swallowing the other’s tail. I no sooner started to question her about it than she began rocking and humming, making the stone cell echo with a strange sort of sound that reminded me a little of the sea monster’s keening.
Was she attempting to work magic? I sniffed the dank air but smelled nothing.
“Watch out!” Barrington cried as Melisande writhed backward.
She collapsed on the straw-covered floor.
“She may be pretending,” Knollys grunted.
“I’m not so sure.” Gabriel had his hand on her wrist. “Her pulse is very weak.”
For almost a full hour, we tried to revive her. We shook her. We splashed water on her face. We waved smelling salts under her nose till the room reeked with them. Nothing worked.
Gabriel, still monitoring her pulse, said that it was even weaker than before. “It’s steady, though. Almost as if she were in some sort of trance.”
Barrington crossed his arms. “We could put her to the rack.”
“No.” Looking down at Melisande’s slack, dead-white face, I saw for an instant the ghost of my godmother, who had died in this place. It isn’t the same, I told myself. This woman is dangerous. Yet it took me a moment to speak with the authority my men expected of me. “Leave her here. The rest of you, come with me.”
Out of earshot of the cell, I gathered them in a tight circle. “We still haven’t found any trace of her servant, have we, Captain Knollys?”
“No sign at all. The trail leads to the water and then stops.”
“Then all we have is Melisande, so we’d better treat her well. Give her plenty of blankets, and have some food and drink sent down. We’ll question her again later.”
Knollys and Barrington looked less than satisfied, but they didn’t try to argue with me. Nor did the others. I knew, however, that they would be happier if I were harsher with Melisande—and perhaps I should be. At any rate, I couldn’t be as lax as I’d been with the mermaid. Yet the dark history of the Tower was itself proof that torture wasn’t the high road to truth. People would say anything to end the pain. What if Melisande told us lies? What if we pushed her too hard and she died? We wouldn’t have learned anything, then.
Even if the others saw it as weakness, I was going to choose another way.
“There is plenty to do while we wait,” I said. “The men who are searching her rooms may have more to tell us, and we can continue the search for her servant. I myself must go to Whitehall; I promised the King I would keep him informed of our progress.”
“I could send a messenger,” Knollys said.
“He’ll want to speak with me himself.” Which was probably true, but the real reason I wanted to go to Whitehall was to tell Sybil about Melisande and see what she made of what the woman had told me so far. Perhaps Sybil would know who the Mothers were. Perhaps she would even be willing to come here and see if Melisande was the same woman she’d met long ago. Though how we would manage that, I wasn’t sure, when Sybil was so carefully encircled by her ladies, and her every movement was a cause for gossip. Still, it was worth a try.
“I’ll return as soon as I can,” I said. “I don’t know what tricks she might have up her sleeve, so don’t interrogate her without me. And keep her chained and guarded.” I wasn’t going to have her escape as the mermaid had.
I left, with solemn assurances from Knollys, Gabriel, and the others that they would keep close watch over Melisande until I came back.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
WESTMINSTER
I traveled by well-armed boat from the Tower to Whitehall, making good time. My plan to visit Sybil, however, was forestalled by the guards who greeted me at Whitehall. The King wanted to see me right away.
I hurried to the State Rooms, only to discover that the King was nowhere to be found.
“He did ask us to summon you a little while ago,” one of his secretaries said worriedly. “He wanted to speak with you. But then he and Lord Walbrook hurried off, and we haven’t seen them since.”
“Where did they go?” I asked. “Do you know?”
“To see one of the river walls in Westminster, I think. But to tell the truth, I’m not sure exactly where.” Grimacing, the secretary ran a hand through his thinning hair. “We’ve been at sixes and sevens ever since the removal orders