Tori Phillips (9 page)

No, sweet Lissa, Roger Ormond and his wastrel son will melt your little spoons for the few coins they will make and, after Walter has finished using your soft body for his perverted pleasures, he will toss you and your fine ideals into the mud with the slops.

Chapter Seven

T
he cold wind from the North Sea whined around the stone corners and through the chinks of Snape Castle’s dank chapel. His face as chill and unmoving as the walls surrounding him, Sir Roger Ormond watched the flames of thick beeswax candles flicker above the casket of his second wife as an age-bent priest muttered through the poetic sequence passages of the mass of the dead.

“Liber scriptus proferetur, in quo totum continetur, unde mundus judicetur,”
he intoned in a reedy, nasal voice.
Then shall written book be brought, showing every deed and thought; from which judgment will be sought.

Roger’s lip twitched. His one good eye stared at the rough-hewn wood that concealed the body of his wife. What thoughts had ever lingered in Edith’s goosedown brain? he wondered. The woman had barely ever whispered more than two sentences together. When she stood before the throne of God, what judgment could he render to such a coney rabbit as her? What deeds had she done, either good or bad, during the three-and-twenty years she had lived upon this earth, except to hover in the shadows and whimper when Roger visited her bed? Aye, the wench had been a ghost long before she died.

But the children... His eye moved from the larger coffin to the two smaller ones next to it. Somewhere deep inside him, a stinging pain thumped against his heart, as if a lute string, too tightly wound, had snapped, recoiling painfully upon the musician’s fingers. Edward, nearly five, and his sister, little Edith. Their mother accompanied her children in death. Roger sighed softly. Was it only two days ago they had clambered upon his knee, begging for the spiced wine-dipped sops from his trencher? How like little birdlings they had been, so rosy and bright, as they gobbled the dripping treats from his fingers!

Then had come the headaches: first the boy, then little Edith, and afterward, in the gloaming, their mother had pressed her temple against the cold stone of the stairwell and sworn she could not climb the curving steps. The children had cried that the hall spun about them like a whirligig, and Roger had seen their eyes grow too bright by the devil-dancing fire on the hearth. Roger had ordered them carried up to bed, the three tucked in together. In less than an hour, their bodies had poured forth a stinking sweat. Little Edith had raved that she saw a small boy, all clothed in gold, standing by the door, beckoning to her. Edward had moaned that his head was bursting. Their mother had said nothing, merely whispered the name “Jesu.”

Then, at the turn of the hourglass, the three had breathed as one and then were gone. The nurse, a superstitious old fool from the Border country, swore she had seen their spirits arise from the soaking bed and fly out the high arched window—the baby in her mother’s arms and Edward laughing and skipping before them.

Riders from York had warned Roger that the dread sweating sickness had stalked the cobbled streets of that fair city since late August, but he had ignored them. Even when he heard that the king’s paramour, Anne Boleyn, had been taken ill, Roger had shrugged off the news as only a tidbit of court gossip. There had never been an outbreak of that strange illness at Snape Castle, not even the year before, when so many in the southern shires had died. Suddenly, within the space of a week, Roger had lost a number of peasants who tilled the home fields, then some of the household in the laundry and pantry, then a groom, a gardener, and, last of all, death had reached out his bony hand and dared to take Roger’s own.

So merry at dinner the children had been; so very dead by that evening’s doleful supper.

“Judex ergo, cum sedebit, quidquid latet, apparebit.
..” The priest droned on.
Before the Judge enthroned, shall each hidden sin be owned.

Roger shifted slightly, then glared at Edith’s coffin again.
She
had no sins, hidden or otherwise—of that much Roger was sure. She hadn’t had the wit to commit them. He, on the other hand... Zounds! Time enough for thinking of that later—when these same words were uttered over his own wooden box.

A snigger from his blind side distracted Roger’s morbid meditations. He shifted his position so that his son’s profile came within his line of sight. Of late, Walter had taken to staying on his father’s right hand, even though he had known from early childhood this annoyed Roger. Though his left eye was still as keen as a swooping hawk’s, Roger’s loss of the right bored deeply into his vanity. Where once a silver-gray eye had regarded the world in unison with its mate, now a jagged white scar pressed the lid shut, covering the empty socket. A Border cattle raid thirty-two years ago, during Roger’s youthful days, when both his judgment and his fighting skills were green, had left him half-blind and twice as wise.

