Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

T hough Lord Stirling gave her no hint as to the purpose of the meeting he'd barged into her classroom to inform her about, Elara went to the solar at the appointed time after supper. She'd gone to the hall for meals, in the beginning, but too many of the recruits in their cups had forced her to stop doing so. While the other instructors, Eamon specifically, had attempted to convince her to return, it was simply easier this way. More than one recruit had been disciplined for their inappropriate advances, ones they would never make during their lessons.

On the other hand, missing meals meant Elara often was not privy to conversations such as those that might reveal the purpose of a rare, late-eve meeting such as this.

When she entered, all were present already. The other instructors—Eamon, Lord Stirling and the newly minted horsemanship master, Sir Gareth—as well as Lord Ashcroft and Lord Bennington, two of the noblemen who funded their order.

Though she had no particular feelings about Bennington, Elara had never cared for Lord Ashcroft and knew Eamon felt the same. The two men had a long, sordid history together, which made for interesting meetings such as this.

"Let us begin," Lord Ashcroft began in his typically gruff manner. "A sennight ago, Lord Stirling came to me with a concern. As it is my coin—"

"Our coin," Bennington added. "Among others."

Ashcroft ignored him.

"—which funds this order, I've had my personal steward manage Castle Blackwood since the start."

"Where is Pembroke?" Eamon cut in.

"I did not ask him to the meeting."

"The very man who uncovered the discrepancies? Why would he not be present?" Stirling asked.

"Because," Ashcroft said, as if he were talking to a wayward child, "he is neither a nobleman nor an instructor."

Typical Ashcroft. The man was a stickler for stations and propriety. It must have truly rankled him to learn his daughter was not his own. She glanced between Ashford and Eamon and then chanced a look at Sir Gareth. As she suspected, the man glared at Ashcroft with nearly as much animosity as Eamon did.

She is my daughter.

Elara could easily remember the day, not so long ago, after Evelina and Gareth wed, that her friend and colleague had made that admission. Sir Eamon had told her that, many years ago, he had been in love with Ashcroft's wife. They'd been together, even after the pair were married, and Evelina was their daughter. Ashcroft claimed her as his own despite the fact and only learned of her true parentage when she and Sir Gareth became a couple. Elara understood more easily the fatherly devotion Eamon held for Evelina, as well as Ashcroft's animosity toward the other man.

A complicated situation, to be sure.

"There was a discrepancy in the inventory logs." Her head whipped back to Ashcroft. "Between the supplies allocated and those actually delivered to the latest skirmish in Bramshall."

"Taken along with the arrival of Stephen's supporters outside London," Lord Stirling added, "and other incidents, we've begun to fear a traitor may be in our midst."

Elara looked around the table. Her eyes met Eamon's. Had he known about this? Was she the only one kept in the dark about such a possibility?

Gareth seemed just as surprised as she, but given his new status as an instructor, that was to be expected. The others, however?

She would not remain silent.

"'Tis clear this is not new information. It would seem to me, as the Strategies instructor, I should have been made privy to such concerns?"

Ashcroft stared at her, but Elara did not back down. Doing so would give him the understanding that he had the ability to intimidate her.

"That is precisely what we are doing at this meeting."

"I am in agreement with Lady Elara," Eamon said. "She is the one person here with expertise at ferreting out a traitor in our midst, if indeed there is one. Why was she not consulted earlier?"

"The very idea of a traitor, Sir Eamon"—Ashcroft used his title as if it were a slur—"is that we are uncertain as to their identity. Until we could—"

Elara cut in. "Are you saying you considered me as a possibility?"

Ashcroft cleared his throat. "Should not everyone be considered a possibility, Lady Elara?"

It was not only his words, but his tone she took exception to. What rankled most was...he was right. But she'd been on the receiving end of men's animosity toward both her and her skills enough times that Elara had gone immediately on the defensive.

It was her biggest weakness, the one way she could be exploited. And instead of remaining calm, Elara had proclaimed that weakness for all to see. At least she was able to admit her faults. Though the words nearly stuck in her throat, she uttered them nonetheless.

