Chapter Seventeen #2
First thing he’d do when he got back to his camp was send out scouts to discover if Northumberland had troops within twenty miles of here. Fifty royal guards would not be enough to bring in the duke if he were prepared to resist in battle.
Dominic tried not to let curiosity about what—or who—the young one might be, but he recognized that his body was taut with uncertainty.
He was a soldier first, and he couldn’t fight what he didn’t understand.
Still, he had come here to arrest Northumberland, and he wouldn’t leave until he’d done so.
That surety sustained him right up to the moment when the guard reappeared escorting the person he’d been sent to fetch. Young. Golden-haired. Female.
Minuette.
Dominic only realized he’d stopped breathing when his chest began to hurt.
He took a series of quick sharp breaths—as much to control his fury as to fill his lungs—and said, “What do you think you are doing?” He wasn’t sure if he was speaking to Northumberland or Minuette herself.
How the hell had she gotten from Hatfield to Dudley Castle?
“What do you think she’s doing here?” Northumberland jeered, jerking his head to the guard, who brought Minuette to stand next to the duke. “This girl goes nowhere alone.”
God and all the angels in heaven … “You are holding Princess Elizabeth hostage?” Dominic asked in disbelief.
How had Northumberland tricked the princess here from Hatfield?
What was Minuette thinking, riding across country after nearly dying from poison?
Dominic didn’t know if he wanted to hug her or shake her.
He would have done either gladly so long as he could reach her.
But though no weapons had been drawn, they didn’t need to be. Northumberland had made his stand. Misguided, impulsive, rashly hotheaded, and ultimately suicidal, but a stand nonetheless.
“The princess came willingly at my request. Well, let’s not mince words, she came for Robert and to spite her brother. Elizabeth’s got Henry’s stubbornness and Anne’s willfulness, and she wanted to show that she is her own mistress. And now she is my bargaining point.”
“You’ll die for this, Dudley. And threatening the king’s sister will only ensure that you take your family down with you.”
“I won’t bargain with you.” Northumberland was dismissive. “Go back to your half a hundred men and don’t return without the king. I will deal only with William.”
Dominic flicked his eyes over Minuette in assessment.
She appeared unharmed and not at all frightened—more irritated than anything.
She nodded at his unspoken query and said, “Elizabeth is perfectly well. You needn’t worry about us.
Except for the inconvenience of not being allowed to leave, we have been treated with the utmost courtesy.
” Her words were laden with sarcasm, and Dominic almost smiled.
He could imagine Elizabeth’s temper. He hoped she was taking her fury out on everyone inside.
“I’ll be back,” he promised Minuette. Then, repeated, to Northumberland as a warning. “I will be back.”
“I count on it.”
Harrington didn’t speak until they were remounting their horses outside the gates. “Send to the king?”
“As fast as a man can ride.”
Minuette watched Elizabeth pace, reminding her of William in her controlled agitation.
The simple cut of the princess’s dark green overdress and the lack of any jewels save a single ruby ring on her right hand enhanced the unreal nature of the situation.
Elizabeth looked almost as though she were dressed for battle, and the impression was heightened by the intensity of her voice.
“Tell me again what they said. Every word.”
She had already gone over it three times, but Minuette complied. “Northumberland said you are his bargaining point. He told Dominic not to return until he had William with him, that the king is the only one with whom he’ll bargain.”
“But what is he bargaining for? If he wanted to avoid arrest, using me to bargain with is a wretchedly bad decision.”
“He’s bargaining for Guildford’s life, I imagine. Whatever we may think of Northumberland, he loves his family. If he’s going down, he will want to save them.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “Who could have guessed it would come to this? A royal guest, guarded by Englishmen and not allowed to even leave this room unless one of my brother’s peers permits it.”
Minuette agreed it was disconcerting. They had gone to bed last night in adjoining chambers as favoured guests, accorded all the courtesies of such, and then awakened this morning to a softly spoken guard who had barred the outer doors and forbade them from leaving.
Elizabeth had laughed in disbelief and moved forward regardless—until the man drew his sword.
He pointed it not at her (Northumberland’s men were loyal but not suicidal) but at Minuette.
