had started dragging that coffer to the door in a futile attempt to block it, to gain time before they were both officially declared prisoners. She knew the council would soon come to put him under arrest—Guilford, her most beloved child, the only one she’d ever cared for. Her hunger for revenge was equaled only by her feral devotion to the one soul she had molded entirely to her will.
She was human, after all. She could love. And hate.
“You cannot save him,” I told her. “Those bells ring for Queen Mary. You’ve lost. Guilford Dudley will never wear a crown. In fact, he’ll be lucky to keep his head.”
“I’ll tear you to pieces, bloody cur,” snarled Guilford.
Lady Dudley’s laugh was a blade ripping through skin. “You’re still not nearly as clever as you think. I never wanted a crown for him. It’s my husband who will lose his head for this, not Guilford. I will save him, even if I have to beg for his life on my knees. Mary is a woman; she knows what loss is. She will understand that no child should pay for his father’s crimes.”
She took a step closer to me, her breath acrid. “But you—you have lost everything. Mistress Alice is dead, and you’ll get nothing more from me. You don’t exist. You never did.”
I took her measure. “I know about Master Shelton.”
She went utterly still.
“Archibald Shelton,” I went on, “your devoted steward. I know he was the one who shot at me that night in Greenwich. I thought he displayed rather poor aim for a man considered an expert marksman during the Scottish wars. But now I know he wasn’t really trying to kill me. He was trying to spare me when he aimed at the wall. The ball just happened to ricochet.”
“Fool,” she spat. “Shelton took the gun, yes, but it was dark. He couldn’t see. Had there been better light he would killed you. He despises you for everything you’ve done.”
“Oh, I don’t believe that,” I said, and then I paused, suddenly realizing what had eluded me. “But you didn’t know, did you? He never told you. You never knew he was the one Mistress Alice had confided in. You only knew someone else had been told, someone who could reveal who I was if you ever harmed me or her—as eventually you did when you killed Mistress Alice. Master Shelton thought she’d died on the way to the fair; he believed the lie you told, just as I did, but then he came into the king’s room that night with your sons and he saw her. He knew how far you had gone. You thought he’d do anything to serve you, but in truth his ultimate loyalty lay in protecting me—the son of his former master, Charles of Suffolk.”
She threw herself at me, keening like an animal. Her attack threw me off balance. As I fended her nails from my face, the door flung open and the guards charged in. They grabbed hold of her, hauled her off me as she flailed and screamed obscenities.
“No!” I yelled. “Wait. Leave her. I have to…”
It was too late. Two of the guards dragged her away, her shrieks rebounding against the walls. I knew then, as I’d known little else, that it would be a long time before I stopped hearing that unearthly sound in my nightmares.
The echo faded to silence. Tom stood on the threshold. “It’s time you left. They’re shutting the gates by the council’s order. You don’t want to spend the night in here.”
I nodded numbly, moving toward the door, when I heard a muffled sob. I looked over my shoulder. Guilford sat crumpled on the floor, his face in his hands. I tried to feel some compassion. It saddened me that all I could muster was disgust.
“Where is he?” I asked.
Guilford raised tear-filled eyes. “Who?” he quavered.
“Master Shelton. Where is he?”
Fresh tears choked Guilford’s voice. “He—he went to fetch our horses.”
Wheeling about, I bolted from the room.
* * *
Night had fallen. In the bailey, torches exuded smoky light, limning the stone walls. Bells rang out in discordant spontaneity, as more than one local pastor took to his steeple in an excess of joy. Outside the Tower walls, all of London had emerged in celebration for their rightful queen, while inside, pandemonium erupted, as those still loyal to the duke recognized their folly and sought to escape, even as ramparts were manned and gates bolted shut.