The Tudor Secret - C. W. Gortner [7]
Master Secretary Cecil arched a brow. “I’m afraid her ladyship is not here at the moment. She and her daughters have moved to Durham House on the Strand, in order to free up room for the nobles and their retinues. As you see, his lordship has a full house this evening.”
Master Shelton stiffened. My gaze darted from him to Master Secretary Cecil’s unrevealing smile and back again. In that moment I saw that Master Shelton had not known, and had just been put in his place. Despite Cecil’s friendly demeanor, equals these men were not.
Cecil continued: “Lady Dudley did leave word that she has need of your services, and you are to proceed to Durham forthwith. I can provide you with an escort, if you like.”
In the background, pages raced about with torches, lighting iron sconces mounted on the walls. Dusk slipped over the courtyard and Master Shelton’s face. “I know the way,” he said, and he motioned to me. “Come, lad. Durham’s not far.”
I made a move to follow. Cecil reached out. The pressure of his fingers on my sleeve was unexpected—light but commanding. “I believe our new squire will lodge here with Lord Robert, also at her ladyship’s command.” He smiled again at me. “I will take you to his rooms.”
I hadn’t counted on being left on my own so soon, and for a paralyzed moment I felt like a lost child. I hoped Master Shelton would insist I accompany him to report in person to Lady Dudley. But he only said, “Go, boy. You’ve your duty to attend to. I’ll look in on you later.” Without giving Cecil another glance, he strode off, leading his bay back to the gate. Taking Cinnabar by the reins, I started after Cecil.
As I passed under an archway, I looked over my shoulder.
Master Shelton was gone.
* * *
I barely had time to gawk at the immensity of the hammer-beamed stables, populated by a multitude of steeds and hounds. Entrusting Cinnabar to a young dark-haired groom with an avid palm for a coin, I shouldered my saddlebag and hastened after Secretary Cecil, who led me across another inner courtyard, through a side door, and up a staircase into a series of interconnecting rooms hung with enormous tapestries.
Thickly woven carpets muffled our footsteps. The air was redolent of wax and musk, sweat, and musty fabric. Candles dripped from the eaves, studded on iron candelabra. The strains of a disembodied lute wavered from an unseen place as courtiers drifted past us, the glitter of jewels on damasks and velvets catching the light like iridescent butterfly wings.
None glanced at me, but I could not have been less at ease than if they’d stopped to ask my name. I wondered how I would ever manage to find my way about this maze, much less steer a clear route to and from Lord Robert’s rooms.
“It seems overwhelming at first,” Cecil said, as if he could read my thoughts, “but you’ll adjust to it in time. We all do.”
I let out an uneasy chuckle, eyeing him. He’d seemed prepossessing in the courtyard, but here in the gallery’s length, dwarfed as we were by the surrounding grandeur, I thought he resembled one of the middle-class merchants who came to sell their wares at the Dudley Castle; men who’d carved out a comfortable niche for themselves, having learned to weather life’s vicissitudes with good humor and a careful eye to the future.
“You have a certain look,” Cecil went on. “I find it refreshing.” He smiled. “It won’t last long. The novelty fades quickly. Before you know it, you’ll be complaining about how cramped everything is, and how you’d give anything for some fresh air.”
A cluster of laughing women in dazzling headdresses glided toward us, aromatic pomanders clanking from their cinched waists. I gaped. I had never seen such artifice before, and when one of them glanced at me with seductive eyes, I returned her invitation, so entranced by her exquisite pallor I completely forgot myself. She smiled, wickedly, and turned away as if I had ceased to exist. I stared after her. At my side, I heard Cecil laugh under his breath as we rounded the corner into another gallery, empty of people.
Mustering my nerve, I said, “How long