The Leopard Unleashed Read Online Free PDF Page A

Geoffrey to his father. Nothing too secret or treasonous, just greetings and news. My main purpose is to bring you home.’
    ‘Letters for King Fulke? You’ve to travel down to Jerusalem too?’
    Adam nodded and washed down the bread with a mouthful of wine. ‘I’ll probably sail down the coast. It’s quicker and I want to be home by the autumn myself. A pilgrim’s lands might be sacrosanct in theory, but it does not always work in practice.’
    ‘My father … No, finish eating first, and bathe if you want. There’s a tub in the rooms across the courtyard.’
    Adam gave him a single bright look and cut free a cluster of grapes from the mound in the centre of the table. ‘It might be best,’ he agreed. ‘Elene sends you her love. There’s one of her famous letters in my baggage.’ He glanced at Olwen. ‘She’s become a fine young woman in your absence. Pretty too.’
    ‘Has she?’ Renard stared at the wall behind Adam’s head. He had been forewarned by that piercing glance, by the very fact that Adam was here in Antioch. The smell of the goat’s cheese was suddenly so strong it was nauseating. He pushed his bowl aside, and standing up went to the doorway and looked out on the fountain. De Lorys, groggy-legged, was ducking his head in it and groaning. Renard clenched his fingers in his belt. He leaned one shoulder against the gritty white wall and watched the sunlight pattern the tiles around the fountain. Now he knew why he had been thinking of the marches yesterday.
    Fingers pressed his sleeve. Startled, he looked round at Olwen. Already he had forgotten her. She was as unreal to him now as a fevered dream.
    ‘It is best if I leave, my lord. You know where to find me if you have need. I am sorry if your news is not good.’
    She saw him make the effort to concentrate, to bring his mind and eye back from the distance and focus on her. ‘I am sorry too,’ he said with a forced smile. She rememberedthe touch of his lips on her body, the words they had formed, and shivered. ‘Thank you for last night,’ he added. ‘It was a …’ he hesitated, seeking the words, ‘… a memory to treasure on a cold winter’s night.’ He kissed her lightly on the mouth in farewell and dismissal.
    Was
, not
is
, she noted with a feeling of panic that did not show on her face. She had no intention of being shown a feast hall through an open door only to have that door slammed in her face. ‘If you have need,’ she repeated softly and, returning his kiss with a light brush of her lips on his cheek, left him.
    He heard the rustle of her gown, caught the drifting scent of her perfume, attar of roses and something spicier, and then even that was gone. He went back inside.
    Finished, Adam was leaning back from the crumb-covered table, a cup cradled in his hands. ‘Who was she?’ he asked. ‘Or am I treading on forbidden ground?’
    Renard shrugged. ‘A tavern dancer. It was my first night at home in Antioch after a round of duties for Prince Raymond.’
    ‘Attractive,’ Adam said appreciatively.
    ‘Yes.’ Renard sat down in the place Olwen had been occupying and once more caught the echo of her perfume. He moulded a piece of bread into a pellet, then broke it apart.
    Adam studied his goblet for a moment, then looked at Renard from beneath his brows. ‘Your father will see another winter snow if he is fortunate, but not beyond.’
    Renard stared at Adam and felt the hair rise at his nape.
    ‘The damp got into his lungs last year. We had to ford the Dee in the spring spate and his horse put a foot wrong. He was wearing mail and the wonder of it was that hewas still alive by the time Henry and I finally managed to drag him out. He took the lung fever and it was only by a miracle and your mother’s skill that he survived at all, but there was permanent damage. He can’t take out the patrols like he used to. The first breath of cold or damp air and he starts coughing. Before I left at Christmastide he had begun to