In Defense of the Queen (20 page)

“Susanna will though.”

Kilburne looked at him pityingly, and Parker knew he was thinking Susanna had long since had her throat slit and was lying somewhere on the grounds, dead.

“Why did he take her down the stairs if he intended to kill her?”

Kilburne didn’t answer, and Parker knew again what he was thinking. That Jean wanted to rape her first.

He knew it was what Kilburne was thinking, because it was what he was thinking himself. His hands trembled, his heart skipped-each beat of it painful. Every second he did not find her, was a second longer Jean had her at his mercy.

There was no other reason Jean would deal with the inconvenience of a hostage, unless he had plans for her. Plans that were better suited to a private room than the open belfry of the Bell Tower.

Something caught his eye, a guard making for the door of the Lieutenant’s Lodgings across the Green. There was something furtive in his movements. “Who is that?”

Kilburne shaded his eyes against the afternoon sun and his demeanour changed as the man slipped through the entrance and closed it behind him. “It’s hard to say, but it looks like Merden.”

The name made Parker still. “I’ve heard of him.”

Kilburne glanced across. “Mistress Horenbout believes he is following the Cardinal’s orders, rather than my own.”

“So I gather.” Parker made for the door.

“We have no proof, Parker, and I cannot allow you to intimidate or injure my men.” Kilburne’s warning was soft but clear to his back, and Parker tightened the reins on his bloodlust. Hurting Merden would not save Susanna. It would only waste time.

There would be plenty of opportunity for revenge later.

“It is hardly likely Jean will be in the Lodgings.” Kilburne’s eyes tracked the inner curtain wall.

“Where did he come from?” Parker kept his eyes on the Lodgings’ door, but allowed Kilburne to draw him away, towards the inner towers.

“I don’t know. He was in the belfry before I got there.”

“And where were you, when Susanna rang the bell?” Parker stopped short. Turned to wait for Kilburne.

“I was in my rooms on the Lodgings ground floor.”

“And Jean got there before you.” Parker looked up at the Bell Tower. “He’s fast, but not that fast.”

“He was inside the Lodgings all along.” Kilburne’s mouth gaped.

“And if he’d been hiding there without discovery before, then why not go straight back to his hidey-hole?” Parker turned back and ran for the Lodgings door. He burst into the hallway and took stock, and Kilburne was right behind him.

“Right is to my chambers-if he were there, I heard nothing. Left is just a short corridor leading to the next house, but the door is locked, it isn’t in use. Upstairs is to Mistress Horenbout’s apartments and there is a door into the Bell Tower along from there.”

So most likely it was up. He’d been hiding right next to Susanna in one of the upstairs rooms or in the Bell Tower itself. It was audacious enough for Jean to attempt. Parker looked back to see if Kilburne was following him, and took the stairs two at a time.

* * *

“Helping you escape would be most inconvenient.” Jean hooked his crossbow onto his belt, and pushed away from the window. “You will have to make your own plans.”

“Then I will not tell you the exact location of the Mirror.”

He rounded on her, his face tight with anger. “I may never have another chance to get into this cursed place again. I am here now, within its walls-to help you leave and then come back in? No! You ask too much.”

They stared at each other, and Susanna realized she was breathing hard, as if she’d been running.

“Well, well. You are a difficult woman to find, Mistress Horenbout.”

Susanna spun to the door, registered Merden and saw his eyes go wide.

Jean had his crossbow raised, no trace of fear, or annoyance on his face. He was blank. Expressionless. And she had never been more afraid of him.

Merden and Jean stared at each other for a long moment, and then Merden broke, trying to dive out of the door.

Jean squeezed the trigger, unhurried, and Merden fell. Soundless but for the thump his body made falling to the wooden floor.

She could not see where Jean had hit him, she could only see Merden’s boots lying just inside the door. The rest of his body lay out in the passage.

She forced her gaze from the smooth-worn soles of Merden’s boots to Jean. He was calmly loading another bolt, cranking his crossbow, ready for another shot.

“He may not be alone. We will have to move.” Jean spoke in a tone that matched his expression.

“He . . .” Her voice cracked and she could not help her eyes going to Merden’s body again. The harsh, bitter taste of bile rose in her throat and she forced it down. “He may have been coming to look for me on his own. As a favour for the Cardinal.”

“He’s the Cardinal’s man?” Jean looked at his victim with interest for the first time.

“He tried to get me into the dungeons.” She shivered.

“He wanted to touch you.” Jean finished with his bow, clipped it again to his belt. “I could see it in his eyes when he spoke. He was so eager, he didn’t even notice me at first. Did he manage it?”

“Once. Briefly.” She stopped. Unwilling to speak about this with him.

“It is a pity then I could not gut-shoot him and leave him to bleed out.” He did not change his inflection. “Make too much noise, though.”

“This may mean the Cardinal is in the Tower, and looking for me. If he gets me . . .” She tried to look one last time out the window, but Jean blocked it completely. She shuddered. “I can’t stay. Not just for Fitzroy, but for myself as well. If Parker is not back and Wolsey is here looking for me, there is nothing to stop him taking me to the dungeons.”

Jean pursed his lips. “I would hate the Cardinal to get his way in anything. I have developed quite a dislike for him.” He tapped a hand on the stock of his crossbow. “
Bien
. This man was to take you to the White Tower to the Cardinal? Perhaps that is what we will do.”

Susanna pushed herself hard against the wall, as if she could burrow into its safety. “You want me to go with you, into the White Tower?”

“It is a solution. We go together, to get the jewel and to leave the Tower. We help each other.”

