‘Yet you have never spoken of Master Dudley in my hearing before today. Are you sure this is not some idle fancy that will soon pass?’
This remark was rather too blunt for Kat Ashley’s liking. She stiffened and hissed at me, ‘Silence, witch girl!’
Blanche Parry was on her feet too. ‘You had best mind your manners, Meg,’ she told me fiercely, hands on hips, her mouth pursed with disapproval. ‘Remember Lady Elizabeth may be your future Queen. Do not forget your place.’
‘Forgive me,’ I said, looking at the princess.
But Elizabeth waved her ladies to sit, a grim smile on her face. ‘No, the girl is right to question the strength of my attachment to Master Dudley. The truth is, I thought Robbie lost to me, that he would eventually meet his end on the scaffold like his ambitious father and brother. So I said nothing and told myself to forget him.
‘For over a year I struggled to put Robert from my mind, to keep my heart hardened against love. A suspected traitor makes a dangerous friend, especially when I was so newly returned to my sister’s favour myself. But then the unexpected happened. Robbie came to visit me himself, soon after you had returned home to Oxfordshire. He stayed secretly in the old shepherd’s hut so the servants should not know of his visit. I visited him there after dark each evening, and we . . . we talked for hours.’
I was astonished and a little shocked by this admission.
My stillness must have communicated itself to the princess. A small red spot burned in each of her cheeks and Elizabeth could no longer meet my gaze.
‘I did not intend to encourage him, but I could not help it. Robbie has a fiery nature like my own, and can be very persuasive when he wants to be. He made it clear that his affection for me had grown rather than waned since our last meeting. And I am afraid I did not hide my interest from him either.’
‘But now he has left Hatfield?’
She nodded. ‘Robert has returned to court in the Queen’s service. Mary means to send him abroad soon, I would guess. Robert is an excellent soldier as well as a skilled courtier, and already has some reputation as a leader of men. No doubt my sister feels he may be useful to her at the head of her troops. And she is right to do so.’
There must be something she was not telling me, for this matter seemed simple enough to me.
‘But there is nothing to fear here, my lady, if both of you are in love and willing to marry. You merely have to wait until your sister . . .’
I hesitated, seeing the quick twitch of her brows. She had never liked any of us to mention the succession aloud, even here in the relative safety of Hatfield House, her childhood home, as a matter of precaution against spies and eavesdroppers.
‘Until you inherit the throne,’ I continued more cautiously, for it was dangerous to speak of the failing health of her much older sister, Queen Mary, ‘and then marry Master Dudley when you are free to do so.’
The princess’s eyes turned to me, burning with a strange dark flame. ‘It is a lovely future you spin for me there, Meg. And I wish with all my soul that such simple happiness could be mine. For I admit, Robert Dudley fascinates me more than any other man in the world. I was drawn to him from the first moment we met, and kept him in my heart during my tedious months at Woodstock. But now, having spent many hours in his company, I cannot seem to stop thinking about him, talking about him . . . even dreaming about him.’ Her gaze searched mine intently. ‘Is that love, Meg?’
My lips curved into a slow smile. For what she had described was a perfect mirror image of how I felt about Alejandro.
‘It certainly sounds like love.’
She closed her eyes. ‘I feared as much.’
‘But if Master Dudley loves you, and you love him too and wish to marry him, this is merely a matter of patience.’ I frowned, bemused now by her forlorn expression. ‘Forgive my impertinence, my lady, but your problem will be solved by time. I do not understand why you had me summoned here.’
‘Meg, we cannot be wed,’ Elizabeth whispered, her face suddenly ashen again.
‘But you said—’
‘Robert Dudley is already married.’
‘Already married?’
‘That’s what her ladyship said.’
Alejandro looked thunderstruck. Seated under the window in his candlelit chamber, his legs covered by a horsehair blanket, a book open on his lap, he raised his gaze to mine.
Ignoring that look, for I knew what it signified, I paced from the bed to the door, then back again. This would not be an easy tangle to unravel. Even with magick.
My brother was playing cards with Alice on the bed. He turned his head to ask, ‘To another woman?’
