She understood too why the men felt that way and couldn’t add to their burden by knowingly putting herself in danger again. Staying behind at the monastery did mean that she could check in with Tangwen and Gwalchmai (who were still asleep) every so often. Above all, she was a mother, so she couldn’t be sorry that she would remain safe—for her own sake, for Tangwen’s sake, and for that of her unborn child. She also wasn’t sorry that staying behind gave her a chance to speak to Abbot Rhys again. He’d been a monk for only ten years, but that Rhys would become the abbot of his monastery had been a foregone conclusion from the moment he’d chosen the Church as his vocation. Gareth had trusted him almost from the moment the two had met, and Rhys had become a friend to both Gwen and Gareth in the subsequent years. Although Rhys had initially balked at Gwen’s participation in the investigations that came their way, he had grown to accept her presence, learned from her, and now treated her in the fashion of a proud and beloved uncle.
