years ago, when your misguided sister held this throne, you were at divers times importuned to leave this kingdom. You, being the wiser, did not, and thus you gained your throne, to grace it these bountiful years. But if you had gone abroad, would you have been any less the prince for that? And whoever sat here in your absence, would you have considered yourself anything less than the true prince? I think not, and I think you know something of the pain of exile.” The Queen listened solemnly to Geoffrey’s apologia, nodding to herself. When he finished, she took his hand in hers, and motioned both Burghley and his erring son closer. Robert swallowed convulsively and obeyed, followed closely by his father.
“Little man, do you study music?” she asked, with seeming irrelevance, but fixing him with a glittering eye, and Burghley winced, looking as if he wondered what had possessed his son. Robert nodded and she continued icily.” Then you must look to your timing, my lord. It lacks . . . delicacy. See you to it, my lord,” she added turning to Burghley.
“Come, Robert, I’ll see you home,” said the old man, slipping an arm over his son’s shoulder, and they left, Robert Cecil looking over his shoulder now and then, as if to sort out what had gone wrong, and narrowing his eyes at the sight of us, still close by the queen’s side.
“You have made a bad enemy there, your grace,” a quiet voice said behind me, and I jumped at the hand laid on my shoulder. I stepped away and turned to face the man who watched me from hooded reptilian eyes. He had sandy hair, with brows and lashes almost invisible against his sallow skin, a tall, thin build and a scholar’s slightly stooping shoulders. With another ill-concealed start I recognized him: Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland.
“Any enmity is of his own making,” I said, hiding my agitation under a blanket of indifference. “I am certain that we may think no ill of a man who acts in defense of his sovereign, however mistakenly. If you will excuse me, my lord?”
“If you would indulge me but a moment more,” the earl said, catching at my sleeve, “there is something I am most curious about. How is it that you speak our tongue with such facility? I would almost take you for a Kentishman, your .. . grace.” I pulled out of his grasp.
“You flatter me,” I said, and added over my shoulder as I walked away, “I had an English nurse.” I could feel those cold eyes boring into my back as I went to join the dancing.
Chapter 13
Frizer’s inn at Eltham was easy to distinguish, with its air of disorderly menace. I feigned ignorance of the stir my entrance caused. Though raffishly dressed, I appeared well-to-do in that company. I requested and was served a cup of sack, and settled in to observe. By midnight the crowd had thinned to several men on the far side of the room, and a sullen, lank-haired woman dabbing at the tables with a rag. Frizer had certainly come down in the world, his prim parson’s demeanor shed with his vaulting ambition. He was scruffy and down at the heels, his beard untrimmed and his hair unkempt. He detached himself from his fellows and made his way to the bench where I waited, pausing long enough to snap at the woman, who flicked a quick and frightened look at me, then fled from the room.
“Will you be wantin’ a bed?” Frizer growled. He stood with his meaty hands on his hips, looming over me. I smiled, and Frizer’s frown deepened. “Too good for an honest inn, be you?”
“Not at all. Mayhap too good for this one.” By ones and twos the others were leaving. When we were alone, Frizer reached down and grasped the front of my doublet, and I let him pull me to my feet. Before my renascence Frizer had had the advantage of me in inches, but now we were eye to eye.
“Well, now, if y’hand over your purse, perhaps I can persuade my friends out there not to lay hands on ye.” Frizer’s breath stank of cheap wine, and for a moment I sagged, overcome by the memory of my murder, of being helpless in this man’s merciless hands. Frizer laughed, thinking me faint with fear, and shook me. Then he was being held by both wrists, and slammed down onto the