Love Everlasting, page 18
As Julianna ran up the stairs in pursuit of Marie, she worked out the problem that had occupied Royce ever since he’d received a mysterious message on the day of their arrival at Norwich. He had been trying to protect the queen’s life, and the effort explained all the extra guards around her.
It also explained at least some of Royce’s suspicions of his own wife. If he suspected Marie, he probably thought Julianna had known what was going to happen, and he hadn’t wanted to dismiss Marie or imprison her until he had proof of who else was involved in the plot. It made perfect sense; Royce had set a trap for his wife and her maidservant.
Julianna reached the second gallery. There she was forced to stop. A group of small children and their nurses were gathered near the rail to watch the scene in the great hall. From the giggles and innocent remarks of the children, she gathered that the deadly game being played out below wasn’t apparent to them. The failed attack on Queen Adelicia had taken place behind the high table, where few people were, so perhaps no one had noticed.
Past the little ones, at the far end of the gallery, Julianna saw Marie rushing for the other set of steps. Having eased her own way past the children without causing alarm, and having caught her breath as she did so, Julianna followed Marie. To her surprise, the maid started up the second staircase.
“That makes no sense,” Julianna muttered. “If it were me, I’d go down, to the lower levels, where I’d have a decent chance of escaping. What can she be thinking of?”
When she reached the third and highest gallery, she understood the maid’s intention. Marie was trying to open the door to Michael’s room, where Royce’s documents were kept.
“It’s locked,” Julianna called, hurrying along the gallery. “Did you imagine you could steal some important secret and sell it to the French king? Royce is too clever to leave anything of consequence lying about. Give it up, Marie. Let me take you to Royce. Surrender to him. Tell him everything you know about King Louis’s spying operations and he will plead with King Henry to spare your life.”
“Oh, but of course!” Marie shouted at her, the words drenched in scorn. “I will be permitted to live in a filthy dungeon for the rest of my life. No thank you, my lady. I am not that stupid. I plan to take something with me that will assure my freedom.” She pounded on the door as if expecting someone inside to open it for her.
“I tell you, Marie, you will find nothing in that room to help you,” Julianna said.
“You may be correct about that,” Marie said in a voice suddenly gone quiet and thoughtful. Leaving the door, she advanced toward her mistress. “In that chamber, nothing useful. But out here, a person of great importance to Lord Royce.”
Marie lunged forward and caught Julianna by her loose sleeve. Julianna tried to pull away, then froze, staring in horror. Kenric had followed the women. He had reached the top of the staircase at the other end of the gallery and now he stalked toward them. Marie saw him, too, though Julianna didn’t think Marie recognized the danger in Kenric’s dark-clad form.
“I have her,” Marie told her lover. “She will make a perfect hostage for our safe escape.”
“So she will,” Kenric said, reaching the women. He held out his hand. “Give me the knife and bind her arms behind her.”
“With what?” Marie demanded.
“Her sash. Or yours,” Kenric said. “You will need two hands for the task, Marie. So, give me the knife.”
“Oh, no,” Marie said, stepping closer to the wall and pulling Julianna along with her. “You take her belt and bind her hands. I will continue to hold the knife.”
“What, don’t you trust your lover?” Despite her fear, Julianna managed a choked laugh. Then hope flared in her, for she saw Michael appear at the top of the staircase that Kenric had used. He paused for a moment to regard the three people outside his door before he began to limp along the gallery toward them. Kenric and Marie hadn’t noticed him yet; both stood with their backs to him, and Julianna didn’t want to alert them, so she kept her gaze on her maid and she kept talking to cover the sound of Michael’s limping steps. “I do sympathize with you, Marie. Quite a few women seem to suffer from the same problem. Unreliable lovers are unsettling, aren’t they?”
“Be quiet!” Marie slashed at Julianna’s throat, but Julianna reared back and the blade only nicked an earlobe.
“Careful,” Julianna admonished, emboldened by Michael’s silent approach and hoping that more men were climbing the second staircase to entrap the conspirators there on the gallery. “A dead hostage won’t be of much use to you.”