With Edward and little Edith gone, his eldest son, Walter, remained the lone survivor of eight children — the result of Roger’s two misadventures in the marriage market. Women did not seem to last long here in the cold, wet north. Even as the funeral mass was being chanted, another woman—some chit from France—was on her way to Roger’s door. He wondered if Walter’s bride-to-be had put any meat on her bones since the last time he saw her, eight years ago. He remembered her as a scrawny pullet of nine or ten — all legs and arms, with large dark eyes and a high-pitched giggle. She had better be more filled out by now, or the winter would claim her before she got half a chance to breed Walter a son.

Walter chuckled again, trying to muffle the sound in the folds of his thick woolen cloak. Roger frowned at his son’s disrespect. Walter had never taken to his stepmother, but he should at least show the proper manners at her funeral. As Roger turned to glare at him, Walter lowered his head, drawing deeper into his clothing, like a tortoise into his shell.

Roger glared at the tall man next to him. Something was not quite right. He noted the pallor in Walter’s complexion, and the angry inflammation around his eyes. Sweet Christ! Not his only son! Feeling his father’s gaze upon him, Walter turned away. As he did so, the neck of his cloak slipped, revealing a small ulcerated lesion under his jawbone.

Roger clenched his teeth as he spied another sore behind Walter’s ear and a third creeping into his hairline. As for the hair itself, Roger noticed for the first time that it looked more like an old, moth-eaten fur than the healthy brown locks Walter took such care to comb and perfume. God’s teeth! The boy was riddled with the pox!

The bitter iron taste of bile rose in Roger’s throat. All his life he had devoted himself to one goal — to advance the Ormond family from that of the petty landless knight his father had been to one of England’s finest families, like that of his overlord, Sir Thomas Cavendish, earl of Thornbury. By the good fortune of riding on the victorious shirttails of Henry Tudor at Bosworth field, Roger’s father had been granted Snape Castle, a poor holding on the windswept northern moors. Through two advantageous marriages, as well as a number of savage raids on his weaker neighbors and across the Scottish border, Roger Ormond had managed to expand his father’s lands and increase the family fortune. Only fear of the powerful earl of Thornbury, whose vast domain now lay directly to the west of Snape Castle, kept the rapacity of the ambitious Ormonds at bay.

When Walter first arrived at Henry VIII’s court six years ago, all the world, it seemed, had eagerly spread out their costly cloaks at the feet of the handsome young man. Roger winced inwardly at the memory. How proud he had been to see his son and heir feted and fawned over by the great of the land! That pride had turned to gall all too soon. Roger could not remember a time when his anger had so choked him as when Walter came crawling back to Snape, whining of his ill-treatment at the hands of the king himself.

Roger had hoped the disgrace would straighten out the headstrong boy. Perhaps in time, and with gold, the damage to the family’s ambitions might be repaired. Instead, Walter had slunk into lower company and absented himself often from Roger’s watchful gaze. Now the ghastly piper demanded to be paid his dire reckoning. And the price? God’s nightshirt! What an ignoble end to such a promising beginning!

The priest had barely uttered the final
Pax Domine
when Walter turned on his heel to leave.

“Nay!” Roger’s hand clamped around his son’s wrist. “Whither away so quickly?”

“To ease my bladder, Father.” Walter’s thick cloak muffled the sting of his sneering reply. “Surely I do not need your permission to do that?”

“Then be quick about it. I will see you in my closet immediately after,” Roger growled, tightening his grip.

“I have an appointment elsewhere.” Walter broke his father’s grasp, then edged backward into the deeper shadows of the emptying chapel.

“Attend to it later. I will see you first.” Gathering his own cloak more tightly about him, Roger strode past the younger man. “Mark me, boy, or there will be the very devil to pay.”

Roger did not wait for a further reply, but stalked through the doorway.

In the chill outer corridor, Roger spoke to one of his retainers. “Wait upon my son, Grapper,” he instructed the burly man. “Make sure he is in my presence within a quarter of this hour.”

“Aye, master.” The servant touched his forelock.

“And if you must truss him like a bandy cock, then do so. I care not in what state he arrives, only that he comes.”

