Three Maids for a Crown: A Novel of the Grey Sisters (18 page)

“Court manners can be difficult at first. I know it feels strange right now, all the changes going on. But it will get easier, I promise. Do you not want to stay with me?”

“No!”

I was stunned to see the truth in her eyes. I felt my throat close. How had this happened? Instead of easing the distance between us, I had made it wider. Kat paced about, fidgeting with one of her earrings until I feared she might tear her lobe, and I could almost see the cogs wheeling in her mind as she wrestled with Pembroke’s subterfuge.

Mary clutched at a lump beneath her petticoat. I was certain her doll lay beneath. I was tempted to tell her to take Jennet out, but certain dignities were expected. We were not at Bradgate anymore. Even there Mary would not have been allowed to carry a doll in the presence of Father’s retainers. How much less could she parade about a queen’s court with one?

“You may take Jennet out when you are in your own quarters,” I said.

“Jennet is not scared then! It is when all the council is about, and Father, and the devil. Even you.”

Pain knifed my heart. “Mary, you are not afraid of me?”

“I am afraid—” Her voice broke. “You do not look like my Jane anymore, and there are too many people around, and they cut off the ears of people they do not like here, or poison them like they did the king.”

My heart plunged. “Poisoned the king? Mary, I know there have been rumors, but—”

“Rumor means it is not true. But I know this time it is.”

“You do not!” Kat cried.

“I do. I heard Father and Northumberland in the garden. They had to keep Cousin Edward alive until Jane could be made queen, so an old woman gave him the poison. Once they could let Edward die, they killed her to keep her from telling about it all over London.”

“Quiet!” Panic leaped in my chest.

Kat gasped, white-faced. “That is what the vial of powder I saw the night of our weddings held. Jane, if that were ever revealed, would everyone think you knew?”

I reeled. Would people believe I had been party to regicide to gain Edward’s crown? If so, no punishment in the nation would be too dire to use against me.

Kat must have read the horror on my face. She grabbed Mary by the arm. “You must never speak of this to anyone. You always liked snooping about. Now you discovered something that could get Jane killed. Maybe all of us, if Cousin Mary ever gains power.”

Mary’s lower lip trembled. “I do not like secrets anymore.” She fumbled with her kirtle, dragging out her doll. She crushed it to her. “I did not mean to do a bad thing.”

I felt tears bubble up. I could not bear to be alone with such dark terrors, but I dared not break down. Not when my mother would be descending upon us.

“How long have we been alone?” I startled Kat with the abrupt question.

“Alone?” she echoed.

“The time.” I looked at a nearby clock. “I did not notice when the other ladies left.”

“Nor did I. Does it matter?”

“It will if our mother enters the room while these secrets are writ on our faces. She cannot press me, but you know she will do anything to batter the truth out of you or Mary. We must compose ourselves. Think what to do.”

“You could plead a headache,” Kat suggested.

“Then she would only go to your chambers and insist on your telling her what transpired while we were alone. If you did not break, she would turn on Mary. Better we three stay together, do our best to pretend we have just had a sisterly rift, some jealousy, or—surely we have had enough of those over the years we can make our lady mother believe it.” I chafed my bottom lip with my teeth.

“Stop that, Jane,” Kat said. “You will make yourself bleed.”

I pressed my fingertips to the burning place on my lips to cool them. “This is just what I fear. If Mother walked in and caught us by surprise, she would guess …” I hesitated, then made a decision. “Better to know when the others will join us. At least we can prepare ourselves if I summon my ladies. I will have some sense of control.”

Kat nibbled at a fingernail. “I suppose that is true.”

“Mary, you will have to put Jennet out of sight again before they arrive. I would not have her taken from you.”

“If you were a brave queen, you would not let them. Cousin Mary would make them let me keep Jennet,” Mary asserted, but after a moment she bundled the poppet back into its hiding place in the folds of her petticoat.

Once we had all steadied ourselves, I went to the door and told the usher to summon my mother and the other ladies. Perhaps Kat, Mary, and I could hide our emotions in a crowd, let them dilute whatever pain we felt, three drops of wine disappearing in a river. I hoped so.