“I said, be quiet!” Again the knife in Marie’s hand pointed at Julianna’s throat.
“She’s right, you witless woman,” Kenric said to Marie in tones of utter contempt. “If you kill her, you will die, too. Thanks to your failure to kill the queen, we have to keep Julianna alive until we are safely out of Norwich. Now, give me the knife.”
“Don’t trust him, Marie,” Julianna said. She almost welcomed the prick of the blade that brought a trickle of warm blood to her throat. Michael was closer now. She dared to take a calming breath. Just another moment or two and she’d be safe.
“Damn you, Marie!” Kenric reached for the knife, tore it from Marie’s fingers, and pushed the maid roughly aside so he could grab at Julianna.
Marie staggered and fell against the rail, clawing at it for balance. Kenric pushed her again and the rail cracked. Screaming in terror, Marie lurched through the broken wood. She hung onto the edge of the gallery floor, her face white as ashes, her fingers sliding slowly off the smooth wood.
“Marie!” Julianna flung herself to her knees and reached for the maid. In that instant she didn’t think; she only felt, and what she felt was her own unreasoning fear of heights and of falling. She could not let anyone, even the faithless Marie, fall to certain death.
“Hold on, Marie!” Julianna cried. “Can you give me one hand? I’ll try to pull you up.”
“No, you won’t,” Kenric declared.
With that, he kicked Julianna so hard that she also tumbled over the edge, falling through the opening in the broken rail. As she went over she wrapped a hand around a boss of heavy, carved wood that ornamented one of the pillars supporting the gallery floor. She held onto it, with her head just under the level of the floor and her legs dangling into the air three stories above the great hall.
Looking up, believing that Michael was close enough to help her, she saw Kenric, instead. With an expression of vicious glee on his face, Kenric stepped on Marie’s clutching fingers, pressing his boot down hard. Marie shrieked one last time and let go.
Julianna got her second hand around the wood boss. She didn’t know how long she could cling there. Given a few moments, Kenric would likely find a way to make her fall, too. But Michael was on the gallery and she could hear him shouting at Kenric. Her hands were sweating and she was nauseated. She knew that Marie must be dead, yet the music and the noise from below hadn’t stopped for a moment. Perhaps no one yet realized what was happening far above the great hall.
She heard running footsteps and men’s loud voices, but from her position just beneath the gallery floor she couldn’t see a thing except the chunk of solid wood to which she was clinging for her life’s sake. The boss was carved into a grotesque face, with a long tongue protruding from its misshapen mouth. She learned that face by heart. It might well be the last face she ever saw. There was another face she’d rather see during her final minutes of life.
“Julianna! Hang on!” She knew that voice.
“Royce!” The cracked sound that issued from her dry throat was not at all like her own voice. Then she saw a large hand reaching toward her from the gallery.
“Take my hand,” he said.
“I can’t,” she cried. “If I do, you’ll fall over, too.”
“I won’t fall,” Royce told her with perfect calmness. “I am lying flat on the gallery floor and Michael is holding my legs. Take my hand, Julianna.”
“Oh, Royce.” Terrified of falling though she was, she knew she had to obey him. It was the only way she’d ever leave her dangerous perch alive. She uttered a quick prayer - as if the Good Lord would ever listen to a guilty sinner like her! - and forced herself to remove one hand from the boss to which she clung.
“Reach higher!” Royce commanded.
How could she disobey him? She tried again, and this time her fingers touched his. It was enough. His fingers laced into hers and his other hand surrounded her wrist. Slowly he pulled her upward until she dared to uncurl the fingers of her hand that was still clutching the boss. As if from a great distance she heard Michael’s voice, encouraging her.
Then she was on her knees at the very edge of the gallery, with Royce still keeping a firm grip on her hand and wrist. He rolled over, away from the edge and toward the inner wall, carrying her with him. She lay beneath him, feeling his weight on her, too numb to weep or laugh. Almost, too numb to breathe.