‘That is the ordinary way of things, yes.’
William gave a bark of laughter. ‘I am not a fool, little sister. I only meant, it was not an admission that she is already secretly wed to Master Dudley?’
I shook my head impatiently. ‘Dudley’s wife is called Amy Robsart. They were married young. Childhood sweethearts, her ladyship said. Only Master Dudley now swears that he no longer cares for his wife, and is in love with Lady Elizabeth instead. And she with him. But the case is hopeless, since she cannot fall in love with a married man. Not if she hopes to be Queen one day.’
‘So why summon you?’ William frowned over his cards, then played his hand. ‘You are not his Holiness the Pope; you cannot grant this man a divorce so the two can be legally wed.’
Alejandro intervened just as I opened my mouth, no doubt sensing my irritation. ‘The Lady Elizabeth is sick, my friend,’ he explained. ‘If you could have seen her these past few weeks, never sleeping, refusing food, lying near to death at times, you would not mock her need for help.’
‘But a love-potion?’
Alejandro paused, frowning. ‘No love-potion can untie the marriage knot. No, if la princesa has summoned Meg, she must have some special reason for having done so.’
I could no longer hold back what I knew. ‘Elizabeth wishes to see Robert again, even though he has returned to court. She has to know if he feels the same, once and for all. She must go to her sister’s court.’
‘Impossible!’ Alice exclaimed, staring up at me over her cards, wide-eyed and a little flushed. William had been making her giggle ever since he pulled her onto Alejandro’s bed, which explained her heightened colour. Now though she seemed worried, the game abruptly forgotten. ‘Queen Mary would never allow such a thing. And the Lady Elizabeth would get in dreadful trouble for it.’
‘Her Majesty will not even know of her visit.’ I smiled at Alice, trying to reassure her. ‘Trust me.’
I had not had much of a chance to speak with Alice since my arrival, which is why Alejandro had asked her and William to come to his chamber, where we could more safely meet without being overheard by the servants.
I had been worried that Alice might have grown cold during my absence. God knew I was not always an easy person to like. Yet our friendship seemed as strong as ever. And as uncomplicated, for Alice had a bold nature but a pleasingly simple one.
Where she loved, Alice clung tight and would not let go. I was glad she had welcomed my brother to our small circle, for the bouncy, curly-haired maid would be a good influence on him. Of course, I knew his affections were engaged there but could not be sure how Alice felt about him. She often smiled at him, but that meant nothing. My brother needed such allies, I thought suddenly. It was not so long ago, after all, that William had betrayed both me and the Lady Elizabeth, and almost his country too.
Alejandro was frowning. ‘But this sounds like madness. How can the Lady Elizabeth visit her sister’s court without anyone’s knowledge?’
I looked at him and raised my eyebrows.
‘I see.’ He closed the book on his lap and laid it aside, his voice dry. ‘With magick.’
William grinned across at Alice. ‘Wait for it.’
‘And why not?’ I demanded of Alejandro, at once on the defensive. ‘I brought my mother’s chest of instruments with me fro
m Lytton Park, and her spell book. With such help, I will be stronger than ever before.’
‘And Richard sees no harm in her magickal instruments?’ Alejandro persisted.
‘Why must you always look to Richard for reassurance?’ I was suddenly annoyed, my jangling nerves not helped by my brother’s prickling asides to Alice. This was none of their business. But I directed my irritation at Alejandro, who I strongly suspected of thinking me addicted to the dark arts. ‘Is my own judgement in matters of magick not to be trusted?’
Alejandro hesitated, his dark eyes searching my face. ‘It is not a lack of trust, mi querida. These magickal objects belonged to your mother. It is only natural that you should view them more generously than Richard, and not see the very real danger in using them.’
Almost as though he had heard his name mentioned, there was a quiet knock at the door.
‘Come in,’ I called.
Richard put his head round the door. His lips twitched into a smile as he took in the sight of my brother and Alice playing cards on the bed, Alejandro resting in the chair, a coarse blanket over his knees, and me standing by the window. It must have seemed a very domestic scene.
