Tudor Rose Page 7

  It was a delicious, wonderful moment, and her fingers still tingled from his touch. He further showed his devotion to her by taking a seat at the table directly next to hers.

  Then—and this next memory brought her grin back full force—Sybille Maydestone had flounced into the hall and demanded to sit at the head table with the Scarcliffs. As she claimed that she had the right as Valentyne’s fiancé to be there, Sybille’s voice rose in volume until she was yelling—almost as if she thought by shouting she would get her way.

  Avis’s mother had turned on Sybille and silenced her with one icy look. “For the love of God. I just put one of my daughters in the ground. Stop your caterwauling and leave us be.”

  This shut Sybille up. “Very well,” she’d murmured and slunk off.

  Now, Sybille and that tart Rose were looking about for open seats at the other tables. But there were at least a hundred and fifty people in the great hall and not an extra chair to be found.

  Once again they would be driven from the room humiliated!

  At that thought a giggle escaped Avis’s lips, and she instantly regretted it.

  The giggle was so loud that Fulke looked up at the sound, glanced at Avis and followed her gaze to the two wandering girls. The earl stood. “Rose Castletown?” he called and, to Avis’s horror, waved her over.

  “Hello, my lord,” Rose said with a little curtsey.

  “So formal? No slaps? No defiant glares?” he asked mockingly. “Has the palace changed your charming ways so much already? I hope not.”

  Sybille slinked up between them. “Lord Northwood, finally we meet. I’m Sybille Maydestone.”

  The earl nodded absently, not taking his eyes off Rose. “I would be most gratified if you would join me at my table.” He waved at a plump boy to his right. “Get up, James. Get up.”

  The boy stood, looking miffed, and wandered off.

  “Thank you,” Rose said. “But that is only one seat, and I couldn’t leave my friend—”

  Sybille didn’t have the same conflict of conscience. She was already starting to sit in the vacant chair. “You don’t mind, do you, Rose? I’ll see you back in our room.”

  “Not to worry.” The earl snapped his fingers and an attendant with a chair rushed over. “Put that over on the other side of the table next to Dorothie for… .” Clearly unable to remember Sybille’s name, he continued, “For her. This chair next to me is reserved for my Rose.”

  For the rest of the dinner Avis was forced to watch Rose flirt non-stop with Lord Northwood. Yes, she did it very subtly. She didn’t even speak to him and she spent much of her time looking away. Many people wouldn’t even know that was what Rose was doing, but she couldn’t fool Avis.

  Bad enough that Dorothie was leaning in and whispering with Sybille as if they had been friends for years, she couldn’t bear knowing that Rose must feel satisfied that she had connived her way into a seat next to Avis’s earl.

  “We’re leaving,” Avis’s father announced. She turned and was shocked by what she saw. Avis had been so intent on watching Fulke’s table, she hadn’t noticed that her mother was unraveling. She had drunk far too much wine and tears were actually welling up in her eyes—something Avis had never seen.

  “Where is the queen?” her mother asked the air. “She will be here shortly for her evening’s entertainment of that dreadful bear baiting. Couldn’t she arrive a moment early? Couldn’t she at least—”

  Sensing the talk might soon border on treason, Master Scarcliff lumbered to his feet. “Help your mother, Valentyne. We’re leaving.” Assuming Avis would follow, Valentyne and her parents left the banquet without another word.

  But Avis, tired and emotionally drained as she was, couldn’t go. As much as she would have loved to curl up in bed and sleep, she couldn’t leave Fulke with that disgusting harpy Rose Castletown. She was forced to sit there and watch until she could find a reasonable excuse to lure the earl away.

  She was racking her brain for just such an excuse when Fulke’s hand disappeared under the table. Was it now resting on Rose’s thigh? Avis’s stomach clenched and she could taste bile rising in her throat. She spotted a small back and forth twitch in Fulke’s shoulder.

  As if he were stroking her thigh. Or worse.