“But then I will be implicated in the jewel’s disappearance. It will change nothing for me.”

“Where the jewel is kept, will it be noticed missing right away?”

She thought about it. Shook her head.

“Then a guard bringing in a prisoner, taking them away again, this happens nearly every day, I would think. What blame could be laid at your door?”

It may be the only way she could escape. She pushed away from the wall. “Let’s go, then.”

Chapter Twenty-seven

For if you consider the use of clothes, why should a fine thread be thought better than a coarse one? And yet these men, as if they had some real advantages beyond others, and did not owe them wholly to their mistakes, look big, seem to fancy themselves to be more valuable, and imagine that a respect is due to them for the sake of a rich garment, to which they would not have pretended if they had been more meanly clothed, and even resent it as an affront if that respect is not paid them.

Utopia by Thomas More (translated by H. Morley)

J
ean was not hiding above and Parker wanted to howl at the time he’d wasted.

They arrived back at the main entrance and Kilburne silently indicated left, to the dark corridor leading to the adjoining house.

Parker nodded and raised his knife, moved quietly down the narrow passage.

The door swung open under his hand.

Kilburne was behind him, and he realized he did not want the captain there. Did not want anyone to witness what he might find, until he had some grip on himself.

But before he could turn and suggest Kilburne try to the right of the hall, to his own rooms, he smelled the sharp, iron scent of blood, and he could not speak.

He moved forward, turned the corner, and saw Merden lying face up. He was missing an eye. A bolt was embedded in the wooden panel wall behind him. It had gone right through the guard, and Parker did not want to look too closely at what was leaking out the back of his head.

“God above.” Kilburne reared back mid-stride, and nearly unbalanced. He stared at Merden in horror.

“What was Merden doing here?”

“Looking for Susanna, perhaps?” Parker edged around the body, and stepped into the room he had been in when he was shot. “Perhaps he was doing a little private searching for the Cardinal?”

Kilburne was too shocked to answer. He did not move, staring at Merden’s face.

“If they were in here, they left.” Parker knew the order in the room, the lack of a sign of a struggle, did not mean anything, but hope sent a tiny green shoot through the dark overgrowth of fear within him.

Kilburne was still looking down at Merden’s body. “You say he is a French assassin. What business has he here?”

“He’s after Susanna. And he still has her.” Parker spoke sharply, trying to jolt Kilburne out of his shock. “Unless he’s left her body somewhere hard to find, she is still with him, at his mercy.”

Kilburne grabbed his hair with both hands and tugged. “I do not know what to make of this, Parker. What is he about?”

“Nothing good.” Parker stepped over Merden’s body. Realized Susanna would have had to do the same. He fingered her dagger, which Harry had handed him, and thought what she would try to do. Thought what Jean would want.

And then it came to him. He tried to keep his body loose, relaxed, so Kilburne would not notice a change in him. But he would have to get rid of the captain to make sure of things.

If Susanna had told Jean where to find the Mirror of Naples in exchange for her life, he thought the exchange more than fair. But to everyone else, it would be treason.

* * *

It seemed the White Tower, with its single entrance up an outer wooden staircase to the first floor, was a simple matter to get into.

Susanna hoped it would be just as simple to leave. Carrying one of the largest diamonds in the world.

“She’s wanted upstairs.” Jean spoke without a trace of an accent for a change. When he spoke to her, he seemed to relish accentuating his words, as if reminding her they were both foreigners here. But now, he could have been anyone.

The guard at the table frowned at him, as if trying to place him, but Jean moved past, as if he had announced his intentions as a courtesy, rather than a requirement.

Susanna recognized the watchman from the day she had been taken from the Queen’s Chambers, and the sight of her seemed to be all he required.

“The Cardinal is in the Chapel vestry,” he called after them, and Susanna felt Jean freeze at the same moment she did.

It took him less than a second to recover, though. “Move.” He pushed her between the shoulder-blades. “Please, do not tell me that is where the Mirror is.” His breath was hot in her ear.

She shook her head. “It is in the State Apartments, which are on the floor above.”

Jean was silent.

They had reached the top of the stairs, and heard the murmur of conversation behind a small door to the left. The chapel ran the whole length of the floor, with wide double doors in the center.

Susanna pointed to the next set of stairs, and Jean kept his grip on her as he moved toward them.

Then, from above, they heard the scrape of a shoe, and someone coughed, raw and wet.

They froze.

Jean relaxed suddenly behind her. And she thought of the way he’d looked when he’d shot Merden.

“I can’t go up there. Then I truly will be implicated. And you can’t kill the guard without alerting everyone to the fact the Mirror is gone.” She spoke so quietly, Jean had to bend even closer to her.

His hand tightened on her arm, squeezing it hard enough she had to force herself not to cry out. Then he let go, and she rubbed where he had bruised her, angling her body away from his.

He walked toward the doors to the chapel and tried the handles. One opened soundlessly.

Jean motioned to her and together they stepped into the silent room. She could hear Wolsey talking to someone in the vestry, the sound muffled but very close.

Jean pointed to one of the pews, set in shadow against the wall. “Stay here. I’ll get rid of the guard.”

“Don’t kill him.” Despite her fear of him, she clutched at his arm. She did not want another life taken, especially in this devil’s bargain she’d made.

He gave her a strange look and shook her off as a bear would a troublesome dog. “You’re right, his death will bring too much attention to the King’s Chambers. It wouldn’t make sense to kill him.”

She nodded, tight and short, and stepped away, making sure she did not brush against him.

He swung the door shut, closed it without a sound and left her in the gloomy, jewel-lit light of the stained glass, the image of his face still clear in her mind.