The Faithful Heart Read Online Free Page A

he likes being homeless and
alone!” Tom added. All eyes turned to him. There was no need to ask
who he meant.
    “But my lord,” Toby all but wept in
frustration, “what if you are caught?”
    “We won’t get caught. Not this time.” He
stormed off towards the horses.
    “Too right,” Tom muttered, jogging after him,
Roderick in tow.
    Toby sighed. “Here we go again.” He cast a
disapproving look at Lydia.
    “I mean, I heard that Lord Hugh of Kedleridge
was dead,” she went on as though still having the conversation,
“but I always assumed….” She shut her mouth, her eyes glazing over
with thought.
    Toby waited but she didn’t go on. “Yes, well,
it would be best if you were on your way.” He gestured to shoo her
away, turning to chase after Ethan.
    “It certainly would.” Lydia rushed off in a
different direction.
     

Chapter Two

    Derby Castle should have struck dread into
Madeline’s heart considering she had been locked in a room at the
top of the High Tower with Sister Bernadette for weeks last summer.
But as she slogged the final mile towards the city, her feet and
back aching, covered in the dust of a long, tiresome road, the
sight of the castle was enough to bring her to tears. Jack might be
there now, waiting for her to come home to him. The memory of him
scaling the tower and hanging outside her window just to make sure
she was alright sent her heart twirling in her chest.
    She doubled her pace, wiping her streaming
eyes with the sleeve of the shapeless peasant dress she’d traded
her hassock for more than a week ago. The city was buzzing with
activity. More than a few of the merchants, minor nobles, and even
a few peasants stared at her with upturned noses as she rushed
past. She knew she looked a fright. She hadn’t bathed since leaving
the convent for fear of being discovered or having her clothes
stolen. Her cropped hair was matted and sticking up in places,
colorless with dirt, and her face was as grubby as a beggar.
    “Just where do you think you’re going, boy.”
The guard at the castle gate mistook her entirely.
    “I… well, I….” Madeline shuffled under the
guard’s intimidating glare. She dropped her head and wrung her
hands. This was not how her reunion with Jack was supposed to
happen. “I’m here to see … Jack?” She risked a glance up at the
guard.
    “Who?” The burly man sighed as if she was
wasting his time.
    “J-Jack,” she stammered.
    “Jack who?”
    “Jack Tanner?”
    “Don’t know no Jack Tanner,” the guard
sniffed.
    She second-guessed all the rumors she’d heard
about Jack working for Sir Crispin and Buxton, everything Aubrey
had said in the one letter she’d sent last summer. Aubrey. She
blinked and looked up at the guard with renewed purpose.
    “Is Lady Aubrey here?”
    The guard huffed and shifted his weight.
“It’s Derby Castle, boy, what do you think?”
    Madeline chewed her lip, deciding to take the
answer as a yes. “Is … is she available?”
    The impatient guard was on the verge of
shoving her off when the call of, “Don’t worry, Adam, he’s probably
just one of the new pages that got lost,” saved her. A tall, thin
man in black and silver livery strode across the castle courtyard
towards her. Madeline recognized Livingston, Derby Castle’s
steward, from her days as a prisoner. “I’ll take him where he needs
to go.”
    “Right, sir.” The guard snapped
straighter.
    “Come along, boy.”
    Madeline gasped as Livingston grabbed her arm
and yanked her into the courtyard and up towards the castle. She
was too shocked to open her mouth and identify herself. “Filling
the castle up with children of God only knows who,” Livingston
muttered, “Training any and every child in the shire to be pages
and house servants and God only knows what else. And grown men too!
Who did that lot think they were, sneaking in here like they owned
the place, smelling like the forest? And you, boy!” He raised his
voice and shook Madeline’s