The retainer grinned, revealing a few yellowed teeth rooted in blackened gums. “’Tis my pleasure, sir.” With that, he hurried after Walter’s retreating figure.

“Your man laid hands upon me!” Walter’s fury choked his words.

Roger turned from the low fire where he had been warming himself after the cold of the burial service. “’Tis no surprise, since you were apprehended saddling your horse in the stable.”

Walter’s eyes blazed from the shadows cast by his low hood. “My appointment will not wait,” he rasped. A cloud from his breath hung in the damp air before him.

Roger slammed his fist down on the thick oaken tabletop, rattling the account ledgers stacked there. “Your doxy can wait until doomsday! Indeed, she is better off without your attentions.”

Walter’s shoulders shook with suppressed rage. “My business is mine own. I take it ill that you should question me. I am of age, and I do as I please.” He put his hand to the door latch of the tiny counting room.

Roger picked up a heavy clay inkpot and hurled it at his son. Walter swore a loud oath as the vessel missed his head by inches. Striking the door, the pot shattered; the ink splattered against the wood leaving a large black stain. Walter swore again when he saw that a number of thick drops had splashed onto his cloak.

“By the devil and his dam, you will not move until I give you leave!” Planting his palms on the table, Roger leaned across it toward his son. The distance between them rippled with his hot wrath. “Remove your cloak, knave!”

Walter backed away, nearly falling over a low three-legged stool. “The room is cold. I prefer to keep it on.”

“Your cloak, sluggard, or shall I have Grapper cut it from your back?”

Walter opened his mouth to make some retort, then thought better of it. Unbuckling the clasp, he swung the heavy cloth from his shoulders with a flourish. Holding it at arm’s length, he opened his hand, allowing the material to fall to the floor in a woolen puddle. He followed up with an elaborate bow, his right leg extended.

“Now take off your hat,” his father ordered in a low dangerous voice.

Walter’s eyes widened a moment before he assumed a cynical air. “Does my bonnet displease you, sir? Has my hatter been remiss? The color does not suit? I am most amazed.”

Roger drew himself up to his full height. At six feet three inches, he enjoyed his reputation as a giant among men. Over the years, he had found that his mere presence could intimidate his adversaries, and he often made it a point to use his height and bulk to his advantage. “Your hat, Walter. I shall not ask again.”

Backing against the wall, Walter snatched the black velvet bonnet from his head. He tossed it on top of his cloak. As he glared at his father, his eyes gleamed like twin daggers of heated Spanish steel.

Roger struck a flint to his tinderbox, and lighted the double-branched candlestick on his desk. Then he lit the candles on each side of the stone mantelpiece. The round tower room glowed with golden light.

Walter stared into the flames like a mesmerized moth. His tongue ran across his lips. “Are we celebrating the fair Edith’s death?”

Roger replaced the tinderbox precisely next to his sealing wax. “How dare you!” he whispered, staring at his son. To his surprise, Roger found himself enjoying this little scene. He couldn’t remember the last time Walter had looked so uncomfortable in his presence. “Have you no respect for the dead?”

“Only when you have respect for the living,” Walter snarled in reply.

Roger crossed around to the front of the table, like a cat stalking a mouse in the dairy. Walter slid along the wall, putting as much distance between them as the room allowed. “Remove your doublet,” Roger commanded in the same menacing whisper. “Be quick about it, knave. My quiver of patience is already spent this day.”

“Is this some jest, Father?” Walter’s gaze flickered across the closed door. “Is it your pleasure to freeze me to death?”

“If you were not my heir, I might be tempted to try it.” Roger drew his dagger from his belt and ran his finger lightly along the blade. “The hour runs apace. Take off your doublet, and your shirt, as well.”

Walter backed toward the fireplace. “Has your mind snapped in twain? I must give Edith more credit than I thought. I did not know you harbored so deep an affection for her that your brain has become sickly at her death.”

With a roar, Roger vaulted over the stool. Shoving one arm against the younger man’s throat, he pinioned his son against the wall. Ignoring Walter’s struggles, Roger slashed through the padded green velvet and the cinnamon-colored satin lining of Walter’s jacket. Within a minute, the expensive clothing hung in tatters from the young man’s shoulders. This violent action reduced Walter to frozen shock.