‘So here you all are,’ Richard said, his gaze meeting mine first, as it always did when he entered a room. He came inside without waiting to be invited. ‘I have been looking for you everywhere. Mind if I join you?’
‘Do we have a choice?’ Alejandro drawled, but did not protest when the conjuror’s apprentice made himself comfortable, leaning against the closed door.
‘I have just written to John Dee,’ Richard said, ignoring Alejandro’s taunt, ‘to let him know where I am.’ He looked directly at me. ‘Since Dee did not reply to my last letter at Lytton Park, I have asked again about that ring of your mother’s. Just in case my last letter went astray.’
Alice looked alarmed. ‘Astray?’
‘Their letters are written in a special code known only to a few people,’ I informed her, seeing the concern on her face. ‘The code was devised by Master Dee and is quite fiendish without a key. Even if one of their letters was intercepted, it would be next to impossible for anyone to get at the truth.’
‘Next to impossible,’ Alejandro echoed softly, a warning note in his voice. ‘Not absolutely impossible.’
Alice suddenly jumped up, a guilty look on her face. ‘Oh, forgive me, I nearly forgot—’ She hurried out of the chamber, returning a short while later with a mud-stained leather pouch. She opened the pouch and handed a letter to Alejandro with a shy smile and a curtsey. ‘This arrived a few days ago by courier. As you see, it is addressed to you, Señor de Castillo.’
‘Alejandro,’ he corrected her, smiling.
She hesitated, then tried his name. ‘Ale . . . Ale . . . handro.’
‘Muy bien, Alice.’
Alejandro glanced down at the letter, marked with his name in a neat but florid hand, and the approving smile died on his lips. I had the impression he had recognized the handwriting and was disturbed. He made no comment though, merely dropping the letter unopened beside his chair and covering it with the blanket that had been warming his knees.
‘I have had enough of this tiresome infirmity. Surely soon I will be recovered enough to rise and make my apologies in person to la princesa?’ Alejandro stood without any help, supporting his weight on the table, though I saw him glance at Richard for confirmation. ‘Si?’
Richard shrugged. ‘You heal fast, I’ll give you that.’
‘Now perhaps you will respect the power of prayer, heathen,’ Alejandro told him loftily, brows raised, goading the apprentice. He looked in my direction, holding out a hand, and I saw his dark eyes soften. ‘Come, with your help I will walk in the garden, regain my strength to visit the Lady Elizabeth.’
‘You do not wish to read your letter first?’
He did not even glance at it, holding my gaze unswervingly, almost as though he knew I was testing him but had no plans to satisfy my curiosity yet.
‘Later, perhaps,’ he said lightly. ‘I would rather have your company for now, mi querida. Unless you wish to deny it to me?’
NINE
A Question of Blood
The Lady Elizabeth’s condition worsened the next day. When I tried to attend her, Mistress Ashley sent me away, declaring sharply that her ladyship could not even rise from her bed, let alone discuss matters that would only distress her. I waited in my chamber for a few days, reading through my mother’s grimoire, hunting for some useful solution to Elizabeth’s problem. Richard came to study the book with me, pointing to an occasional spell over my shoulder, and Alejandro always seemed to drift past the doorway just as we were laughing over some obscure Latin phrase or scribble in the margin.
At last a summons came.
I found Elizabeth propped up on pillows in a darkened chamber that smelled of incense and burned herbs. ‘I am at my wits’ end, Meg. This cannot continue. You must do whatever you can to cure me of this sickness.’
‘You mean love?’
Elizabeth nodded, her face pale and haggard. ‘I have changed my mind. I no longer desire to travel to my sister’s court to see Robbie. I cannot bear my own weakness where he is concerned. There must be a spell against impossible desire, Meg. I need you to perform it tonight. I cannot live like this, not even for another day. I am locked up in Hell.’
She clutched feebly at my hand as I stood by her bedside. I thought she had never looked closer to death.
‘Please,’ she begged, as though afraid I would refuse, ‘help me escape the chains of this love, and when I come to the throne, I swear you will be rewarded. I do not care what horrors your spell demands. I will drink blood and dance naked under the moon, whatever you tell me.’
