The Good Knight (A Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mystery)

interfering in anybody else’s.”
    “Don’t tell me what to do, is that it?” Gwalchmai said. “Why can you tell me what to do and not the other way around?”
    Gwen took in a deep breath, recognizing this moment as one that had been a long time coming. “When did I last tell you to do something? You’ve been your own person for a while now.”
    “This morning you told me to comb my hair,” he said.
    “Do you resent that?” she said.
    Gwalchmai gazed at her, and then flopped onto the bench near the row of beans. “Yes.”
    “Even if you know it’s the right thing to do?”
    Gwalchmai dug the toe of his boot into the dirt and she thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then he said, “Even if.”
    Gwen nodded. She’d noticed that Gwalchmai was far less likely to do what she asked, just because she asked. “I can try to stop. Mothering you is a hard habit to break.” Gwalchmai was alternately so earnest and sullen, Gwen found herself wanting to laugh. Except that wasn’t fair to him either. Putting down her knife, she touched his hand. “Is that really what you came here to say? Or is it something else?”
    Gwalchmai looked up, his expression as intent as ever. “I overheard Lord Cadwaladr speaking of Sir Gareth last evening. He was regaling the men crowded around him with the story of how he threw Gareth out of his hall for insubordination.”
    “Yes,” Gwen said. “You were seven when that happened. Do you remember?”
    “I remember you crying,” he said.
    “And you don’t want to see me cry again over Gareth?”
    Gwalchmai had the courage of youth and didn’t even appear embarrassed. He nodded.
    That he cared enough to talk to her touched Gwen’s heart. “Father didn’t refuse Gareth’s offer of marriage because Gareth had dishonored himself, as Cadwaladr implies. Gareth refused an order his conscience told him he couldn’t carry out and Cadwaladr dismissed him for it. Father respected that. If Gareth had followed the order, how could Father have given me to such a man? But at the same time, he couldn’t let me go to a man who had no way to support me. Not at sixteen.”
    “And now?” Gwalchmai said.
    Gwen paused. Gareth . How did he really feel about her? What had he done all these years that was so irregular ? He’d refused to discuss his time as a mercenary and she wondered what his tasks had entailed. He’d done something of which he was ashamed. Which he wouldn’t tell her. And was that his fault? Surely every man was entitled to his secrets, especially a soldier who followed his lord’s orders, even when those orders offended him. As both Gareth and she knew, the alternative was dismissal. Or death.
    “I’m not going to marry Gareth,” Gwen said. “Even if I wanted to, I don’t know that he’d have me. He has a new life with no place for me in it.”
    “Then he’s a fool,” Gwalchmai said.
    Gwen smiled. “He hasn’t hurt me, Gwalchmai. Life hurt me, but I’ve grown up since then. Still … thank you. You’ve grown up more than I’ve wanted to admit.”
    Gwalchmai nodded, looked down at his feet, and then raised his head again. “There’s something else, too. Something I overheard someone say.”
    “What is it?” Gwen said, not expecting much of note.
    “My friend Dafydd says King Anarawd’s brother, Cadell, is going to marry Elen in Anarawd’s stead. He was talking to Cristina about it.”
    Gwen blinked at this upwelling of information. “Cadell was talking to Cristina?”
    “Yes.”
    “Go on.” Gwen braced herself, now sure he was going to tell her something she didn’t want to hear.
    “Cadell said he knew something that would convince King Owain that Gareth murdered Anarawd.”
    “What did Cristina say?”
    “I don’t know,” Gwalchmai said. “They moved too far away for Dafydd to hear.”
    Gwen stared into the distance. There was no telling what information Cristina had shared with Cadell or vice versa. She straightened. If Gareth was to hang, it wasn’t going to be over this. Not if she could help it.
    She turned to her brother, about to smile her dismissal, when she stopped herself. Not only was he older than she’d thought, but he’d brought her good information. She canted her head as she looked at him.
    “What?” he said.
    “Neither you nor Father have appreciated the work I’ve done for Hywel,” she said. “But you’ve just done similar work for me.”
    Gwalchmai’s eyes widened. “I—” He stopped himself. “I