made a faint protesting squeak as I slowly pushed the door open. There, in the light of a wildly guttering candle, I saw Hal, the lower half of his face muffled by a gag, his eyes nearly starting from his head as he watched the slow swing of the door. He recognized me and sagged against the ropes that held his hands bound over his head to the heavy bedstead. Swiftly crossing the room, I pulled the scarf from his face, plucking the gag from his mouth, and paused a second to kiss his bloodless lips before setting to work on the ropes.
“Thank God you are here, Kit! They took my costume to trap you, Robin and Cecil. Robin said I would come to thank him for his saving of me, when I understood it,” Hal said hoarsely, the words tumbling from him. He was clad only in his shirt and hose, and fumbled around on the floor for the rest of his clothing. “How did you know? Thank God you did not go—did you go to Whitehall? What has happened?” he shrugged into the doublet, ignoring the points that would tie it to the trunk-hose he pulled over his long legs. He stamped his feet into his boots and snatched the cloak that I held out to him.
“It’s rather a long story, I fear, too long to tell you now. We should go.” He nodded, and followed me from the room. The porter still dozed at the door, but as I stepped into the courtyard I saw a groom leading my horse in through the gate. The man had probably stepped out to relieve himself and spotted the animal. I cursed my luck and lunged forward, my fist connecting solidly with the man’s face. I felt bones break beneath my hand, and my opponent slumped to the ground. The porter roused, opening his mouth to cry out, and Hal spun lightly, lashing out and dropping him neatly across the threshold.
He turned back to see me awkwardly trying to tie a kerchief around my bleeding hand while holding the reins of the shying horse. Hal took the cloth, and raised my hand to his lips for a moment, to lick the bittersweet blood from my wound before binding it. I leaned forward to kiss him deeply, tasting my own blood in my lover’s mouth, then mounted and reached down to pull him up pillion behind me. I could hear raucous shouting from the kitchens, rude comments about the size of the missing man’s bladder, as we bounded away into the darkness.
Chapter 17
Northumberland gazed at the smoldering ruin with unseeing eyes. The faltering servant had told him how the building had seemed engulfed within seconds of the blaze being discovered, how the intensity of the heat had forestalled the attempts to quench the fire, and how a blast had rocked the ground and shattered the windows of facing buildings. The latter did not surprise him, as he had had powder stored there in the chapel. He stood stolidly, waiting for the embers to cool enough to permit examination of the ruins. Sommers appeared at his elbow, muttering curses under his breath.
“She’s gone, my lord. Maudie’s gone. The groom that had the watching of her said that she vanished during the confusion of the fire. I set the men to search for her,” Sommers gabbled hoarsely. He knew, none better, the purpose of the night’s thwarted ritual. They had but a few hours before dawn, before the moon turned its phase, in which to accomplish that purpose. He shifted his weight from his deformed foot, and tried to frame the words to remind Northumberland that their time was short. The earl turned his pebbly eyes on his companion for a few seconds, then looked back at the destruction before him.
“It matters not, old friend. There will be other nights, after all.” He stepped forward, but the ashes under the soles of his thin court shoes were still too hot for comfort, driving him back. He strode away to the house without another word.
Hours later, sifting the ruins with the help of Sommers and two trusted grooms, Percy came upon the pitiful remains shackled to the floor; the bones were seared and twisted, the fetters buckled by the heat, and the lot crushed by fallen beams. The earl stood and brushed the soot from his clothing, giving instructions that the bones be removed and thrown into the river without delay. The sound of