she caught my right hand, turning it to examine the scar slashed across the wrist.
“Kit? How came you by this scar?”
“Ah. That was my rival, Greene. I’d nicked a crony of his with my dagger once upon a time, and he thought to return the favor. They caught me out, cupshotten, and Greene held my arm while Ball slashed my wrist for me. Greene never noticed that I’m left-handed—he’d meant to stop me writing for a time, to give himself a better chance.”
“They might have stopped your life.”
“Aye, that they might. They might not have stopped at one wrist but cut both, or even my throat, if not for Nashe.” I was overcome by the memory of gallant Tommy leaping into the fray without so much as a dagger, his only weapon a dead dog he’d caught up from a dung heap. “He routed them, bound my wrist, and got me to my lodgings.”
“Yes, you are fortunate in your friends.” She fell silent for a moment, then said abruptly, “Kit, we are taking Blackavar House near Deptford for the summer; will you come and stay? Over May Day?” I had already accepted Tom’s invitation for the same period, but that had been issued before the rift and I did not suppose that he would much care if I stayed away. “Yes,” I told her, “yes, I will.”
Chapter 5
Blackavar was old, very old, but recently rebuilt to more modern standards, with many glazed windows newly set into the ancient masonry. The house drowsed and glittered in the sultry late afternoon sun like a stout matron draped in diamonds. I swung myself out of the saddle, tossed the reins at the waiting groom and turned to the house. As at Crosby Place, the servants showed me into a study well supplied with books, food and drink and left me with word that the Master and Mistress would be returning soon.
I read for a time, then decided to walk in the gardens and there Rózsa found me, leaning on a wall, watching the brilliant sunset. The clouds were piled into impossible mountains and gorges, violently colored. She leaned against me, taking my hand. “It reminds me of the Carpathians, the Transylvanian Alps,” she said, her voice loud in the oppressive, still air.
“Tell me,” I said, curious about the places she had seen. “I have always wanted to travel, farther than just the Low Countries. Back to France, perhaps, but for my own pleasure, rather than dangerous business for the Queen.
No, for Walsingham, rather,” I corrected myself bitterly.
“Wherein you met your Tom?” she asked softly.
“Yes, and would I had not, for I fear he will be my ruin.” Lightning cracked the sky and her reply was drowned in the roll of thunder that followed. We ran for the house and I found my mood not much improved when we got there.
Nicolas awaited us in the study. “Am I the only guest?” I asked, relieved to find that, at least for the time being, I was. Rózsa questioned me about my time with Walsingham’s circle of spies and how I had come to work for them. I snorted and told them the sordid story.
“I am well out of it,” I concluded.
“But how is it that you were able to leave Walsingham’s Service so freely?” Nicolas asked, thoughtfully. “Given all you know, I should not have thought that you would be so easily let go.”
“The death of Sir Francis was a blessing for me. Cecil tries to ensnare me, but he is no Walsingham.”
“He may be worse,” Rózsa retorted. “He may embrace your Machiavel as Sir Francis did not.”
“If they wish me to spy for them they cannot kill me,” I reasoned.
“How if they only wish your silence? How better to stop your mouth than with six feet of clay?”
“Mayhap, but I do not fancy I should be quite so easy to kill, and I never supposed I’d make old bones in any case. The fiercer the flame the sooner it burns out,” I said with a shrug and a grim smile at their exchanged glances. I paced restlessly about the room and stopped short before a portrait half hidden in the shadows. It showed an androgynous dark-haired young man, dressed in a finely embroidered doublet muted by cobweb-lawn, and holding a feather fan in one languorous hand. With a start, I realized that it was Rózsa and turned a questioning look on her. She laughed, happy, it seemed, to change the subject, and told me