From Insurrection: Weddings can be murder:
“Kat Arden shifted uncomfortably on her side-saddle as the grey palfrey picked its way up the stony path.
An evening chill was developing, and she tried to burrow deeper into her woollen travelling cloak for extra warmth.
Twitching the reins, she guided the horse past a leafless bush and acknowledged that yes, she could still feel her fingers. She gave silent but grudging thanks to Lord Cheyne for the fur-lined gloves she had received from him the previous week.
As she crested the hill, the setting sun glared directly into her face. Instinctively, she shielded her eyes and eased the palfrey to a halt. She eyed the long sweep of grassy fields down to the valley-bottom where a winding river cut through meadows and reed beds.
If I galloped down the hill, maybe I could finally escape Cheyne’s grasp and find sanctuary?
Her pulse jumped as she spied the towers of a castle peeking above the forest on the opposite side of an oxbow. Excited, she tried to see more. Perhaps the lord of that castle would shelter me? But how to cross the river?
Before her desperate reconnoitre had finished, three grim faced riders had surrounded her.
The watchers.
One or more of them had been guarding her since they had plucked her out of the Bell Inn in Thetford over six months ago.”
[Author’s note: It took me three attempts to write this book. I found the rebellion subject matter disturbing and I struggled with how to do it justice within a ‘cosy Tudor mystery’. I did my best, but some readers tell me it is still sad… 😔]