  The room went dim and the blood roared in Avis’s ears. The day had been too much for her. Far too much.

  She couldn’t maintain her hold on control. Why should she have to? No one could endure this.

  Avis felt herself standing as her chair tumbled over backward. She moved across the tiled floor, pushing past a servant with a water pitcher, almost as if she were possessed. She’d heard priests talk about the devil swooping into bodies and taking over. If that were the case now, Avis didn’t care. She’d welcome Satan’s added strength for what she longed to do.

  “You damn whore,” she hissed and lunged for Rose Castletown. Avis’s fingers grabbed locks of the girl’s hair and yanked and twisted.

  Rose was too shocked to scream as she was hauled to her feet. Stupefied, Fulke appeared unable to move. Everyone else in the room appeared equally stunned—except Sybille. In one blur of movement, she sprang out of her chair and dashed around the table, digging both hands into Avis’s hair.

  The three girls were spinning, clawing. All else in the great room—the eating, the talking—had stopped. The room was silent except for the girls’ grunting and thrashing.

  And it was in that quiet that a shout from the hallway rang out.

  “Her Majesty the queen!”

  Avis, Sybille, and Rose froze as everyone in the room stood. Rose’s eyes went to Avis’s face as if hoping to find that this was another one of her cruel jokes. But the fear she found there told her all she needed to know.

  This was real.

  Then, as if blown away from each other by gunpowder, the girls flew apart. Now their hands were reaching for their own heads, desperately trying to tuck strands away and salvage any sense of decorum.

  All one hundred and fifty people in the room turned to the doorway where the herald had cried. The queen’s movements through the palace were announced by such heralds. It was part of palace life.

  And there she was stepping into view in the doorway. Queen Elizabeth. Long, gorgeous red hair cascading down a cape with a furred collar studded with jewels. Her gown glided over the ground as she moved gracefully and with purpose.

  It became clear that she was going to continue past without entering, but the room moved as one, bowing and curtseying.

  She was beautiful—so much different than Valentyne’s portrayal had been. Seeing her now, Rose marveled at how she could have ever been deceived.

  As she passed, Elizabeth’s sparkling eyes peered into the great hall and lingered on the scene for a moment. She seemed about to hesitate, her lips parted. Still walking, she turned and said something to the man next to her. Rose could see that it was Dr. Dee. Then Queen Elizabeth and her entourage were gone.

  Everyone in the hall slouched with a collective sigh of relief. Rose wondered if the queen’s arrival had given Avis a chance to calm down. But her anger only appeared to have intensified.

  “You will leave this hall,” she growled at them through clenched teeth. “Immediately.”

  Sybille just shrugged dismissively. “We are guests of the earl’s table.”

  “I will make you leave.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  Violence seemed certain to erupt again when Dr. Dee entered the great hall.

  Rose remembered the look he had given her back in Gordonsrod. The one that said to be careful of what she wished for. She realized now that he had been quite the prophet. Was Dr. Dee coming now to take the book back? To tell her not only had she embarrassed herself beyond repair tonight, but she was also a fool for not figuring out the book’s secrets already?

  He did none of those things. Instead, Dr. Dee walked over to Avis, and said, “Her Majesty wishes to see you, ni
ece.”

  Relieved, Rose and Sybille started back to their seats at the earl’s table.

  Dr. Dee rolled his eyes. “Where do you silly things think you’re going? She wants to see all three of you.”

  The girls attempted again to straighten their hair and clothing as they trailed after the long-legged Dr. Dee, rushing through the great hall and out into the courtyard. He had given them time to grab their coats, which was fortunate—the early evening air was brisk and the girls could see their own breath.

  An elaborate ring had been constructed in the courtyard with torches and the queen’s standard on poles lining the top. Dr. Dee led them through a doorway, into the ring itself, and up a short flight of steps. Three rows of seats formed ascending circles around a pit. In the center, a black bear at least eight times the size of Rose had one leg chained to the ground. The bear was looking around angrily and batting at the air as if it were filled with swarming bees.

