‘I don’t care, you’re here now. Matthew, I lo—’
‘Ungrateful whoreson!’ The sight of his father’s face hurtling towards them made her blood turn to ice. Sir Ralph had picked his sword up again and its gleaming point was heading straight for Matthew’s neck.
‘No!’ she screamed, but it was too late. Matthew started to turn, but the blade was almost at its target... Then it stopped, seemingly suspended in mid-air before it clattered down to the floor, taking Sir Ralph along with it.
‘Adelaide?’ Constance whispered at the sight of the other woman standing on the far side of the body, a bloodied dagger clutched in one shaking hand. Judging by the crest on the hilt, it was Sir Ralph’s own knife. The sheath at his belt was empty, too.
‘He was going to...’ Adelaide swallowed, her eyes wide, though the expression in them was unreadable. ‘I had to...’
‘It’s all right.’ Matthew spoke soothingly as if he were trying to calm a wild animal. ‘We understand.’
‘I killed him.’ Adelaide looked down and then quickly away again from Sir Ralph’s prostrate body, her eyes settling on the dagger still clutched in her hand.
‘You saved Matthew.’ Constance stepped sideways around the body, bracing herself to leap forward if Adelaide tried to turn the knife on herself. There was something distinctly unsettling about the look on her face. ‘Maybe me, too.’
‘Give me the dagger, Adelaide.’ It was Alan who spoke this time, his voice more authoritative than Constance had ever heard it.
There was a tense silence as the knife wavered in Adelaide’s hand. For a few tense moments Constance thought that she was still going to refuse, but then her face crumpled and she held it out towards him. Alan took it and threw it away, folding her into his arms instead.
‘It’s going to be all right. We’ll take care of you.’ He looked from Constance to Matthew as if daring them to contradict the statement. ‘It’s over. It’s all over.’
* * *
Matthew stayed in the hall, waiting until Constance had taken Adelaide to lie down before summoning guards to remove their father’s body.
‘What now?’ Alan looked at him warily.
‘I don’t know.’ Matthew rubbed a hand over his forehead. ‘It’s going to be hard convincing people that a knife in the back was an accident.’
‘Then we should tell them I did it.’ Alan looked resolute.
‘What? No.’ Matthew shook his head. ‘It’s in the back, Alan. They’ll say it was murder.’
‘I don’t care. I won’t put Adelaide through a trial. She’s suffered enough.’
‘Then let me take the blame. I was the one who challenged him to a fight.’
‘And then turned your back on him.’ Alan gave a twisted smile. ‘I thought you knew better than that.’
‘I should have. Adelaide saved my life.’
‘Only because I couldn’t reach you in time. I would have done the same thing if I’d been standing any closer. Or if I’d seen what he did to Adelaide’s face beforehand. If she hadn’t been wearing that hood...’ His jaw clenched. ‘Which is why you should let me take the blame. Please, Brother, let me do it for her.’
‘No.’ Matthew sighed. ‘We’ll do it together. We’ll say that one of us was holding the knife and the other one knocked him. That way we both did it and neither of us did.’ He made a face. It wasn’t the most honourable or believable explanation for what had just happened, but it might be the only way to prevent one of them from ending up at the end of a noose and he had a feeling that Alan was determined to take the blame if he could. ‘Whatever we say, there’ll still be rumours.’
‘Then we’ll be continuing Father’s legacy.’ Alan looked older than his years suddenly. ‘But it’s for her.’
‘You really do love her?’
‘I do. Even if she doesn’t want me, I always will.’
‘Then I hope she loves you, too. At least then something good might come of all this.’
‘Thank you, Brother.’ Alan glanced towards the stairs and smiled. ‘In any case, I’d better see how she is. Right now, I think your wife wants you.’
Matthew turned around, his breath catching at the sight of Constance already standing behind him. Her face looked harrowed, pale and overwrought, no doubt the same as his, though she looked exhausted, too.
‘I should never have left,’ he said simply.