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Chapter Eleven

Brand knew about the led to breathe in the unfaone to see Mary as well?

After one gulp of air, she calmed He couldn’t know about Athelstan or she’d not be in the bath house She’d be standing, shivering in the yard, having been beaten within an inch of her life

Brand would have summoned everyone to watch her punish place He would not be gently probing about the cup

Athelstan re in her power not to betray him She refused to be the one to send the loyal servant to his death

Right now, she needed tiain Soe about what had truly happened when Egbert died, she would convince hie was done But always she needed to keep in ht several moves ahead

‘Do you have an answer forfrom your waist, rather than where it had been kept, safe in my bedroom?’

Her eyes flew to his face He atching her ht watch a mouse Her heart thudded ‘You know I have the cup’

‘I know You took it out last night after we quarrelled’

‘How do you kno could you possibly know that?’ Despite the heat of the bath house, a chill entered her soul She had been very careful

‘I found the hiding place on ave a superior se place I had a look and then left a marker in case you decided to open it’

‘A ’’

‘That, my dear Edith, was the whole point of my scheme You were not supposed to notice The sround and you had not replaced the stone the sa of the stone was tilted the other way Little things can save lives, Edith It pays to plan ahead’