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form enough of a thought to stop him.
    But Victor intervened, taking hold of Constantine’s forearm as he passed and rising. “I cannot allow a murder in God’s house, Constantine,” Victor warned. “In my house. Has the woman not suffered enough? What is her crime that she should be put to death?”
    â€œWhat was Christian’s crime?” Constantine said, shaking the abbot off. “What did my little boy do that warranted his burning to death in his home, along with his mother?”
    Then Constantine leaned into Victor’s face, his mouth pulled into a grimace, his posture threatening. Victor did not shrink away.
    â€œIf you let this woman go free, she will run to the first coin she can find to trade what she knows. The village and all the countryside around Melk will then be filled with criminals the like you’ve never even imagined . Think you they would bother determining identity once they discover we have been posing as monks? They will kill everyone here, including you.
    â€œIf we were to depart Melk after she betrayed us,” Constantine continued, leaning away from Victor and looking at all the men, “there would truly be no protection for the brethren. And where else in the world would we go? Wyldonna, to be devoured by beasts or drowned by creatures of the sea? I would not trade the life of even the basest beggar of yonder village for that woman’s, let alone the lives of the men who reside within these walls.”
    Now Constantine looked at Roman. “Get rid of her by morning or I will.”
    He strode to the secret door that led to the larger library and was gone a moment later.
    Valentine drummed his fingertips on the table. “It is nice that he is talking again, yes?”
    â€œI don’t understand,” Adrian said. “Constantine’s attitude toward Baldwin is perhaps justified, but why should he hold such hateful feelings toward the woman who effectively saved our lives in Damascus?”
    â€œBecause,” Roman said in a low voice, the realization resting on him as heavy and real as a block of granite, “if he could return to that time in the past, knowing what would become of his family, his home, he would not wish to have his life saved. The three of you were only hours away from death in the prison, Constantine only hours away from avoiding a long life without his little son.”
    Roman had felt the very same after Saladin’s army had lain ruin to Chastellet and left him alone with nothing but corpses and carrion birds for companions.
    â€œI do no doubt that you are right, my astute friend,” Valentine allowed with a tinge of admiration in his voice. “However, there is much to be said for Stan’s reasoning. The woman has seen us and knows where we have hidden away. I have a wife and child now; Adrian his own woman. We can no risk discovery.”
    Victor rejoined the discussion, sitting once more in his chair. “Roman, do you feel the woman would betray us?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Roman said. “She refused to tell Constantine anything before I entered the room. Not her name, not why she was asking after me. I can only surmise that is part of the reason the Saracen bothered to beat her so badly rather than just kill her outright once he’d caught up with her. Perhaps she has more to tell us, if only we give her the opportunity to heal—and to live,” he added.
    â€œI agree,” Victor said.
    Adrian nodded. “As do I.”
    The men looked to Valentine, who was wobbling his head from side to side, contemplating the ceiling. Finally, he sighed. “Agree. For the time being.”
    All four men stood, and Roman tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as he braced himself on the edge of the table. His head swam still, and the gentle candlelight in the library seemed to throb for a moment.
    â€œConstantine will not like being overruled,” Victor said.