Prologue

PROLOGUE

Melinda held Emma Pittypat Rivers on her lap. The door opened and a messenger staggered in. James took the message and called for the healer. Two of his knights took the man to the kitchen. James read the missive, his face turning a grayish color. Alarm spread through her.

“Call William and Henry in from the lists.”

Melinda took Emma and put the sleeping baby in a cradle so she wouldn’t wake and start crying. “What’s happened?”

“I must speak with Henry.”

“I am here,” Henry said as he strode into the room, the rest following behind him.

James looked grim. “You should sit.”

Melinda looked at him, and some kind of unspoken message seemed to pass between them. She was glad both her sisters were spending the summer at Falconburg.

“I swore I would never breathe a word. He didn’t want you to go around stirring up trouble.”

Henry looked confused. “What the bloody hell are you on about? ”

“’Tis your brother. John.”

“John is dead.”

James shook his head. “Nay. He is alive. John is the infamous bandit in the woods. He has been betrayed. Your brother is imprisoned in the tower, awaiting death.”