Ensnared (Knights of Brethren #3)(31)

“Yes.”

“Did he know about the chalice?”

“He never mentioned it. No one ever mentioned it.”

I raced to make sense of all I’d learned. “Have you told anyone else what you’ve revealed to me?”

Eggum hesitated. “Just one person.”

“Who?”

“He seemed to be a learned man.”

A learned man? As in a wiseman? A Sage? My pulse thudded an extra beat. “What more can you tell me about him?”

“He was tall and thin with dark hair and dark eyes.”

What if the mysterious visitor had been Rasmus? Such a description could fit any number of men, including the Royal Sage. If Rasmus still had spies living in the royal residence, it was possible they’d informed him of Ansgar’s quest for the chalice and his deployment of Torvald and me to that end.

“When did he come?”

“Late last autumn.”

If Rasmus had been searching ahead of us, he very well could have put the clues of the chalice’s whereabouts together more quickly than we had. Maybe he’d already discovered the chalice within the depths of Hardanger Forest.

But how? With as dangerous as the forest and the jotunn had become over the years? No one ever made it out alive. The failed efforts of Bernhard’s bondservants over recent weeks to go in and eliminate the jotunn were proof of that.

At the scratching and scurrying of another rat on the flimsy roof above, I placed the coins on the table and stood. I’d gained what I needed from this visit.

“You have been a great help.”

He rose, too, and swiped up the coins as though they might disappear—or perhaps he feared I was taunting him and would take them back.

I dug into my leather pouch, withdrew three more, and set them firmly on the table. “I am not my brother, nor my father, nor my grandfather.”

He stared at the additional money but held back.

“I regret you were cast out of service so callously upon your old age. You deserved more from my family after so many years of faithful service.”

Without waiting for his reply, I ducked back into the alley. ’Twould not be long ere dawn broke, and I needed to be at the inn by first light.

As I made my way cautiously through the slum, my mind replayed the conversation with Eggum, especially the part about Rasmus. While I didn’t know for sure he’d been to Romsdal, I couldn’t think of any other learned man who would have a reason to seek out the chalice.

Surely Rasmus knew of the legends of the chalice’s healing power and would guess why Ansgar wanted the sacred relic. In fact, knowing how much Ansgar loved Queen Lis, no doubt Rasmus wanted the chalice to thwart Ansgar and cause him turmoil.

The question plagued me again. Had Rasmus already discovered the chalice? If he had, wouldn’t he flaunt it? Or attempt to bargain with Ansgar?

But since Rasmus was silent on the matter, that meant he was most certainly still looking for it. But how? Did he have someone else searching on his behalf? Someone as twisted and devious as he was?

Someone twisted and devious like Bernhard.

My footsteps tripped over each other, and my heart plunged. Why else, after years of not caring about the madman of Hardanger Forest, would Bernhard suddenly decide to eliminate the jotunn?

What had Rasmus promised Bernhard for doing the deed? I shuddered to think of what Rasmus might be scheming and Bernhard’s place in it.

I had to foil them. And the only way to do it was to go into the forest and find the chalice before they did.





Chapter

12





Mikaela


I had to talk with Frans, but I’d been procrastinating.

Even now, my steps slowed as I passed by the storeroom where Gunnar had fed me. My mind filled with the image of his face as he’d watched me eat, his eyes alight with humor, his lips curled up in a smile, his long fingers combing back his hair.

The ache in my heart pulsed anew, so much that I had to stop and press my hand to my chest.

Why did things have to be this way? I shouldn’t have to worry about Bernhard learning about Gunnar and me. But all night, I’d flopped around restlessly on my pallet, imagining the ways Bernhard would torture me to make Gunnar comply with whatever he wanted.

All I had to do was think back on the punishments Bernhard had given others for my resolve to grow stronger. I wouldn’t make Gunnar a prisoner to Bernhard. I wanted him to be free.

In order to do that, I had to get married. Once I belonged to another man, neither Gunnar nor Bernhard would concern themselves with me. Yet, the more I thought about marrying Frans for selfish reasons, the more I loathed myself.

“I’ll learn to love Frans and give him all that I can.” My whisper was strangled as I exited through the door. Sunlight warmed my head but couldn’t chase away my chill. Although I was tempted to delay again, I set my sights upon the open doors of the forge. The fire in the big oven wasn’t glowing as brightly today, and the shop seemed quieter than usual.

As a matter of fact, the entire bailey seemed quieter.

I took in the deserted courtyard and the chores undone—the axe left in a log near the fuel shed, a goose half plucked, a rug needing to be beaten.

A strange sense of unease cascaded across my nerves. Where was everyone?

I started toward the forge, lengthening my stride, pushing aside my concern. Surely Bernhard hadn’t found another of his subjects to punish, had he? Was he even now at the cliff outside the castle getting ready to throw someone else to their death in the fjord below?