Three hours later we were all gathered near the fire, stitching, when my father burst in, Northumberland in his wake. I knew the instant I fixed my eyes on them that something terrible had happened.

I set my tambour aside and rose to my feet. My knees trembled. “What is it?”

Northumberland betrayed the first hint of alarm I had ever seen in him. “The Lady Mary raised her standard at Framlingham. She has declared herself queen.”

I heard my ladies gasp and saw Mary cower back, hiding behind Kat’s chair. My own sick dread echoed hers. Everything seemed to fade except the discourse raging in my mind.

How had I imagined that Mary Tudor would surrender her birthright with no resistance? Had she not defied even her father, refusing to say her mother was not Henry’s true wife even when the head of his dearest friend, Sir Thomas More, was rolling across the straw?

Later, when Edward and his advisers made it a crime to hear Catholic mass, did she not continue to practice her faith, no matter what threats Northumberland leveled against her? People claimed she would have died rather than forsake her faith. I believed them.

I swallowed hard, knowing that in my Catholic cousin I faced a will as strong as my lady mother’s own. I could see the fear that Mary Tudor spawned in those who surrounded me. If she could inspire this much trepidation in men like Father and Northumberland, the threat must be dire indeed. How fearful might other lords be? Ones whose fate was not tied so closely to the houses of Suffolk and Northumberland? I pictured the opposing pieces on a chessboard. In the end who would gather in the most powerful chessmen?

One thing was certain, I thought, as my surroundings spun slowly back into existence. I must give those who would be loyal to me a secure mooring to anchor themselves to in the coming storm. Even if a true war never broke out—may God make it so—my actions now would be the warp and weft that would bind my subjects to me.

If I was to be queen, let me be a brave one.

I turned to my ladies, determined to calm them. “The Lady Mary’s defiance is futile. Even her cousin, the Emperor Charles, has acknowledged my claim.”

“But it seems there are those in the North who do not,” Northumberland said. “Yeomen and peasants are flocking to her standard. I fear that even the loyalty of those peers absent from today’s ceremony must be called into question. The Howards, for example.”

I remembered the sinking feeling I had experienced. The puzzle of why those lords were missing was solved. A sound I could not remember having heard before sent shivers down my back: my mother, weeping. Guilford’s mother sobbed as well, the two duchesses who had seemed so intimidating weeks before brought low. Fear pressed hard.

It was no surprise that Mary had sought out the infamous Howards, the most powerful of Catholic nobles. They would doubtless do all they could to see her triumph. It would be easy enough to draw their vassals and others like them to Mary’s cause.

In their northern stronghold people loathed Northumberland even more than they loathed Kat’s father-in-law; they blamed those two men above all others for corpses at the crossroads, the hanging, drawing, and quartering of the rebellion’s leaders.

How many Norfolk lads had Pembroke and Northumberland killed? Boys wielding scythes, passionate in their misguided loyalty to the old faith. They had hoped they might realize the promise Edward Seymour’s father gave them and get a fairer share of the profit their labor produced. Girded with such ideals, even simple folk could be formidable foes indeed. I had to lead England against them.

I squared my shoulders. “If Lady Mary has followers who would oppose us, we must deal with her rebellion swiftly. Muster more troops to fight against them.”

The Earl of Pembroke and his shadow, Lord Huntingdon, strode in. I saw my sister regard her father-in-law with hurt eyes. How had Kat managed, beneath our parents’ rule, to still be so surprised when someone she loved wounded her?

“The rest of the council is convening,” the earl said. “I told them the news. We are to meet them as soon as we are able and determine what action to take.”

I saw Father’s fingers tighten against the russet satin of his doublet. “Queen Jane has already ordered us to muster troops in her name,” Father informed him.

“Good,” Pembroke said. “The sooner we can confront the rebels, the less chance they will have to prepare. Who does Her Majesty choose to command these troops?”

I remembered he had denied Kat and Henry the joy of bedding together. He would not be riding off with the troops no matter how fine a soldier he was. I dared not allow him to go where I could not watch him.

Father stepped forward. “Let me take this command, Your Majesty. No one will fight more fiercely in your name.”

