Taste of Treason (31 page)

Luke dropped to his knees. “Your Majesty. I humbly beg your pardon. Joss goes everywhere with me, and in the urgency of the situation, I forgot to leave her behind.” Luke reached out and put his arm around his greyspring.

Henry seemed unusually conciliatory. “We will forgive you, Master Apothecary. These last days have been taxing for us all. Your dog seems similar to my lady mother’s animal.”

“Joss is related to Queen Anne’s dog, Sire,” he said knowing it to be the truth.

The King stared at him, one eyebrow raised and a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“In that case, she is family. I suppose I must grant her leave to attend you, since you find it so difficult to leave her at the gates.”

Before Luke could reply, they were interrupted by the sound of running feet, and one of the guards rushed in, throwing himself to his knees.

“Your Majesty, you are needed. The Queen is delivered.”

Henry wasted no time. He sprinted through the door, activating the misremembrance spell once more and ran to the confinement chamber. Luke and Gwenette were close on his heels, Joss running beside them. The yeomen opened the door to reveal the smiling figure of the Queen Mother holding a squalling bundle. She curtsied and held out the child to the king.

“Your Majesty. The Queen has been brought to bed of a healthy princess.”

Had Luke not been so conscious of the import of this pronouncement and its repercussions for the future and safety of England, he would have burst out laughing at Henry’s face.

The king stopped short, his smile dying on his lips and a frown beginning to darken his expression. Queen Anne had dealt with this situation before. She thrust the baby into Henry’s arms.

“Madeleine is strong despite the ordeals she has suffered of late. Your daughter is healthy. My son, it is not given to us to question the ways of God. If it please Him, the next time, you will hold your son and heir.”

The baby wriggled and snuffled. A tiny hand reached out to grasp at the sparkling chain around Henry’s neck. The King looked down at his daughter and smiled.

“Margaret,” he said. “We shall call her Margaret after the patron saint of childbirth and also my aunt who married the King of Scotland. Meanwhile, we must make arrangements for the christening and our Queen’s coronation.” He handed the child back to her grandmother. “Please tell Madeleine I am delighted and will visit her as soon as I am able.”

He turned to Luke, the smile dying from his face.

“Master Inquirer, is my realm always to be thus troubled and threatened?”

Luke bowed. “Sire, there are some evils that must be fought on a constant basis.”

“In that case, continue your work. Make sure that you are always on hand.”

Luke bowed again and left the chamber, Joss trotting at his heels. He made his way to the river and stood for some moments, watching the swift current carry flotsam and jetsam where it would. Somewhere in the depths of that water, what had once been a man lay wrapped and weighted. Luke shivered and looked at the sky. It was the dawn of a new day and one that would be warm, he could tell. He fondled Joss’s silky ears.

“So, we are still in danger, girl. I am glad that the King has dismissed Reynard. The French have ever been perfidious and the Spanish do little but watch for an opportunity to pounce. I dare say Scottish James will wait to see which way the wind blows before declaring himself. And we are left in a sea of troubles, without an heir and only the King betwixt disaster and us. England’s future is still not safe. There is much work for us to do, Joss, ’ere we can rest. We must think, plan, prepare, be vigilant and try to outthink the enemy. I have no doubt that Custodes Tenebris will hold me in their thoughts quite as much as I will hold them in mine.”

* * * * *

Remain in April Taylor’s alternate history awhile longer. Book one of The Tudor Enigma is available now!

Court of Conspiracy

Book one of The Tudor Enigma

England is the prize.
The death of a young king is the price.

King Henry IX, son of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, holds the very balance of European power in his Protestant hands. His numerous Catholic enemies have cast greedy eyes upon his crown and will stop at nothing to usurp the throne.

An unassuming apothecary in the Outer Green of Hampton Court Palace is the Queen’s last hope. Luke Ballard treats the poor with balms and salves but is careful to protect his greater gifts. For Luke is also an elemancer, one of the blessed few able to harness elemental powers for good. His quiet life ends when Queen Anne commands him to hunt down the traitors, a mission he cannot refuse.

Beset on all sides, Luke mobilizes his arsenal of magic and ingenuity to conquer the enemy. But as the stakes are raised in the uneven battle of good vs. evil, he knows this is only the first skirmish of a lifelong war. The welfare of the Tudors—and England—depends on him alone.

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About the Author

April Taylor was born in the heart of the English county of Lincolnshire, the location of the most dangerous revolt against Henry VIII in 1536. She has written stories since she was a small child, but at the age of 14 became fascinated by the Tudors, especially Anne Boleyn.

April gained two degrees in information studies and has worked in various libraries, including prison libraries and public libraries in the UK. She ended her career as the R&D Information Manager for a global pharmaceutical company, retiring early to devote her time to writing. She considers her seven unpublished novels as an “apprenticeship.”

A love of history and crime, mixed with magic, led to the creation of Luke Ballard, apothecary and elemancer at the Tudor Hampton Court Palace.

April now lives on the northeast coast of the UK where the land crumbles into the sea. Away from her desk, she enjoys playing the piano, singing, walking her dog along the beach and embroidery.

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ISBN-13: 9781426899188

Taste of Treason

Copyright © 2014 by Avril Field-Taylor

Edited by Kerri Buckley

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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