Love Everlasting (23 page)

When the eating was done - though not the
drinking, which would continue until midnight - the games and
boisterous dances began. The revels were directed by the castle
butcher, who had been chosen as Lord of Fools for the occasion and
who wore a tin crown on his bald head and carried a broom for a
scepter.

With her stint as a server finished, Julianna
watched the merriment from a distance. She took up a position next
to one of the pillars that supported the galleries, and there she
stood, apart from the crowd, yet close enough to the dais to watch
the nobles at the high table. King Henry and Queen Adelicia were
sitting there, along with a few of their relatives and closest
friends. Royce and Lord Cortland came and went periodically,
speaking to the king or to each other. Julianna was sure that Royce
had noticed her, but he did not speak to her. Worn out by weeks of
deception and by the certainty that she meant nothing to him, she
was unwilling to step onto the dais and take her rightful place as
the wife of a great nobleman.

As Julianna looked around the hall she saw
Marie in a garish red gown and a tawdry false gold necklace set
with glass stones. The maid seemed to be looking for someone, and
Julianna guessed the someone was Kenric.

Still possessed by the uneasiness that had
dogged her all afternoon and evening, Julianna continued to watch
the celebration while remaining separate from it. She sought Kenric
in the crowd, as if finding him innocently enjoying himself, or
even discovering him drunk, would prove that the odd forebodings
she was experiencing were groundless.

She saw Lord Cortland pushing his way through
the revelers to the high table. He appeared somber, but that was
not unusual for him. He spoke to Royce and the two of them left the
table. No sooner were they gone than Cadwallon moved to stand
directly behind the queen. Flanking Cadwallon, Julianna saw Lord
Dunstan and Michael, of all people. But then, Royce’s secretary was
also an experienced spy. She was sure Lord Dunstan was, too. Three
spies so near the queen....

Definitely, something was amiss; all of
Julianna’s overwrought senses told her so. But what was wrong? Who
could possibly want to hurt the queen, that kind and gentle lady?
No, the ultimate target would not really be the queen herself,
Julianna decided. Harming the queen would constitute an indirect
blow at King Henry. If her guess was correct, then Louis of France
was likely involved.

“There you are,” Kenric’s voice grated in her
ear. “I’ve been looking for you.” He caught her elbow and dragged
her behind the pillar and into the shadowy area beneath the
gallery, where it was a little quieter and not quite so
crowded.

“Let me go,” Julianna cried, trying to wrench
her arm free.

“Will you stop complaining? If I let you go,
you’ll only run away.” Kenric thrust his face close to hers.
“You’ve been no help to me, Julianna. You have revealed nothing of
importance and you continually evade my questions.”

“Your demands, you mean.” She tried again to
pull away from him, but Kenric’s grip on her arm was painfully
tight. “I have done the best I can for you. It’s not my fault that
Royce is impossibly secretive. If you are wise, you will tell me
your latest demand and then leave me. Royce will be returning at
any moment, and he’d be delighted to have an excuse to kill
you.”

“Perhaps he would, but not for your sake,”
Kenric said. The familiar sneer curled his hard mouth. “No man
could possibly care about you deeply enough to resort to violence
for your sake. Royce is using you for his own ends, just as your
other husbands did. I’d be doing him a favor if I killed you. Since
what little use you were to me has ended, I just may relieve Royce
of his unwanted wife. By the way, he won’t be returning soon. He
and Cortland are presently being kept busy at the main gate, where
the bloody body of a man-at-arms has just been found. I’m very
clever at making arrangements.”

Julianna refused to answer Kenric’s claims.
She had wrestled her arm free at last and she headed directly for
the high table. She’d speak to Cadwallon, or to Michael. Kenric
wouldn’t dare to approach her again while either of them was near,
and she’d tell them what he’d said about the trouble at the main
gate. They’d send a squire or a man-at-arms to bring Royce back to
the hall before whatever Kenric was planning could occur. Her sense
of uneasiness increased.

Then she saw Marie edging toward her through
the crowd. Presumably, Kenric had seen Marie, too, for he was
hastening to intercept the maid. Julianna hoped Marie would keep
Kenric busy long enough for her to reach the dais, where the
queen’s ladies were tittering at something that was happening
directly in front of the high table, out of Julianna’s line of
vision. It was most likely just part of the entertainment. Then
again, it could be another of Kenric’s “arrangements.” With a chill
gripping her heart, Julianna broke into a run.

As she rushed forward, she noticed how Queen
Adelicia was sitting in her chair with her ladies clustered a few
steps away, at the edge of the dais. For just that moment the queen
was unprotected save for the men at her back, who were also
watching whatever was going on before the high table.

Julianna saw a flash of red cloth rush past
her and she saw the gleam of metal. At first she thought it was a
servant carrying a silver pitcher of wine, until she recognized
Marie in her garish holiday gown. The maid was entirely too close
to the queen, and she was holding a knife.

Julianna opened her mouth to cry out a
warning, only to discover that she could not utter a sound. She was
so afraid for the queen’s sake that her voice refused to work.

Up on the dais, Michael turned slightly and
noticed her. He must have seen the look on her face, for his
welcoming smile faded and he spun around to see what was happening
at his back. He put too much weight on his damaged left leg too
abruptly and stumbled, falling off the end of the dais and
sprawling onto the floor. Julianna was already close to the dais.
She ran past Michael and grabbed at Marie’s arm.

“No!” Julianna screamed, finding her voice as
she wound her fingers into the red fabric of Marie’s gown.

She was vaguely aware of Kenric dangerously
close behind her, trying to catch her skirts and stop her forward
progress. Kenric tripped over Michael and went down, caught by the
secretary-spy’s flailing limbs and then held fast by Michael’s
hands.

Everything seemed to be happening with
unnatural slowness. Julianna kept her grip on Marie, trying with
all her strength to stop the blade that was aimed at the queen’s
left side. The queen turned toward Julianna, her lips parting as if
to ask what she was doing there. Cadwallon stepped between Marie
and the queen, deflecting Marie’s intended blow with a quick upward
chop of one big hand. Outraged beyond all discretion, not caring
who saw, Julianna slapped Marie hard.

“You bitch!” Marie yelled at her, face
distorted with rage. Pulling out of Julianna’s grasp with a sound
of rending fabric, Marie picked up her red skirts and ran for the
nearer of the two stairways to the upper galleries. She still held
the murderous knife in her right hand.

Julianna followed. She didn’t know where
Royce was at that moment, and she knew his men assigned to the dais
were occupied, Cadwallon and Lord Dunstan protecting the queen from
any further attack, and Michael still on the floor, trying to hold
on to Kenric.

Surely, Royce had stationed other men in the
hall, but Julianna didn’t know who they were. If she could capture
Marie and hold her until Royce or some other honest spy arrived,
they could get the truth out of that miserable maidservant and
learn the full extent of the plot.

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.”