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As Bannaster waved an arm to encompass the whole castle, he stopped talking when he saw that half a dozen people were nearby, some passing by in the corridor, or like John, coming from the great hall in curiosity.

Bannaster sighed. “Very well, maidservant. What is your name again?”

“Anne, my lord.”

“Then you come with me, Anne, only you.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

She went through the door ahead of him, but he was right behind. It made her nervous to walk up the stairs that hugged the wall of the tower. She didn’t like him behind her, staring at her lower body. She felt like she could hear his breathing.

At the door to the solar, she knocked and called, “My lady? ’Tis I, Anne, and Lord Bannaster.”

For a moment she could hear nothing inside.

She gasped when Bannaster put a hand on her hip and said, “Move aside, and I’ll knock louder.”

But the door suddenly opened, and warm light spilled down the stairs. Anne stood there, looking subdued and regal in a gown of blue silk. “Good evening, Lord Bannaster,” she said softly, as she stepped back to allow them entrance.

Elizabeth entered first and although she probably should have taken her place behind Anne, instead she stood at her side, facing the viscount.

As if the drunken walk up the stairs had winded him, he sank down sloppily onto a stool and smiled. “You look the same, Lady Elizabeth, beautiful and untouchable.”

“I watched you arrive, my lord,” Anne said. “You looked pleased with yourself.”

Elizabeth thought confinement had made Anne increasingly brave.

Bannaster grinned. “So you were anxious for my reappearance?”

“Anxious? Nay, my lord. But what else do I have to do but look out the window?”

She smiled as she said it, but she made her point. Yet Bannaster was just drunk enough that all he did was laugh.

“You are so refreshing, Lady Elizabeth. I will never grow bored with you.”

Anne inhaled. “Let us be direct, my lord. Has the king granted you guardianship over me?”

Elizabeth held her breath.

Bannaster leaned his head back against the wall, and suddenly his eyes looked hooded. “He is contemplating his decision and will advise me of it.”

Elizabeth stared at the floor, because she was afraid her expression would betray her relief.

“You don’t have to look so happy,” he said sourly.

She looked up in time to see Anne’s smile fade.

“Can you blame me?” Anne asked softly. “My betrothed will come for me soon, and I don’t wish your interference.”

“Yet the king thought my wish to protect you was a good one. I feel it is only a matter of time before I win the ability to guide your future.”

He looked down Anne’s body in a way that made Elizabeth step closer to her. Even the two of them together could not stop a man of his size from doing as he wished.

“In fact,” Bannaster continued, rising unsteadily to his feet, “if I take you now, the king would not refuse my right to wed you.”

His true intentions were finally in the open, but Elizabeth never thought he’d be fool enough to resort to rape to get what he wanted.

Anne backed up a step. “Nay, sir, you cannot force yourself upon me.”