  As impressive as this beast was it still wasn’t enough to steal focus away from the queen. Sitting on a seat specially made for her royal highness, she gave off a kind of heat that seemed to charge the very space around her. The nearest member of her entourage was ten feet away and the rest were scattered around the ring, but their eyes were constantly flicking to the queen like moths trying to reach the sun.

  With a little bow, Dr. Dee said, “Scarcliff and his wife have taken their leave for the evening, Your Majesty. This is their daughter, my niece, Avis Scarcliff.” He took a seat on the other side of the queen, leaving the girls standing alone in a line, with Avis in the front and Sybille and Rose behind her.

  “Your Highness,” Avis said, and all three girls sunk into deep curtsies.

  The queen hadn’t looked away from the bear who continued to lash out at nothing. In a loud voice that made the girls jump, she called, “Release the three bitches.”

  Sensing their reaction, Elizabeth smiled and gestured to the ring as if to clarify that she meant the three dogs who were let into the ring through a small gate. The mongrels’ prominent ribs showed them to be starved and they instantly began to circle the bear, attacking it with snapping jaws and vicious claws. They would fight until either the bear was dead or they were.

  So this is bear-baiting, Rose thought. She’d learned that it was a favorite entertainment of the queen, but it looked to be just as cruel and horrible as she’d imagined.

  “And to think our friend the Spanish ambassador was unable to attend this evening due to illness. I think he simply doesn’t have the stomach for it. But it does give me a moment to spend time with the lovely young ladies who would be part of my court one day.” The queen roared with delight as one dog was tossed several feet into the air and landed on its side with a yelp, only to leap up and start its attack again. “Incredible how they will fight until their last breath, isn’t it?”

  Keeping her eyes locked on the action, Elizabeth reached out a hand with several glittering rings toward Avis. “My heart is simply in pieces. The loss of our dear friend Lady Agnes is one that pierces my breast.”

  Avis dipped in another perfect curtsey, glowing as if the sun was shining on her and only her.

  The queen went on in a friendly but distracted tone. “Would you like to tell me why the three of you were … disagreeing earlier?”

  With a smug glance at Sybille and Rose, Avis said, “Your Majesty, may I speak freely?”

  “We know you can shout and shriek in my great hall, Lady Avis,” Elizabeth stated imperiously, all friendliness suddenly gone. “Can you speak? I guess we’ll leave that to future judgment.”

  For a moment Avis hesitated, seeming unsure what to do.

  A smile touched Elizabeth’s face. “Tougher skin, my dear,” she said more gently. “Your sister Lady Agnes was endowed with a kind heart and a solid backbone. In the future, you too must find a way to balance the two. Now, go on, speak.”

  Rose didn’t think Avis would be brave or stupid enough to bother the queen of England with their petty problems. But she was proven wrong.

  “It is about my sister’s room, my lady,” Avis said.

  Sybille stepped forward, and Rose did nothing to stop her. Better to make a scene than allow Avis to tell her side of things unchallenged. “Your Majesty—” she started. But for the first time the queen looked away from the bear-baiting and swung to Sybille who went silent.

  Elizabeth shook her head and her red ringlets quivered. “So timid. You ladies need to eat more meat.”

  When Sybille still didn’t speak, Rose stepped around her. “We took Lady Agnes’s room. We meant no offense to Your Majesty, and we are most apologetic.”

  Avis blew out a frustrated breath, gesturing at Sybille. “Your Grace, this girl has no standing at court. And this,” she pointed an accusing finger at Rose, “this person has even less standing, if that’s possible.”

  The queen studied Avis. “I wonder if we have all been a little hard on our new country mice.”

  Avis glanced around, clearly wondering how the queen even knew who Sybille and Rose were.

  Elizabeth’s knuckles knocked the arm of her chair as if she were passing down judgment. “On this most tragic day, I am not going to punish you for your most unseemly behavior in the great hall, Lady Avis. Or yours, Sybille and Rose. Instead I will make you an offer.” Her eyes went from the three dogs, to Dr. Dee, and then back to the girls. “Tell me what was so special about January 15 of this year and you may have the room.”

