The Tudor Secret - C. W. Gortner [32]
“What exactly are you saying?”
“Put simply? I wish to hire you. It’s a lucrative offer, I can assure you. I require someone fresh, outwardly ingenuous, and somewhat forgettable, at least to the undiscerning eye, yet capable of engendering trust even in those as skeptical as the princess. You did offer to help her last night? She told me so herself. If you agree to work for me, then you will be helping her, in more ways than you can imagine.”
The tightening in my stomach forewarned me not to show my sudden, burning interest. However I proceeded, I’d best do it very carefully. This could be a trick. It probably was a trick. How could it be anything else? As talented as I might be, I was certainly no spy.
“Why me? I don’t have any training as an … intelligencer.”
“No. But what you don’t know, you can learn. It’s your instinct that cannot be taught. I should know. I possess it myself. Believe me, it’s more valuable than you realize.”
“And on a more practical note, I serve Robert Dudley,” I said. “Who trusted me enough to give me a private message for the princess, yes?”
“Indeed. I need to know what he wants from her. Her life may depend on it.”
“Her life?”
“Yes. I have reason to think the duke plots against her, and that Lord Robert, your master, is a part of his scheme. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve pretended to be at odds while secretly working in conjunction to bring down an opponent.”
It was a trick. I wasn’t here for my hidden talents: I was here because I served Lord Robert. Elizabeth had not revealed my message. That was why Cecil had me dragged here with a sack over my head. He wanted my message, and the moment I confessed it I would be silenced.
Forever.
“I regret to hear that,” I managed to say, resisting the urge to start shouting, thinking it would be better to die fighting than accept whatever demise Cecil prepared for me. “But as my lord secretary must know, a servant who betrays his master risks having his ears and tongue cut off.” I forced out a weak laugh. “And I’m fond of mine.”
“You’ve already betrayed him. You just don’t know it.”
It was a statement, brisk and impersonal. Though nothing overt changed in his manner, he abruptly exuded a calm menace. “Regardless of how you choose to act, your days as a Dudley servant are numbered. Or do you think they’ll keep you after they obtain what they want? Lord Robert used you as his errand boy, and his father and mother despise loose ends.”
He bears the mark of the rose.
I saw again the duchess of Suffolk, her metallic eyes staring through me, into me.
“Are you saying they’ll kill me?” I asked.
“I am, though of course I have no concrete proof of it.”
“And you can offer me assurance that if I leave their service for yours, I’ll be safe?”
“Not exactly.” He folded his hands at his bearded chin. “Are you interested?”
I met his regard. “You certainly have my attention.”
He inclined his head. “Let me start by saying that the duke and his family are in a precarious situation. They were not prepared for Her Grace to appear at court. None of us were, in truth. Yet there she was, determined to see her brother, and so she must be dealt with. She took precautions by letting news of her presence leak out to the people, which will provide her some measure of protection, at least in the short term. But she makes a grave mistake in assuming the duke will do her no harm. She’s so incensed by what she sees as his refusal to let her speak with her brother the king, now she insists on proceeding to Greenwich and ascertaining His Majesty’s recovery for herself.”
Cecil gave a regretful smile. It looked unsettling on his face, as if he didn’t quite ever feel surprised by anything Elizabeth Tudor did. “She’s not easily dissuaded once she sets her mind to something, and Northumberland has been thorough. Edward’s absence last night roused her deepest suspicions and her anger, as he no doubt hoped it would. She is a devoted sister. Too devoted, some might say. She will never stop until she finds out the truth. And that is what I fear: You see, though we may seek