“Are you all right?” Royce levered himself away from her and stared down at her face. “You are pale as snow.”
“I’ve been told a pale complexion is the latest fashion in Brussels.” Then, having caught her breath and fearing she’d begin to cry if she didn’t keep talking, she said, “Marie tried to kill Queen Adelicia.”
“So I’ve heard.” He frowned at her, his strong body still holding her on the gallery floor. “Michael said you prevented her at the last moment.”
“Did I? I suppose I did. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I only knew I had to stop Marie. Then I chased her. I knew if I could catch her, you could force her to talk and you could learn who else was involved in the plot. But Kenric killed her. And he tried to kill me. Where is Kenric?”
“He fled,” Royce told her. “Somehow, he managed to elude all of our agents. I suspect he had help in getting away. Cortland’s men are scouring the town and the countryside, looking for him. But Marie is dead. She cannot talk and Kenric did not want you able to talk, either.”
“I’m sure you are right. You set a trap for all three of us. You distrusted me that much,” she said reproachfully.
“Royce,” Michael interposed, a warning note in his voice, “Julianna saved the queen’s life. She did try to rescue Marie after she fell, and she almost lost her own life in the attempt. Kenric is ruthless.”
“Yes.” Royce lifted himself off Julianna and stood. “Kenric would have killed the two people who knew what he planned.”
“Which two?” Julianna demanded with a flare of anger. Royce offered no help, so she got to her feet by herself. She leaned against the wall, hoping thus to steady her shaking bones. “Royce, you cannot think I was involved in the scheme to kill the queen?”
“Were you?”
“How could you think that? You heard Michael; I stopped Marie! Oh, leave me alone! Go away!”
“If you have any wits left, my lady,” Royce said, his voice just above a whisper, yet commanding,”you will keep your mouth shut until you and I are alone.”
Turning to the half dozen men-at-arms who stood nearby listening to the argument with unconcealed interest, he ordered, “Two of you stay here to make certain no one else goes over the edge. Two of you go below and pick up the body. Be as discreet as you can. If anyone questions you, say a servant fell in a drunken accident. Just about everyone in the great hall is drunk, so that excuse may well suffice. Take the body to the chapel and stay there until I join you. Let no one enter the chapel. The other two of you are to stand guard outside my chamber door and Michael’s door. No one but Cadwallon, Michael, or me is to go in or out for the rest of the night.”
“Yes, my lord.” The men-at-arms scattered to their assigned duties.
“Michael, take Julianna to my room,” Royce ordered with a jerk of his head.
The secretary put an arm around Julianna’s waist and supported her as they stumbled through the door. Royce followed. Closing the door, he put his shoulders against it and folded his arms across his chest.
“You first, Michael,” he said. “Tell me what happened while I was out of the great hall. I’ll wager the skirmish that resulted in a dead man at the main gate was intended to draw Cortland and me away at a vital moment.”
“A very loud diversion occurred on the floor of the great hall. Exactly what caused it is not important at the moment. We can look into it later. Considering what happened next, I am sure you are right, Royce. Both incidents were almost certainly deliberate,” Michael said.
“Cadwallon and the king looked toward the uproar,” Michael continued. “Cadwallon must have suspected something, because his hand was on his sword hilt. Out of my own suspicion I looked in another direction and that’s when I saw Julianna. She appeared to be fearful, and she was running toward her maid. Kenric was following her. The maid was where she should not be, just behind the high table. Royce, Marie had a knife. Julianna grabbed her and prevented her from getting close enough to stab the queen. When Marie ran away, Julianna gave chase.”
“What were you doing?” Royce demanded.
“I tried to help Julianna stop Marie. I fell, thanks to my cursed leg, but I was able to trip Kenric and hold him down for a few moments. Then Kenric got away from me and went after Julianna and the maid. I alerted Cadwallon, though by then he didn’t need any warning. He had seen what was happening and he put himself between Marie and the queen in time to divert the blow.