  Avis appeared confused. “I am sorry, Your Highness. I do not understand.”

  As if it were perfectly clear, Elizabeth sighed. “Your queen enjoys a good diversion every now and again. Indulge her. What was the meaning of January 15?”

  Standing tall, Avis announced, “That was the date of Your Grace’s coronation anniversary.”

  Without responding, Elizabeth turned to Sybille. “And you? I make you the same offer. Do you have an answer?”

  When Sybille didn’t speak, Rose noticed Dr. Dee’s smile.

  The book! The answer is in the book!

  “On January 15th the stars were in alignment,” Rose said. “It was a most propitious occasion in the heavens and on Earth.”

  The queen nodded at Rose. “The room is yours. For now.”

  Avis’s hand flew to her mouth as if to prevent words from spraying out as Sybille shot Rose a victorious, but confused smile.

  An answer would have to wait. Queen Elizabeth was not done with them.

  “Increase the stakes,” she commanded loudly, and a man wearing chest armor entered the ring. He began jabbing the bear with a knife that had been strapped to the end of a stick, which served to make the bear even more terrifying as it doubled its efforts to destroy the dogs.

  As she watched the action, Queen Elizabeth spoke. “With the tragic death of Agnes Scarcliff, it seems we have room in our intended summer progress for one more. And it also seems clear to us that you three enjoy a good gala. Am I right?”

  Not knowing what else to do, the girls nodded.

  “As you might be aware, I am planning a most ambitious summer progress this year where we will tour our mighty realm. We shall lay eyes upon sights of which others can only dream.”

  Avis’s eyes had gone wide as if a banquet had been placed at her feet. Rose felt the same way. This could be the chance of a lifetime.

  The queen gestured toward the fighting dogs. “If you were men you would just battle it out in this ring or club each other for the honor of the empty spot. But we are better than that, aren’t we? I propose a Challenge. Each of you will plan a gala or masque in our honor.” She indicated Sybille with the back of her hand. “You will be the first in thirteen days time.” Her hand flipped toward Avis. “You will be second two days after that.” And finally the hand turned toward Rose. “And you on the seventeenth day from today. We will judge your gala’s merits and determine the winner who will join our progress this summer.”

  Rose c
ould see now why Queen Elizabeth was such an effective ruler. While Rose had been trying to build stability in her growing network of contacts, the queen was doing the opposite. She pitted everyone around her against each other. Her strategy was to create chaos so that alliances couldn’t be formed. And become the calm center in the middle of a swirling storm. It was brilliant.

  Obviously already working on a plan, Avis asked, “Your Majesty, what is our budget to be for these galas?”

  “Oh, that’s for you to determine.” Elizabeth waved a hand as if dismissing such minor details. “You are the experts in these matters according to the voices chattering in our ears.”

  Avis grinned. “Excellent.”

  That’s not fair! Rose wanted to shout, thinking of Avis’s family connections and the Scarcliff fortune.

  Seeming to read her thoughts the queen said, “But the funds will be your own. Not those of your families. In fact, if we discover that you have accepted or taken money, gifts, or help from your family, you will be disqualified. And that goes for credit from merchants based on your family name. You will find a way to beg, borrow, or … what’s the third thing? I don’t imagine I could condone such a thing as the head of the Church of England. And you will each attend the other’s galas. Are we all agreed?”

  Once again, the girls had no choice but to nod.

  Queen Elizabeth clapped her hands. “Very good! And though we are just frail, timid, helpless women, let us shake on our Challenge like men, shall we?”

  Sybille, Rose, and Avis stepped forward so they surrounded the queen who remained seated. The four women put their hands out so that they met in the center of the circle they had formed.

  And while they smiled for the sake of the queen, the three girls had no doubt about what this shaking of hands really was:

  A declaration of war.

  ACT TWO