‘There is a spell,’ I admitted, remembering something we had found in my mother’s grimoire. ‘But it requires the use of a cauldron, and cannot be cast here in the house for fear of discovery.’
‘Where then?’
‘The old shepherd’s hut? The place is very private, and it is open to the working of dark magick, which is no doubt why Master Dee always stays there when he visits.’ I looked at her dubiously. ‘But will you be strong enough to walk there, my lady?’
Her mouth tightened. ‘I must be, it seems. What do you need for this spell?’
I named some of the ingredients, and her face lightened. ‘Oh, those are easily procured. Bess in the kitchen will help you with the herbs. And there are toads enough in the garden. Look under any stone. But the wild plants . . .’
‘I can gather those myself, my lady,’ I reassured her. ‘But if you wish the spell to be performed tonight, I must hurry. It may prove difficult to hunt down some of the woodland plants once dusk falls.’
‘Go, then,’ she agreed, and sat up in bed, a slight flush in her cheeks. ‘I will prepare myself.’
The princess was looking relieved as I hurried out, and small wonder: this love had her so bewitched. Whatever Elizabeth felt for Robert Dudley, she had been taken over by it, her whole being possessed.
I met Alejandro on the stairs. He was walking with a stick to avoid being forced to remain in bed. But I could see that he was still in pain.
‘Going out?’ He had noted my cloak and walking boots. ‘Not alone, I hope. It will be dark in an hour or two.’
‘Come with me, then.’ I handed him my basket for a moment while I fastened my cap, then took it back. ‘I should not be too long. I am only gathering ingredients for . . .’
Alejandro raised his eyebrows when I hesitated. ‘For a delicious supper?’
‘That’s right,’ I said drily, then glanced at his stick, adding cautiously as I knew his pride, ‘Will you be able to walk as far as the woods? We only wandered in the garden yesterday and yet it seemed to pain you . . .’
‘I will manage,’ he insisted, and held out his arm to me.
Alejandro was so stubborn and proud, he never liked to admit when he was hurting. It was a trait that irritated me. All the same, I disliked
admitting when I was in trouble. Two sides of the same coin, perhaps.
We made our way down the stairs and into the formal walled garden, where I saw Bess collecting herbs for that evening’s meal and stopped to ask her to set a few aside for me. My story that I was making up a herb sachet for the Lady Elizabeth did not sound very convincing to my ears, but the serving woman did not seem to notice, nodding cheerfully as she continued to snip at the tender young rosemary shoots.
There were signs of spring everywhere at Hatfield. I bent to turn over a few stones, and eventually found a recently dead toad. Spells which called for parts of birds and animals always made me squeamish, for I disliked taking a life to make magick. So to find one already deceased was a blessing.
I slid the dead toad into my basket and covered it carefully with a cloth.
‘What?’ I demanded, seeing Alejandro’s expression.
‘Oh, nothing,’ he said drily. ‘Only remind me to skip supper if you’re cooking.’
The red-brick walls of the formal garden were softened by a tangle of ancient climbing roses, their pruned-back top stalks just starting to grow back again. Periwinkles had seeded themselves in the sandy soil between herb beds, and a few mint shoots trickled thinly over the lip of a tall clay pot against the wall. In the vegetable patch, a stone rhubarb bell lay on its side, waiting for the first immature stalks of rhubarb to appear.
‘I wish we knew who had attacked you when you left Hatfield, and why,’ I commented, nudging a pretty little periwinkle with my boot.
‘No doubt it will become clear in the end,’ Alejandro said unfathomably.
We came to the gate which led away into meadows bordered by a wild tangle of woods. He pointed ahead, leaning on the gate. ‘The woods. It will be dark soon. You sure you want to go on?’
Still trying to protect me from the darkness, I thought, even though I was long past being protected.
I glanced back over my shoulder at the long house of soft red brick, its twisted chimneystacks smoking peacefully, and wondered where Richard was today. I had not yet spoken to him about the odd experience I had on arriving at Hatfield – seeing and hearing things that were not there – and though I wanted to discuss it with someone, I knew Alejandro would only worry if he knew.
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