The Ciphers of Muirwood (Covenant of Muirwood #2)(42)

Maia stared at him, her insides twisting with confusion and dread. “What does Chancellor Crabwell have against Lady Deorwynn?”

The sheriff gave her that same crooked smile again. “They both seek to whisper in the king’s ear at night. They are bitter rivals and implacable enemies. She seeks his downfall and wishes to put one of her kinsmen in his place. It is a matter of great importance which of them will have the other killed first. The chancellor has used your disappearance to foster the rumors of your murder at her hand. So you see, Lady Maia, that locating you is a matter of supreme importance.” His eyes narrowed coldly. “Now come with me.”





The Medium is intent on your personal growth. That progress can be quick when you willingly allow it to lead you through every experience you encounter, whether it initially be to your individual liking or not.

—Richard Syon, Aldermaston of Muirwood Abbey





CHAPTER FIFTEEN




Alliance



Maia had first met Chancellor Crabwell when she was living in the attic of Lady Shilton’s manor in the most contemptible of circumstances. Even the poorest servants of the manor had been treated better than her. On that particular day, her father had come to visit, and Maia had been locked in her room to prevent her from seeing him. The only visit she had gotten that day was from Chancellor Crabwell and Captain Carew, one of her father’s personal knights, who had attempted to persuade her to renounce her titles. She had refused.

Chancellor Crabwell had aged—his dark hair was streaked with silver now, his brow wrinkled from the constant strain of stress, and his mouth puckered into a permanent frown. He wore a velvet cap with a badge on the fringe as well as the ceremonial stole of his office as chancellor. Crabwell was the man responsible for implementing her father’s wishes—no matter how depraved.

It was taking its toll on him.

“Out with you, hunter. And Sheriff, bar the doors,” Crabwell said with a sneer of command. They were in a private chamber in the abbey, away from the main hall. The full darkness of night had descended hours ago, but a few flickering lamps provided light.

Jon Tayt took a step forward, his hand gripping the axe haft, as it had been doing since the sheriff’s arrival at his lodge. “By Cheshu, you will have to throw me out, my lord. I do not obey you, and I am not leaving her here unprotected.”

Crabwell turned and looked at him with petulant annoyance. “And who are you, my good man?”

“He is the abbey hunter and my protector,” Maia said, stepping forward.

Crabwell’s brow furrowed into even tighter wrinkles. He snorted. “If I snap my fingers, the sheriff’s men will drag you from the abbey grounds and quite promptly remove your head. Do not meddle with me, sir. You do not want to provoke my enmity.”

Jon Tayt flushed, his eyes searing with fury. He stepped forward suddenly, before any of the guards could move, seized the chancellor’s wrist, and slammed it on the nearby table. He hefted the axe. “Which fingers were you intending to snap, my lord?” he said.

“Jon,” Maia said coaxingly, delicately.

Crabwell’s eyes widened with fear. A trickle of sweat went down his cheek. Several of the men had hands on hilts, but no one drew a weapon with the hunter so near the chancellor.

“You send men to the gallows often, do you not?” Jon Tayt leered. “Well, I am good with an axe. And I am not from this country, nor do I hold any loyalty to it. Send the sheriff and his men away.”

Crabwell coughed and then nodded to the sheriff to leave. “You are most persuasive, Master Hunter.”

Jon Tayt snorted. “I figured you would not be keen to spend the rest of your life scratching your nethers with a stump.”

Chancellor Crabwell nodded affirmatively. The door shut, and Jon Tayt released his arm. He walked over to the door and locked it.

“I am a student of history as well as the law,” Crabwell said, rubbing his wrist. It was clear he was not used to being handled so roughly. “I have a deep respect for the sharpness of Pry-rian arrows. And their uncanny aim.”

“It is in the fletching,” Jon Tayt said snidely. “Now to business. Did you come here to threaten her?”

“Of course not!” Crabwell said, incensed. “Lady Maia, the king’s daughter, you have been missing for some duration. Have you been hiding in Muirwood all this time?”

“I am not hiding in Muirwood, Chancellor,” Maia replied. She folded her arms, feeling the delicacy of the situation press in on her from all sides. Chancellor Crabwell was intimate with her father. Yet it appeared he had come to Muirwood in secret, summoned by the sheriff’s message. Without knowing the intricacies of the situation, she did not want to reveal too much.

“The facts seem to the contrary,” he said. “Look at you, wearing a wretched’s robe.”

“The last time we met I was wearing a scullery maid’s rags instead,” Maia replied. “You tried to persuade me to accept the Act of Inheritance. Now there is another decree. Are you here to persuade me again?”

“I am here,” Crabwell said, his voice throbbing with emotion, “because you are found at last!” He wiped his smooth mouth and then flicked away the trail of sweat. “My spies have been searching for you throughout all the realms. There are a thousand different rumors as to your whereabouts. Some say you were secretly wedded to the King of Dahomey. Some say you murdered a Prince of Hautland. Others that you destroyed an abbey. Rumors that I can scarcely credit.”