of wedding the mother of his babe. He had not seduced and then abandoned young Margaret of Scarcliffe.

"Just as Sir Vincent was taught to hate you," Alice said quietly, breaking into Hugh's reverie.

"Aye. It would seem that both families and these lands have paid a heavy price because of her crime." Hugh met Alice's eyes and forced himself to contemplate the present situation with some degree of logic. "But why did Katherine wait until today to try to poison me? Why did she not use her foul brew when I first arrived to claim Scarcliffe?"

Alice's brows came together in a frown of concentration. "I am not entirely certain. There are many questions that remain unanswered in this matter."

" 'Twould have been much easier to murder me weeks ago." Hugh tapped the rolled-up parchment against the desktop. "The household was very disorganized. There would have been numerous opportunities for a poisoner and no one about who possessed the skill to save me. Why wait?"

Alice pursed her lips. "Mayhap she took some satisfaction in the feud itself. As long as it persisted she could sip from the cup of discord and strife that she had created."

"Aye."

"Katherine may have been angered by the visit of Sir Vincent and his family yesterday. Everyone saw you and Vincent ride together through the village."

"Of course." Hugh wondered why that had not occurred to him immediately. He did not seem to be thinking clearly at all at the moment. The news of his past was having an unsettling effect on his powers of reason. "She would likely have viewed it as the first step toward ending the hostility between Scarcliffe and Rivenhall."

"Aye." Alice drummed her fingers on her knee.

"What troubles you?"

"I still cannot comprehend why she fed poison to the monk. It makes no sense."

"We shall likely never know unless we find her." Hugh got to his feet with sudden decision. "And I intend to do just that." He started around the edge of his desk.