Reclaimed by Her Rebel Knight

‘Has he gone already?’ She came to stand beside him, her gaze enquiring.

‘Yes.’

‘He looked worried about something.’

‘He is.’

‘So do you.’

‘Yes.’

‘I’ll be in the solar when you’re ready.’ She turned on her heel, throwing a pointed look over her shoulder as she headed for the keep. ‘I think it’s about time you told me what’s going on.’

* * *

‘That was sooner than I expected.’ Constance was sitting beside a weaving frame, though her hands were empty when Matthew appeared in the doorway a few minutes later. ‘So, are you going to tell me?’

‘I wanted to tell you before.’ His feet felt heavier than usual as he crossed the room and took a seat on the hearth bench opposite.

‘Only you hoped you wouldn’t have to?’ Her eyes flashed. ‘Just like you hoped you wouldn’t have to tell me about Blanche?’

‘Yes. Only in this case, I made a promise. I gave my word and I couldn’t break it.’

‘And now?’

‘Now Jerrard has released me from that promise.’ He rubbed a hand over his jaw, searching for the right words. ‘Now things are happening that you need to know about.’ He took a deep breath, steeling himself. ‘A group of barons are marching on London. They’re going to confront the King.’

‘What?’ Her face seemed to drain of colour in a matter of seconds.

‘They’re angry with John, not just because of France, but for all his tyrannical behaviour over the past fifteen years. Taxes, blackmail, corruption, threats. He needs to be stopped.’

‘So they’re rebelling against him? Jerrard, too?’

‘Not just Jerrard.’

?

??You?’

‘Yes.’

‘You’re saying that you’re involved in a rebellion against the King?’ She stood up abruptly, her expression horrified. ‘Since when?’

‘A few months.’

‘Months! How could you not tell me something like that?’

‘Because it’s not the sort of thing I could simply announce when we met. Even if I hadn’t been bound to secrecy, it was safer for you not to know.’

‘How convenient.’

‘I did my best by offering an annulment. That was all I could do at the time.’

‘You consider that your best?’ Her tone was biting. ‘You’re a traitor!’

‘No. I’m trying to help my country. My countrymen. I told you once that I didn’t respect John. Well, I despise him, too. He makes outrageous demands and has no honour or loyalty to anyone. He annulled his marriage to Isabella of Gloucester, but still kept her lands, and as for other women, he forces himself on the wives and daughters of his own barons. Meanwhile, he raises taxes until people are starving and if anyone resists he takes their sons hostage. Money is his answer to everything and, on top of all that, he starves to death anyone who opposes him!’ He rose to his feet angrily. ‘I didn’t want to be part of a rebellion, Constance, but I couldn’t stand back and do nothing. Tyranny can’t be allowed to remain unchallenged. I had to do something.’

‘What about my uncle? Why couldn’t you let him stand back and do nothing? This is what you were talking to him about that first night, isn’t it?’