“I know.” Whatever our differences in the past, Father was proud of me, now I was queen. I recalled what my little sister had claimed. Had Father actually plotted with Northumberland to feed the king poison? If that was true, he would do anything to see that the crown would not slip from my grasp. With a pang I thought how precious my father’s loyalty would have been to me, had I not suspected Mary’s tale was well founded. “It will be as the Duke of Suffolk wishes,” I said.

“Majesty,” Pembroke cut in, “I must speak where others will not.” He turned to my father. “Tell Her Majesty the true state of your health, Your Grace. You will do your daughter no good if you cannot sit a horse, no matter how determined you are.”

“Are you a surgeon to physic me, Pembroke?”

“Anyone can see you are ailing. You cannot even straighten up.” Pembroke gestured to where Father’s hand clamped to his middle. I had noticed his lips compressed in a tight line now and again at the banquet, but I thought it due to some misstep in my decorum.

“This paltry discomfort is nothing, Jane—Your Majesty.” Conviction hammered his words, but there was no masking the pain. I felt another jab of fear. He might not have loved me as I wished, but he was my only shield against more ruthless opportunists.

I let tenderness color my tone. “You are not well. Father, I dare not risk you.”

“When it comes to waging war, the Duke of Northumberland is without match in all England,” Pembroke said. It was true. Northumberland might be the most dangerous man in my realm, but no one would fight harder to crush a rebellion that threatened to dash his wolf-pack of a family away from the throne. Besides, his absence could ease his grasp on the reins of my council.

I nodded. “It is only just that I give the Dudley family a chance to redeem their name, since it was Lord Robert who allowed our cousin to escape at Hoddesdon.” I saw Northumberland’s jaw harden. “I will place my army under His Grace of Northumberland’s very able command.” My steadiness heartened the others.

“Majesty,” Northumberland began, “do you think it wise …”

I saw Mary’s frightened face, a pale half moon in the flickering candlelight. I considered Kat, dragged into the chamber at Durham House, the white powder from the broken vial swirled on the stones beneath her feet. Most recent of all, I remembered the sensation of Northumberland snatching away the Tower key.

“My lord father will guard our interests here,” I said. “You, Your Grace of Northumberland, will carry our standard afield. It is an honor you richly deserve.”

Even fearsome Northumberland seemed to gather strength from my orders. “Your traitor cousin will be crushed, of that I am certain,” he said. “Many cities have already declared for you. They closed their gates to her while she was in flight.”

“Then I do not doubt that all will be well. It is in God’s hands.”

“We fight His battle against the Roman whore,” my father said. “We will deal with these fools once and for all.”

I turned to my ladies, their noses reddened as they still wept. “Do you not hear what His Grace says?” I chided. “You must all calm yourselves.”

“But with Lady Mary gathering troops, we cannot know what may happen.” Tears started in my mother’s eyes despite her efforts to control them.

I thought of all she had seen. The fall of her mother’s dear friend, Katherine of Aragon. The rise of Anne Boleyn, purchased by the blood of her uncle’s greatest friends. Cromwell’s fall, and the execution of Catherine Howard. Somerset and the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace. Fates that could shift between one heartbeat and the next.

“Come, now, my lady mother. There is always unrest at the passing of a crown,” I said with unfamiliar tenderness. “I can list scores of examples throughout my history books. Are we not safe in this fortress? The rebels cannot get in unless we open the gates, and that will never happen.”

Northumberland turned to reassure me. “This fortress is armed and ready against any attack, Your Majesty. There is nothing to fear. No army can breach these walls, and your royal navy stands sentry in the channel to cut off your traitor cousin’s escape. The Lady Mary is a stupid, stubborn woman like her mother. But her defiance will serve no purpose. She will find herself locked in a cell.”

“No cell will be safe enough to hold her,” Father said. “King Henry’s bastard has pushed us too far, as I expected. She leaves us no room for mercy. The Lady Mary will end her days on a scaffold upon Tower Green. Until that day, we cannot be sure of peace.”

I paced to the window, peered out into the courtyard. Already I could see men wrestling cannons into position. Doubtless Northumberland had given orders to further secure the Tower even before he came to tell me Cousin Mary had declared herself queen.