Queen's Play - Dorothy Dunnett [56]
He did not stir. ‘Of course not. The Queen Dowager’s purposes and mine are the same; but you must excuse me from promises. This time at least I am quite free. Anything I set out to do I can abandon—and if need be, I will.’
‘And if,’ said Margaret Erskine in a careful voice, ‘I stand surety for your promises? If I say, kindle your fires for us, let them burn freely and light up what they will, and I shall do my utmost to see that no innocent bystander is burnt? Would you accept from the Queen Mother, through me, the task of protecting the young Queen, and trust me to watch over your friends?… Or being Tom Erskine’s second choice,’ said Margaret, her round, unremarkable face pale, ‘am I forever beneath your notice, as well as your trust?’
At which Lymond swore without apology, dropped his hands and fixing her with a stare of numbing austerity remarked, ‘I can grasp the situation without being bludgeoned over the head with either rhetoric or hangman’s humility. However. I gather I have been lecturing you. I apologize. It was a matter of irresponsible timing on your part. As far as your offer goes—’
Margaret had recovered her placidity. ‘Tell me later. You may feel differently,’ she said. ‘But I really shouldn’t let the Queen Dowager drive you to drink. Did Madame de Valentinois make any advances?’
‘Considering,’ said Lymond with a little constraint, ‘that she is twenty years older than even the King.… No. But then she had a large escort with her. She was surprisingly effective, as it happens. And most thoughtful. Is it likely to continue?’
‘On an intellective level, I believe. She nurses all the royal children. And Lord d’Aubigny is also liable to take you up now. You will visit La Verrerie, admire Goujon and Limousin, take wine with the professors of the College, take lessons in drawing from Primaticcio, listen to readings by the Brigade and recitals by Arkadelt. You will be expected to like Chambord.’
‘I am prepared to like anything,’ said Lymond, ‘except his lordship of Aubigny. But he did me a service tonight with his glum, heifer’s face. There was a moment when I thought they were going to throw me out. And now—’
‘And now?’ She could not keep the hopefulness out of her face.
Jaded, nervy, sober at last, he watched her with a bleak amusement. ‘Yes. The game is yours. It seemed rather likely from the beginning that Her Highness would win. We shall merely hope that under your sheltering wings, no fingers will be burnt other than my own in protecting this one child from her fate.’
Over the turbulence within, ‘My natural place is by the hearthstone,’ said Margaret Erskine dryly. ‘No one will notice me there.’
‘They will be the losers,’ said Lymond; and as Margaret looked down, her skin red, altered his tone. ‘Very well, my lady. If we are to protect the young Queen, there are some pertinent questions to be asked. About this rumour linking Montmorency and your mother, for a start. Tell me: is Jenny the Constable’s mistress?’
It was a subject on which, in adult life, Margaret felt nothing but a resigned tolerance, or an amused exasperation, depending on her mother’s current fancy. Irregular relationships among a royal family and its adherents were a matter of course; often a matter of business; and only occasionally a matter of love. The arrangement, temporary or otherwise, was usually public and acknowledged when at the highest level; only when it was clandestine and conducted