“I followed Kenric up the nearest flight of steps,” Michael went on. “When I reached the topmost gallery, I found Marie was trying to take Julianna hostage. There was a scuffle with Kenric and he pushed Marie off the gallery. When Julianna tried to help her, Kenric pushed her off, too. Then you arrived.”
“It’s all true,” Julianna said, seeing Royce’s doubtful gaze on her. “Michael has told you the entire story.”
“How did you know Marie was assigned to kill the queen?” Royce demanded.
“I didn’t know. I was hanging about near the high table, waiting for you to return, when I saw her. Or rather, I saw her red dress. That’s how I realized it was Marie. If I were planning to kill someone, I’d never wear such a noticeable dress,” she added, knowing she was babbling, but unable to stop herself. She couldn’t stop shaking, either, and her voice was trembling. But she continued to speak, the words pouring out of her. “Furthermore, if I had committed a crime, I wouldn’t try to escape by running to the upper level of a castle. But when I finally caught up to Marie, she told me she wanted to find your secret documents. That was another mistake; she should have stolen the documents first, put them in a safe place, and then committed the murder.” Julianna stopped, gasping for breath and near to collapsing.
“Michael, thank you for your efforts. You may go.” Still with his gaze on Julianna’s face, Royce moved away from the door. “Find Cadwallon and report to him. Say I will join him shortly. Both of you are to keep a close watch on the queen, in case a second would-be killer is lurking nearby.
“Since most of the servants are drunk, I will wait until morning to order the broken rail repaired. I don’t want anyone else to fall.”
Michael went out and Royce latched the door. Julianna sank onto the bed, exhausted and weak and close to tears.
“You are very clever at planning murder,” Royce said. The way he advanced on her, slowly and powerfully, reminded her of the lion she had once fancied him to be. “Your own words convict you.”
“I hardly know what I am saying. I only told you what I was thinking as I chased after Marie. Royce, please tell me you don’t really think I had anything to do with that dreadful plan.”
“Did you?” He loomed over her. “If you did, tell me now, and I’ll kill you myself, quickly and mercifully. Death at my hand will be far less painful than King Henry’s justice.”
“Dear God in heaven!” She gaped at him. “You cannot think I knew. I would never – never! - I cannot bear the thought of violent death. The thought of Marie falling like that, even though she would have killed the queen, makes me ill. Royce, I think I’m going to be sick.”
“No, you are not.” With one large hand he pushed her down on the bed and held her there while his fingers worked at the fastenings of his hose. An instant later his mouth crashed down on hers, devastating her with his dominating passion.
For just a moment she feared he would rape her, that he would take her out of anger and frustration at his failure to solve the entire mystery of the plot against the queen or to learn who besides Kenric and Marie was involved in it.
She should have known better. Despite his threat to kill her quickly and painlessly, Royce was not a man who would be happy to commit violence upon any woman. At the moment he was fierce and determined and he allowed her no opportunity to say yes or no, but he was not brutal. He began by kissing the wounds on her earlobe and throat and she trembled at the heat of his breath on her skin. Then, tight-lipped and grim-faced, he pulled off her clothes with terrifying efficiency.
She shivered under his rough caresses. Oh, how she shivered, first in a lingering reaction to the events of the last hour, and then in flaming passion. She screamed with savage pleasure when he plunged into her, and she clung to him moaning at his every forceful thrust. She screamed again when the fiery climax shook her to her very soul.
Royce caught her face between his hands and glared down at her, his face shining with sweat, his broad chest heaving with his tortured breath, and he thrust into her once more, harder and deeper than before. She felt his body convulse with the force of his release, and she saw his hard face begin to relax in the aftermath.
“That,” he said a moment later, “was to make sure you know who your true master is.”
“Royce.” She clutched at his shoulders, attempting to bring him closer, into a more tender embrace, but he tore himself from her arms and stood beside the tumbled bed.
“I have known all along about the spying you did for Lord Deane,” he told her. “I have been hoping you would confess everything you did for him, that you’d be honest with me, as you once promised.”
