Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [236]
‘He’s angry,’ said Astorre. ‘Zacco. No worry anywhere else. They’re close to giving up now in Kyrenia. The blockade has done well: Crackbene’s moved his ships to Famagusta. Some illness, some deaths. Master Tobie and the Arab quack have got together again. John has spent as much time in Kouklia as he’s done here, but no one’s complained. Thomas says if you wanted the girl, why didn’t you keep her at Bruges?’
‘I thought I’d give Thomas first chance,’ Nicholas said. ‘This needs talking about. That’s why I want to see everyone. Meantime reassure them if you can. Nothing has gone wrong. Nothing is going to go wrong.’
‘And the lady?’ Astorre said. ‘My lord Simon’s wife?’
‘On her way back to Portugal,’ Nicholas said. ‘I must go.’
‘Good luck,’ said Astorre. ‘Not that you deserve it. You’ve got more than enough already, for a boy of your age.’
If Nicholas had qualms about that, walking to the royal pavilion, he found it simple enough to disguise them. He had taken time to change to fresh clothes, and brush his hair and pin the badge of his Order to his doublet. He saw, as soon as he met Zacco, that in Zacco’s eyes, he had taken too much time.
The King was sober. The tent was wholly in order, with servants at the door and within. Within also were Markios of Patras, the King’s uncle, and Abul Ismail, the King’s physician. Zacco, pacing between them, wore hose and a thin, belted tunic of flowered material, with his shoulders still swathed with the head-cloth from under his helmet. The large eyes and classical features were rose-brown with the sun, and his hair unevenly bleached in long, waving strands, stuck to his brow with the heat. He spun to face Nicholas the moment he darkened the doorway. ‘Well, harlot, thief, ungrateful liar!’
Nicholas knelt, his eyes on a piece of Persian carpeting. ‘My lord. What have I stolen?’
An extremely vicious grip closed on his arm and forced him upright. ‘Time,’ said James of Lusignan, his fingers tight. ‘Time I have paid for.’ He stood, breathing extremely hard, then let go and drew back the edge of his hand. His eyes took the measure of Nicholas, and of a particular place between his left shoulder and neck. Except for setting his teeth, Nicholas waited unmoving. A moment passed, then the blow came. It was sharp, but it fell on his face, turning it sideways. Nicholas let his breath go. James said, ‘You have nothing to say?’
‘He is spent with fornicating,’ said Markios of Patras. ‘Who marries a courtesan except for money, or because he has sold something? Whom or what have you sold?’
Nicholas resumed breathing quietly again. He said, ‘My lord King, I have given you full return for your silver. The campaign was planned when I left, and my men have helped execute it. I could have done no more had I been here. As for my wife –’
‘Wife!’ said James of Lusignan. ‘She is a whore.’
Nicholas kept his gaze open and lucid. He said, ‘Nevertheless you offered once, my lord King, to bring her to me. A man may love a concubine, and even marry her. It was not by my wish that the lady was sent off from Cyprus. If I have now brought her back it is because no man has jurisdiction over whom I may marry. And because I wished her beside me. And because it is not forbidden in Cyprus, surely, of all kingdoms on earth, to love a woman to whom fortune has denied formal rites in the past, and to wish to please her, being free, and to wish her to bear sons such as the one I now serve, brave and just and courageous.’
The King was silent. Markios looked at him. Out of the edge of his sight, Nicholas thought he saw the physician’s beard move, as if he were smiling. The King said, ‘Where is she? The concubine?’
‘The lady Primaflora is in Nicosia,’ said Nicholas.
‘Spying?’ he said.
Nicholas said, ‘Illustrious King, she has given up that allegiance. The lady Carlotta your sister would have her killed. Would Your Magnificence give her audience, and question her? She will answer freely.’
The look passed again between the King and his uncle. Then Zacco said, ‘The lady my mother will do that. Your marriage is, of course,