Page 28 of Katherine the Vixen

“Sit down,” Siaspar ordered. “You’re about to faint.” All color had drained from her face, and he did not want her to pass out now.

“Thank you.” With those words, she made to go to the chair.

“No, sit here on the bed, next to me. I cannot talk to you if you have your back turned.” He saw her hesitate. “Come, I think you and I are past all this. I bedded you, you saved my life. I think, in the circumstances, we can forego convention. Sit, before you fall down.”

Her paleness was truly alarming. She looked just as drained as he felt. Still, she made no move to come closer. Any other time, he would have marched her to the bed, but right now he did not trust himself to stand up. Not only had the effect of the potion not quite worn off, but the loss of blood had left him weaker than he had ever been.

Eventually she complied.

“Now, I know what you did, but I don’t know why. Or even how. You said you saw Lady Malpas cut me but my wife and I were alone at the time.”

Siaspar frowned because it was possible that he was mistaken. His back had been to the door during their discussion about Cadell. Had Katherine slipped into the room at that point, he would not have noticed her.

But then surely Lady Malpas would have objected to her interruption?

“I saw everything because I was hiding behind the curtains in the bed.”

Hiding? That was a surprise.

Siaspar lifted an eyebrow in a silent encouragement to continue.

“I had come to light the fire and replace the rushes in preparation for your return. Mel, the girl who usually does it, was taken ill that afternoon. She has been kind to me and I offered to help. When I heard your voice at the bottom of the stairs, I panicked and hid in the only place I could. It was a stupid thing to do, but I knew you would never believe me if I said I had not been sent to spy on you.”

Siaspar thought hard. Perhaps he should have questioned this explanation, but there was something about the artlessness with which Katherine spoke that rang true. Besides, it would be easy to check if that girl, Mel, had really been ill. He knew the one she meant, one of the rare people at Castell y Ddraig who could speak English. It wouldn’t be surprising if the two of them had become friends.

“Very well,” he said quietly, deciding to accept her word. The floor had indeed been strewn with fresh rushes and it made sense that she should be wary of being found somewhere she had no business being, considering the suspicion he held her in.

The day she had come to him to tell him she was not with child, he had mocked her, but perhaps Katherine was a fundamentally honest person. Such people existed, he knew. Cadell, his sister—hell, himself. They sometimes made mistakes, but they were not of the same ilk as Lady Malpas.

“You believe me, then? You are not angry?” Katherine opened huge eyes.

This very naïve question convinced him he had been right to give her the benefit of the doubt and even raised a smile out of him. No, whatever she might have done, this woman was not a devious schemer.

“It is difficult to be angry when your intervention is the only reason I’m still alive,” he said roundly. “Which brings me to my second question. Why did you save me? You could have left me to bleed to death.”

“Never!”

His smile widened at her unguarded answer. Really, this woman was too impulsive for her own good. She would never make a good plotter. And he… He was starting to enjoy himself.

“Why ever not?”

“What do you mean? Would you leave someone in such a state if you could do something to help?”

“No, I suppose not,” he agreed. “But weren’t you afraid of Lady Malpas’ reaction if she found out you had foiled her plans?”

She shrugged, the gesture of someone who could not have explained what was going on in her mind because she did not fully understand it herself. Yes, she had to be telling the truth, in that instance, at least. Someone with nefarious intent would have had a story at the ready, whereas Katherine evidently didn’t know what to offer as an explanation for her gesture, except a natural, human reaction.

“I didn’t think that far,” she said eventually, proving his intuition right. “All I knew was that I could not let you die. When her ladyship left the room, I had already decided to come to your aid. But I’m glad she never saw me in the end, because now there is no reason why she should suspect me, or indeed anyone to have interfered with her plans. Your squire was the one who found you, and he will vouch that you were alone.”

Yes. Gwyn’s arrival had been rather propitious. Too propitious, in fact.

“You sent him up to my room as soon as you left me, didn’t you?” He had a suspicion that was the case but he wanted to hear the confirmation.

“Yes. I could not stay, but I did not want you to be on your own in case you started bleeding again. Before going, I placed the sheet on the floor, to make it look as if you had found the strength to bandage your wrist yourself before passing out.”

“How very quick-witted of you.”

Katherine’s shoulders sagged in defeat. She had not missed the sarcasm in Siaspar’s voice. What would it take to convince him that she was not in league with the woman who, not satisfied with withdrawing her favors from him and treating him like a savage, had tried to kill him?