Her hands tightened cruelly on mine. ‘I want you to kill him,’ she said.
For a moment I was frozen into shock and then I started to laugh. It was so unexpected that I could not help myself. The sound came bubbling up and I could not prevent it bursting out. Anna let go of me as though I had the plague and leaped to her feet, leaving me kneeling there on the floor.
‘I’m sorry.’ I scrambled up, trying to stifle my mirth. ‘It’s the shock… I was so surprised—’
She looked at me with loathing. ‘I might have known that you would not care,’ she said.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said again, sobering. ‘But… To kill Robert? How could I possibly accomplish that? And why would I want to do so?’
‘Not just for me,’ she said, turning away so that her expression was in shadow, ‘but for both of us. Surely you cannot bear the way he humiliates you? You are a laughing stock, Amy. Your name is synonymous with cuckoldry throughout the entire land.’
It was unkind but I had schooled myself to withstand far worse in the ten years that I had been Robert’s wife. All urge to laugh had flown now; I was acutely conscious that time was running out and that I must simply get rid of her.
‘You are crazed,’ I said coldly. ‘Your mind has been turned by grief and I am sorry for it. But I will not kill Robert. He may well prefer to spend his hours with the Queen than with me but he provides well for me. I lack for nothing. I am unlikely to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.’
She came very close to me. ‘You lack for nothing but freedom and respect. Aye, I will give you that. And you also lack generosity and love. Your material comfort has been built on the blood of those that Robert has wronged.’
I turned away, tired of her now. Time was running out. I thought I heard the sound of a latch lifting, a step on the stair below. It was time for me to go. I snapped the trunk closed and swung around, heading to the door.
‘Go home, Anna,’ I said, over my shoulder. ‘Go back to Antony and listen to him. He can comfort you. And if you are in material need, write to me and I will ask Robert to provide for you too.’ I knew that was a lie but in that moment, I would have promised anything to be free of her.
I should not have turned my back on her. I realised it too late. I had walked out of the room without a backward look at her and paused at the top of the stair, expecting to see Richard Varney below. He was not there. No one was there.
I heard the patter of Anna’s running steps behind me. She grasped my sleeve, tugging on it, spinning me about. Her face was a mask of fury.
‘Do not walk away from me,’ she shouted, shaking my arm. ‘Do not turn your back on me and dismiss me like a servant!’
I was afraid that all the commotion would disturb Mrs Odingsells. I tried to free my sleeve from Anna’s grasping fingers but as I turned, I caught the heel of my slipper in my gown. Such a small thing, but my head spun and I felt myself teeter dangerously on the top step.
‘Amy!’ Anna’s voice was loud in my ears. ‘Amy!’
I lost my footing.
I seemed to fall so slowly. I had so much time and yet so little.
I saw horror replace the anger in Anna’s face. She screamed, her mouth wide with fear.
A man came running. I recognised Richard Varney. Within the jumble of terror and despair that possessed me, I felt one last glimmer of hope.
Richard could have saved me. It would have been a simple matter for him to step forward and catch me. Instead he stepped aside. I had time to see his face, to see the calculation in his eyes, the satisfaction. And then I knew. Robert had double crossed me. There had never been a plan where I would be free to start a new life. It would have been too much of a risk. Robert needed to make sure he was truly free.
Richard did nothing to save me. He, like Antony Foster, like William Hyde, like all the others, was Robert’s man, bought and paid for. And Robert, of course, was the Queen’s