A Love Most Dangerous (30 page)

I slipped out of the King's privy apartment and crept
down the hall to my chamber.

A man of arms was standing by the door.

I took a breath and walked towards him.

'You can't go in there, miss,' he said.

'What on earth do you mean?' I said. 'That is my
bed-chamber.'

'Orders of the King, miss. Direct from him, not from
the Lord Privy Seal even. Direct from him. You can't go in, miss. Sorry.'

'But my things?'

'They've been taken away.'

I shook my head. 'I don't understand.'

'They've been taken away.' He sighed. 'The room's just
been cleared. Of everything.'

I leaned against the wall.

'By order of the King?'

The man nodded.

I swallowed for a lump had appeared in my throat. The
swallow did not dislodge it. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes.

'Where have my things gone?' I managed to whisper.

The man gave me a sympathetic look. 'I heard the
servants say they were going to take them back to your old chamber.'

'Was that on the King's orders?'

The man shrugged. 'I couldn't say, miss.'

I nodded my thanks and stumbled my way to my old
chamber.

I looked inside. Dozens of gowns had been given to me
by the King and they had all been dumped upon the little bed against the wall.
Upon the table was only one of the jewels he had given me, a little plain
necklace with a locket containing a cameo portrait of him within.

I flicked open the locket. The cameo had been prised
out, leaving an empty space. It was sight of that which did for me.

I flung myself onto my bed, heedless of the gowns I
was lying on, and began to weep piteously. But even as I did so I did not know
why on earth I was weeping.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Persecution and Dismissal

23rd April 1538

My friends, Susan, Mary and Lucy rallied around
immediately. They heard about the King's dismissal of me within the hour and
crowded into my chamber with a jug of wine and some honey cakes.

'What will we do with all the gowns,' Mary asked,
looking round in consternation. I was sitting on a pile of them and there was
no space for them.

'I've got room in my wardrobe for some of them,' Susan
said and turned to the others. 'Can you two take some more?'

They nodded. 'As long as we can borrow them,' Mary
said with a smile. I laughed and kissed her and wiped away my tears.

We spent the next quarter of an hour sorting out which
gowns I needed to keep with me in the chamber and which could be stored with my
friends. They hurried away with armfuls of clothes while I begun the job of
hanging my diminished collection upon their hangers.

I glanced around my room. It was tiny as a cupboard
but felt quite empty. I thought of the large chamber I had enjoyed as the
King's favourite. The delightful wall paintings, the beautiful furniture, the
large and comfortable bed. I thought of the vase of flowers which was replaced
by fresh ones every morning and the bowl of choice and delicious fruits. I
sighed as I recalled the sense of space and the two large windows which looked
out to where the sun rose each morning. Oh, how I was going to miss it all.

I took a deep breath and decided there was no merit in
continuing to think this way. This is my room, I said to myself. The first room
I'd ever had. I loved it a few months ago, I can love it again.

I sat upon the lumpy bed and smoothed the rumpled
coverlet. My favourite gowns hung upon the walls like silent playmates, my
poetry books and recorder had returned to their accustomed place upon the
little table. I would make the best of this, and more. I would enjoy my
new-found independence.

I sat up on my knees and gazed out of the window. To
the north I saw the familiar sight of the ridge of land with its line of trees
looking like a green crown. I had often walked there on my own and longed to be
there now, under the leaves with only the birdsong for company.

Other company made itself known, alas.

'See how the mighty are fallen,' came a familiar voice
from the doorway.

I turned and before I could say anything in answer
Philippa Wicks and Dorothy Bray had pushed their way into my chamber, their
faces aglow with spiteful triumph.

Bray giggled. 'Fallen to her knees, by the look of
it.'

I gave her a contemptuous look. Is this the best she
could come up with?

'She is more used to falling on her back,' Wicks said.
'Perhaps her back has given out under the strain.'

I opened my mouth to reply but decided not to satisfy
the vile creatures by arguing with them.

'It's such a pleasure to see you,' I said, giving the
broadest of smile. 'I have missed you both so much.'

'Well we haven't missed you,' Bray said.

I put on an innocent look. 'Have you not? Then why
else, pray, have you rushed to visit me so soon?'

'You know why,' Wicks said.

'I have no idea,' I said. 'Do tell me. Please.'

She did not answer. To admit that she had come to
gloat over my downfall would only demean her. I could see her mind working to
frame an answer which would let her reclaim ascendancy over me.

'I have come here because I pity you,' she said.

I swallowed. She had chosen these words carefully and
for a moment I was lost for an answer.

'There is nothing to pity,' I said at last. 'I was the
lover of the foremost man in the realm. A man who had no wife for me to compete
with. Especially not a wife I had tried to supplant but failed to. How are
Richard Rich and his wife by the way?'

Wick's face contorted in fury. She took a step towards
me. As she did so I caught sight of her stomach. She must be almost six months
with child.

'Oh Philippa, my dear,' I said, swift as a knife. 'You
are putting on a little weight. Is this the result of too rich a diet?'

Involuntarily her hand went to hide her stomach. 'You
little bitch,' she said.

I smiled.

Wicks nearly bowled Bray over in her hurry to vacate
my chamber.

I laughed aloud and was still chuckling when my
friends returned a few minutes later.

'I see you've had a little visit already,' Susan said.
'We met Wicks and Bray on the corridor. They had faces like furies.'

'They came to mock,' I said. 'But they left the more
mocked.'