"You are correct." But she amended, "Including all in this very room."

By all, she included Ashcroft himself, even while admitting a man who'd spent a considerable amount of coin fighting King Stephen's reign was unlikely to, in fact, be the traitor.

"Which is why we've had each of you followed since the discrepancies were discovered."

The chamber erupted. Elara watched as Stirling stood, Eamon shouted, and Gareth looked at Ashcroft as if he would strangle the man with his very own hands. She would never admit it aloud, but the move was not altogether unwarranted.

Likely noting her silence on the matter, Ashcroft yelled over the others. "We all agree she"—he pointed at Elara—"does have the expertise in such matters. What say you, Elara?"

Stirling glared at her with his one good eye. The man had never cared for her, thought she was too young to be in a position to mentor knights that could change the course of history.

No matter. He was wrong.

"As unseemly as it seems, the ability to trust those in this chamber with such information is of paramount importance," she said, agreeing with Ashcroft without saying the words. "I assume your...actions uncovered nothing?"

Ashcroft's chin rose. "Correct."

"At present, all in the chamber, in addition to Pembroke, are the only people aware of our suspicions?"

"They are," Ashcroft confirmed.

"Lady Elara," the normally quiet Bennington said. "You are uniquely qualified for this sort of unseemly task."

A compliment, of sorts. Elara frowned, knowing for certain that if she'd been a man, he would have phrased his words differently.

"Will you uncover the truth of the matter?"

She intended to. A traitor among them could easily lead to Empress Matilda's downfall, and all of their own with her. But she had one condition.

"Aye," she said, leaning forward. "But I do it alone. If each of you attempt to pursue the matter as well, your questions and actions, as sly as you may think them to be, are more likely to alert the traitor than catch them. Say less, observe more. But I alone investigate." She said the last with as much conviction as possible.

"I do not believe such a precaution is necessary," Ashcroft scoffed. "We should—"

"In his early years as chancellor to King Henry," Eamon cut in, "Elara's father embarked on a clandestine investigation, scrutinizing the movements of courtiers and nobles alike at court when rumors of a plot to assassinate the king reached his ears. He uncovered a plot by one of the king's own trusted advisers, who harbored ambitions of seizing the throne for himself. Very few were made aware of the situation. Cedric Irwine met the king's justice while Elara's father became the king's favorite, with good reason." Eamon's eyes narrowed, directly at Ashcroft. "He was younger than Elara is now when this occurred. The lady, like her father, is highly adept in political strategy and possesses a unique set of skills no other in this chamber can match."

The chamber was so silent, Elara could certainly hear a speck of dust land on the table before them.

"Cedric Irwine was lost at sea," Bennington said.

Eamon leveled him with a look that nearly made Elara laugh.

The baron blinked and said, "I see."

"Now then, you were saying, my lady?" Eamon prompted her to continue.

Avoiding Stirling's narrowed eye, she continued. "Do I have your agreement?"

Murmurs of "aye" were enough for her.

"You will need at least one in the knights' confidence, will you not?" Gareth said, having remained mostly quiet. "I can assist you."

"If our traitor is a recruit, it would be helpful, aye, to have a trusted man to listen and watch from within." Her mind spun. "Your aid in that matter would be useful," she said. "If you were still one of them."

Gareth opened his mouth and then shut it. Elara knew he still saw himself as one of the men, especially because of his bond with Darien, Roland, and Alden.

But there was another whom she might trust with this information who was one of the men, a recruit like the others.

Alden.

"If not Gareth, who?" Eamon asked. "You will need someone who can be trusted, and at present, that list includes none but those in this room."

"I have ways," Elara said. "To learn if such trust is warranted. And I do have someone in mind. Perhaps we should meet each Saturn's Day so I can apprise you of my findings?" With luck, that would appease the group, who, Elara was certain, would be concerned about the status of her quest.

"Is this acceptable to all?" Eamon asked.

More murmurs.

Elara stood. "Very well, then. I've much to do and would start straightaway. Good eve, sirs. My lords."

With that, she left to find Alden of Shirsten St. Mary.