Elizabeth had laughed at that a little as they dressed and waited for Northumberland to tell them what was happening. “They think of you as disposable, valuable only insofar as I would not want you hurt. If they knew what William would do to the man who pointed a sword at you!”
Now Elizabeth let out a frustrated sigh and whirled around, skirts swirling. “This is maddening! Why doesn’t Northumberland tell us something? I suppose I’m glad I sent Robert away before he got caught up in this, but if he were here, he would make sure I was kept informed.”
Minuette had said nothing yet of what she’d learned from Amy. But perhaps it was time. “Elizabeth, will you sit down? There’s something I need to tell you.”
“What?”
“Please, sit down.”
“Oh, all right.” Elizabeth dropped elegantly into a chair. “What is it?” Her expression was quizzical, curious, but not alarmed. Minuette heard the patter of rain on the mullioned windows and for a moment considered not saying anything at all. But she owed Elizabeth more than that.
“The day I was poisoned, Robert asked Eleanor to fetch me to a private conversation with him. It was … well, it was very odd. He knows—or at least guesses well—about William’s intentions toward me.
Robert warned me off, Elizabeth. He told me to walk away from William, or that someone might see to it that I had to. ”
“Robert has superb political instincts,” Elizabeth said dismissively. “He’s only telling you what my uncle would like to say. No doubt Robert doesn’t want to see you hurt by less scrupulous men.”
“Are you certain that Robert is any more scrupulous?”
Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed unpleasantly. “What are you implying?”
“I spoke to Amy Dudley before Robert took her away.” Minuette hesitated, unsure exactly how much to tell Elizabeth. But her friend was not a fool.
“Women?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I do not know that Robert has women, Minuette? It means nothing. All men have women. William had Eleanor, Dominic … well, he keeps his own counsel but I guarantee he’s had his women.”
Aimée kissing him passionately in a darkened corridor in France— “That’s not the point, Elizabeth.
Not the pertinent point. Robert has had one particular woman.
Amy met her, by accident, when Robert brought her to Kenilworth thinking the house was empty.
Robert sent Amy away and kept this woman there for a month.
‘Playing house,’ as Amy put it. He didn’t even trouble to lie to his wife about it. ”
Elizabeth’s face was set and furious. Probably as furious with Minuette as with Robert. Too bad. This she had to hear all the way through.
“It was Alyce de Clare. Amy described her perfectly—brown eyes, waist-length brown hair, impertinent face. And the month that Robert had this woman at Kenilworth is the same month Alyce was got with child.”
Elizabeth stared at her, and Minuette suddenly realized her friend wasn’t shocked. Hurt, yes. Betrayed and disappointed. But not shocked. “You’re saying Robert was behind the Penitent’s Confession.” It was not a question.
“I did not find it until after he showed up at Framlingham. He asked me where I thought it might be, he pressed me to think … and I told him precisely where to hide it by telling him where I was looking next. He knew, Elizabeth. I don’t know why, what possible motivation he could have had, but Robert is the one who used Alyce to spy and spread the rumours about your brother’s birth. ”
“Robert is devoted to the Protestant cause. He would never have orchestrated a Catholic rebellion.”
“He wasn’t creating a Catholic rebellion. He was creating the illusion of one, in order to crush the Howards and the rest of the Catholics. But surely he was not in it alone.”
Elizabeth laughed bitterly. “His father. Yes, this has Northumberland’s brutal touch to it. Everyone knows he would do anything for his family … it appears Robert feels the same way.”
Minuette went to her friend and knelt so she could look into her eyes. “Are you all right?”
Elizabeth’s expression was bleak, but her eyes were dry and her voice, when she answered, dispassionate.
“Perfectly all right. I only wish we didn’t have to wait the week or so it will take William to show up here in order to get this sorted.
I am anxious to discover what Northumberland and his son will have to say from the confines of the Tower. ”
Torn between wanting to spend every moment watching Dudley Castle—as though his attention alone would ensure Minuette and Elizabeth were kept safe—and needing to do something, Dominic’s desire for movement won out.
His men could watch the castle as well as he could.
Besides, he had to get to Robert Dudley before Robert could go to ground.
And he didn’t want to face William without having at least one member of the Dudley family under arrest.