Read Online A Spy for the Redeemer by Candace Robb - Free Book Online

feel responsible for Gwenllian and Hugh. Phillippa, Kate and I should be able to manage them until you return. You must look into your heart, Tildy.’
    ‘It is a very large house, Mistress Lucie. A great undertaking for such as me.’
    ‘I do not doubt you would manage well. But do you wish to?’
    Tildy said nothing, but the tapping grew more insistent.
    ‘You might also have time to become better acquainted with Daimon,’ Lucie said. ‘Or reacquainted.’
    Tildy blushed. ‘You know?’
    ‘I know what I saw in the courtyard, what I see in both your eyes.’ Lucie shook her head when Tildy would speak. ‘I trust you, Tildy. And I want you to make the choice.’
    ‘I might try running the household.’
    ‘Talk to Dame Phillippa, then. She is eager to tell you what she would like you to do. Perhaps that will help you decide.’
    After the evening meal, Phillippa called Tildy and Daimon to her. It was time for the final instructions regarding the manor while she was away. Lucie, who sat nearby with Brother Michaelo and Harold, noted how often Phillippa’s conversation shifted from the matter at hand to memories of Sir Robert. At the moment, Phillippa was recounting Sir Robert’s tales of the siege of Calais. Lucie smiled to hear how her father’s role had expanded.
    Suddenly the hall door burst open.
    ‘Storm coming,’ Phillippa said. Turning to Tildy, she began to advise her how to secure the hall in a windstorm.
    But it was not a storm. A servant stumbled in, gasping, ‘Armed horsemen. Six. At the gatehouse.’
    ‘God have mercy,’ Lucie cried. ‘Daimon!’
    The young steward had already jumped up, grabbed his sword belt. He struggled to buckle his belt as he strode to the doorway. Tildy rose to follow, but Lucie held her back. Already shouts rang out in the yard.
    Phillippa, too, had risen with a cry, and shuffled towards the rear door of the hall. Brother Michaelo went after her.
    ‘Come, Dame Phillippa,’ he cried above the din of men’s shouts without. ‘You are best in here, by the fire. Burning brands are good weapons, if need be.’
    ‘I must see to things,’ Phillippa cried, trying to shrug out of his grasp.
    Lucie sent Tildy off to gather the maidservants in the buttery. She noticed Harold, his sword drawn, standing near the hall door. ‘You need not hold the door against them,’ she said. ‘We shall manage. Help Daimon.’
    Harold nodded towards Michaelo and Phillippa. ‘Your aunt is much distressed.’
    ‘As she should be! Brother Michaelo will calm her.’
    ‘Do you have a dagger?’
    ‘We have a kitchen full of weapons. Go!’
    ‘Bar the door behind me,’ Harold said as he raised his sword and stepped out into the darkness.
    As Lucie reached the door, she saw smoke beyond the courtyard. What was burning? The gatehouse? Two men struggled close to the door. Lucie pushed it to, barred it. Dear God in heaven, what if they had not been here this night? She watched Phillippa, still arguing with Brother Michaelo. Where did she think to go?
    ‘It is the watchers,’ Phillippa hissed. ‘They know .’
    Lucie met Michaelo’s troubled gaze. ‘The outlaws heard that Sir Robert was dead? It is possible. But what of our steward? Why would they attack an occupied house?’
    Something thudded against the outer door. A man cried out. Tildy ran out from the buttery. ‘That is Daimon!’
    ‘The hall is not safe,’ Michaelo said. ‘Is there a cellar?’
    ‘The maze,’ Phillippa cried. ‘We must go to the maze.’
    ‘The kitchen maid saw horsemen near the maze,’ Tildy said.
    ‘The chapel,’ Lucie said. ‘Come, Aunt. Tildy, bring the others. Brother Michaelo, try to gain the yard, see whether Daimon needs help.’ Taking her aunt firmly in hand, Lucie led the way to the chapel at the far end of the hall. Though her knees felt weak, she was determined to keep her aunt as safe as she might.
    ‘For you, Sir Robert. I would do this for no other,’ Michaelo muttered as he checked that his