Read Online The Fallen Princess by Sarah Woodbury - Free Book Online

know
who lives there?”
    Hywel’s brow furrowed. “I’m trying to think.
I should know.” He looked at Llelo. “Once we get Tegwen settled at
Aber, we’ll want to speak to the boy and his parents. Do you know
where they live?”
    Llelo nodded. “Yes, my lord.”
    Which was only as Gareth would have
expected. He and Gwen had taken on Llelo and Dai out of charity, as
two boys lost in the expanse of England, but it was the boys who’d
added joy to their lives. Llelo had turned out to be thoughtful,
responsible, and mature beyond his years. He was also curious and
energetic, and combining all those qualities together had produced
a boy who dug clams in the early hours of the morning and knew
every farm and homestead—and their inhabitants—from here to
Bangor.
    Although Gareth had been absent all summer
in Ceredigion and hadn’t witnessed it himself, Gwen reported that
Llelo and Dai had ranged all over the region since they’d come
home. At Aber, they’d joined the pack of boys that included
Gwalchmai, Gwen’s brother, and Iorwerth, the king’s eldest son by
his first wife, Gwladys. Under Cristina’s rule, the boys had found
Aber Castle less hospitable than before her tenure. Particularly
now that she was pregnant, she had shown resentment towards King
Owain’s sons by other women, and the boys had learned very quickly
that life went more smoothly when they stayed out of her way.
    “Stay close so I don’t have to hunt you down
later. And don’t speak of this to anyone else. I believe this
investigation will be one of the more—” Gareth glanced at Hywel,
who’d gone back to ruminating on his failings, “—delicate ones
we’ve undertaken.”
    “Yes, Da,” Llelo said and fell back to walk
behind Gareth with the other soldiers.
    It was only a half-mile from the beach to
Aber Castle: a short walk, if somber. The driver brought the cart
to a halt before entering the castle, and King Owain came out from
underneath the gatehouse to greet them. He paced towards Prince
Hywel, who bowed along with everyone else at his approach. Gareth
and the other men held that position until Hywel raised his
head.
    “Sire,” Hywel said.
    “I’d like to see her for myself before you
take her inside,” King Owain said.
    Hywel stepped to the cart bed and gently
peeled back the hood that covered Tegwen’s face.
    King Owain reached out a hand, hovering it
over her hair and hesitating. “Do you really think this is she,
son? Her features are unrecognizable, and her hair has more red in
it than I remember.”
    “Perhaps. But you haven’t yet seen the whole
of her.” With two fingers, Hywel carefully opened the cloak at her
throat and lifted up the garnet ring that rested on its chain.
“This was hers, as was the cloak.” He pointed to the embroidery on
the hem.
    King Owain recoiled slightly but recovered
after a moment and moved closer again. This time, he rested a hand
on the top of her head. “What became of you that your life ended
here?”
    As a kinswoman, Tegwen’s welfare had been
King Owain’s responsibility more than Hywel’s. King Owain’s father,
also named Gruffydd like Tegwen’s grandfather, had been king at the
time, but Owain had already shouldered much of the responsibility
for the kingdom by the time Tegwen married Bran. Her death was made
all the worse by the fact that he’d pictured her happy, far away in
another land. They’d mourned her at the time as they would have
mourned any similar loss, but this was a different kind of
grief.
    Pain was etched into the king’s face as he
turned to his son. “Gwen says Tegwen was murdered.”
    “It seems so, Father.”
    King Owain touched the side of Tegwen’s
head, feeling at her scalp as they all had. Hywel didn’t stop him.
A crowd of people had followed the king out of the castle,
gathering around the cart and the soldiers who’d accompanied it
from the beach. Gareth didn’t know that he’d ever seen a people as
silent as they, not even at