'Be careful,' Mary said. 'Philippa Wicks is high in
Sir Richard Rich's favour.'

'I noticed,' I said. 'It was my comment upon her
condition which so enraged her.'

'She's hoping to use the pregnancy to persuade him to
leave his wife.'

'And will he?' I asked.

'I'm sure he won't,' Susan said. 'He's as frightened
of his wife as the rest of the country is of him.'

Mary gave me a strange look as if she was pondering
what to say to me. 'Your return from the King's presence may encourage him to
sniff round you once again,' she said. 'He will wish to dispense with Philippa
as soon as possible. He changes his clothes to suit every weather so I would
not be surprised if he wasn't equally keen to change his mistresses.'

Lucy looked uncomfortable at these words. 'What a
villain he is,' she said.

'The worst in the kingdom,' said Susan. 'In a kingdom
of villains.'

'Not the worst,' said Mary. 'Surely that accolade
belongs to Thomas Cromwell.'

I shook my head. 'That's not true,' I said. 'Cromwell
is no villain. He is a man of integrity. Strange integrity it may be but it is
integrity none the less.'

Susan laughed. 'We must defer to Lady Alice, who has
such acquaintance with the high and mighty of the realm.'

For a moment I thought she was mocking me but then I
saw the friendship in her look.

'That was timely, Susan,' I said. 'I pray you all to
knock me back if I ever put on airs and graces. Any which I hitherto cherished
have been quite banished today.'

Susan sat upon the bed. She looked at me for a while,
as if pondering whether or not to say what was on her mind. In the end she must
have decided. 'And why are they banished, Alice? Why did the King dismiss you?
Why have you fallen out of favour?'

I sighed. But it was not because of sorrow for me. It
was because I could see again the little girl being savaged by the lion.

Mary and Susan were right about Sir Richard Rich. A
few days after I had been dismissed by the King he appeared in my doorway. He
was holding a bunch of roses.

He gave me what he must have believed was a winning
smile. It reminded me of when I'd gashed my arm as a child.

'Are those flowers for your lover?' I asked. 'To
celebrate her confinement perhaps?'

'You have a sharp tongue today, Alice,' he said.

'I have a sharp tongue every day,' I said. 'It's very
nearly as sharp as my bodkin.'

I waved a bodkin in front of his face and was pleased
to see that he blanched at the memory of my pressing it to his eye.

He smiled still more broadly but his eyes stayed cold
and dead. Deadly, should I say. Like a pike upon the prowl.

'An unfortunate occurrence,' he said. 'A
misunderstanding.' His hand reached out and touched me on the arm. 'I would
have us put that all behind us, Alice.'

'I would have you put your arm behind you,' I said,
shrugging it off. I took a step closer to the door but he moved at the same
time, blocking my exit.

'I shall cry for help,' I said. 'And before help comes
your eye will suffer.'

He shook his head. 'There's no one near enough to hear
your cry,' he said. 'I checked before I entered your chamber. Nobody to hear
the least little squeal.'

'Not my squeal perhaps. But they will hear yours, I
promise you.'

His eyes blinked swiftly at that, the first time I had
ever seen him blink. He looked doubtful and at the same time troubled. He bent
and placed the roses on the bed.

'I had come here to make my peace with you,' he said.
'I had hoped we might be friends.'

'Friends?' I said in disbelief.

'More than friends, in fact.' He put his hands upon
his hip and silently appraised me. 'Some would not wish to chew upon the
left-overs of the King but I have no such compunction. Especially as choice a
left-over as you.'

I felt my gorge rise at his word.

'Get out, you slime,' I said. 'Get out this instant or
you will regret it.'

He gave a hollow laugh. 'I will regret it?' He shook
his head. 'You have lost the fleeting power you held in court,' he said.
'Whereas I maintain all my power, in fact I augment it daily. I hold all the
cards you see, and your hand, Alice, is absolutely empty.'

'I hold the needle,' I said.

He smiled still more widely and this time he looked
like a fox. 'Then that is what I shall leave you.'

He took a step towards the door but paused on the
threshold and glanced back. 'Such a beautiful woman, such an intelligent woman.
But one, alas, who has made a very bad choice today.'

He walked away and I slumped on the bed. I glanced
down at my hands. They had begun to shake as if with bitter cold. It was the
emotions caused by our encounter, I realised. I felt like I wanted to be sick
but mastered the inclination. I went over the conversation in my mind a couple
of times. And each time my thoughts returned to the same phrase: 'Then that is
what I shall leave you.'

What on earth could the monster mean by that?

I found out the very next day.

I was woken at seven in the morning by a hammering on
the door. 'Get dressed Alice Petherton,' came a loud voice. 'Get dressed
immediately.'

I flung a cloak over my night-clothes and opened the
door. Two men at arms stood in the corridor. Both smiled lustfully when they
saw me. I pulled my cloak still tighter.

'You'll need more than that,' the younger of the two
men said. 'Where you're going you'll need more than that.' He gave a shrill
little nervous laugh.

'What on earth do you mean?' I asked.

'You're to be shipped out of here,' said the older
man. 'We're to escort you from the palace and put you on a boat to London.'

'By whose order? The King's?'

The man shook his head. The look of consternation upon
my face seemed to trouble him for he suddenly spoke more gently.

'Not the King's no. This is by special order of Sir
Richard Rich.'

He held up a document.

'But can he do this?' I asked, taking the document
from him and staring at it.