Part 53 (1/2)

”I shall not tolerate it,” she said flatly.

”You will have to,” he said, as uncompromising as she was.

”He never looked away from me in all the years of our courts.h.i.+p,” she said. ”Not once.”

George raised an eyebrow to me. I said nothing. Apparently, I did not count.

My uncle gave a short laugh and I saw my father smile.

”Courts.h.i.+p is different. Anyway, I've chosen the girl to divert him,” my uncle said. ”A Howard girl.”

I felt the sweat break out on me. I knew that I had gone white when George suddenly hissed: ”Sit up!” out of the corner of his mouth.

”Who?” Anne said sharply.

”Madge Shelton,” Uncle said.

”Oh, Madge,” I said, my heart pounding with relief and my cheeks blazing as the color came rus.h.i.+ng back. ”That Howard girl.”

”She'll keep him busy and she knows her place,” my father said judicially, not at all as if he were handing another niece over to adultery and sin.

”And your influence is undiminished,” Anne spat.

My uncle smiled. ”That is true of course, but who would you rather? A Seymour girl? Given that it is a certainty, isn't it best for us that it should be a girl who'll do our bidding?”

”It depends on what you bid her,” Anne said shortly.

”To divert him while you are confined,” my uncle said smoothly. ”Nothing else.”

”I won't have her setting herself up as his mistress, I won't have her in the best rooms, wearing jewels, in new gowns, flaunting herself around me,” Anne warned.

”Yes, you of all women would know how painful that can be for a good wife,” my uncle concurred.

Anne's dark eyes flashed at him. He smiled. ”She shall divert the king during your confinement, and when you are back at court she will disappear,” he promised. ”I shall see that she makes a good marriage and Henry will forget her as easily as he takes her up.”

Anne drummed her fingers on the table. We could all see that she was fighting with herself. ”I wish I could trust you, Uncle.”

”I wish you would.” He smiled at her unwillingness. He turned to me and I felt the familiar tremor of fear at his attention. ”Madge Shelton beds with you, doesn't she?”

”Yes, Uncle,” I said.

”Tell her how to go along, tell her how to manage herself.” He turned to George. ”And you keep the king's attention on Anne and on Madge.”

”Yes, sir,” George said easily, as if he had never wished for any career other than that of a pander in the royal harem.

”Good,” Uncle said, rising to his feet to signal that the meeting was at an end. ”Oh, and one other thing...” We all obediently waited on his word, except Anne, who was looking out of the window at the gardens in the suns.h.i.+ne and the court playing bowls, with the king at the center of all the attention, as always.

”Mary,” Uncle remarked.

I flinched at the mention of my name.

”I think we should have her married, don't you?”

”I'd be pleased to see her betrothed before her sister is brought to bed,” my father remarked. ”That way there's no uncertainty if Anne fails.”

They did not look at Anne, who might be pregnant with a girl and thus diminish our bartering strength in the marriage market. They did not look at me, who was to be traded like a farmer's cow. They looked at each other, merchants with a deal to make.

”Very well,” our uncle said. ”I'll speak to Secretary Cromwell, it's time she was wed.”

I got away from Anne and George, and found my way to the king's rooms. William was not in the presence chamber and I dared not go looking for him in the privy chamber. A young man strolled by with a lute, Sir Francis Weston's musician, Mark Smeaton. ”Have you seen Sir William Stafford?” I asked him.

He made a pretty bow to me. ”Yes, Lady Carey,” he said. ”He's still playing at bowls.”

I nodded and went toward the great hall. As soon as I was out of his sight I took one of the little doors that led out to the broad terrace before the palace and then down the stone steps to the garden. William was picking up the b.a.l.l.s, the game had ended. He turned and smiled at me. The other players hailed me and challenged me to a game.

”Oh, very well,” I said. ”What are the stakes?”

”A s.h.i.+lling a game,” William said. ”You have fallen among desperate gamblers, Lady Carey.”

I felt in my purse and put down my s.h.i.+lling and then took a ball and rolled it carefully along the gra.s.s. It was nowhere near. I stepped back to make a place for another player and found William at my elbow.

”All well?” he asked quietly.

”Well enough,” I said. ”But I have to be alone with you as soon as we can.”

”Oh, I feel it myself,” he said with a laugh at the back of his voice. ”But I didn't know you were so shameless.”

”Not for that!” I said indignantly and then had to stop and look away before anyone could see me laugh and blush. I longed to touch him, I could hardly stand beside him and not reach out for him. I took a careful step away from him as if to see the game more clearly.

I was knocked out early on, and William took care to lose soon after. We left our s.h.i.+llings on the green for the eventual winner and strolled, as if to take the air, down the long gravel path toward the river. The windows of the palace overlooked the garden, I did not dare touch him or let him take my arm. We walked side by side, like courteous strangers. Only when I stepped up to the landing stage could he touch my elbow, as if to hold me steady, and then he kept hold of me. That simple contact of his hand on my arm warmed me all through.

”What is it?” he asked.

”It's my uncle. He's planning my marriage.”

At once his face was dark. ”Soon? Does he have a husband in mind?”

”No. They're considering.”

”Then we must be ready for when they find someone. And when they do we must just confess, and hope to brazen it out.”

”Yes.” I paused for a moment, glanced at his profile and back to the river. ”He frightens me,” I said. ”When he said he wanted to see me married, in that moment I thought that I would have to obey him. I always have obeyed him, you see. Everybody always obeys him. Even Anne.”