To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [252]
She stared at him, her eyes blank. The boy, throwing himself at her feet, clung to her gown. ‘Help me. Help me. He will tell you terrible things.’
Slowly, Gelis looked down. ‘Did you harm Jordan?’
Exposed to the light was the profile of a white and gold angel. Then it turned, showing the closed eye, the thickened lips, the gross swelling, black, red and blue. Henry whispered, ‘I couldn’t do it, what Robin does. I couldn’t. I couldn’t. And when he makes nie, I bleed.’
Gelis pulled her skirts away. The boy subsided, his face running with tears. Nicholas said, ‘Is that what you told the men-at-arms? Henry, why did I strike you?’
The boy sobbed. He said, ‘Because I wouldn’t – wouldn’t stay in your bed.’
‘But, Henry, you and I had our quarrel in public,’ Nicholas said. ‘A dozen people were there, including the lord Wolfaert of Veere. They would say that your tale was a lie. They would say you were punished because you had secretly attempted to murder your cousin, forcing him to run to his death.’
‘It isn’t true!’ Henry said. ‘He was running from you. I didn’t want him to bleed. I was saving him.’
Someone made an odd noise: probably Julius. Father Moriz wore a look of disgust, and Diniz had put his arm around Tilde, his grip convulsively tight, his face wretched. Gelis, pallid as a Venetian mask, looked first at the boy, then at Nicholas. Then she bent, and took the boy by the ear and pulled him up. He stopped crying.
She said, ‘My dear Henry, that is one accusation that will never stick. Truth apart, the lord of Veere will see that it doesn’t. Which is the side of your face that doesn’t hurt yet? Because if you wait, I, too, am going to present you with a mark of my feelings for you.’
She had actually lifted her hand when the boy tore free and made for the door. There, someone caught and removed him. Nicholas concentrated on Gelis. He said, ‘Thank you. I always hoped to be credited with my preferred vices, at least. So why did you decide to leave Jodi? He asked for you, by the way, between screams.’
The group at the door had dissolved. Now Father Moriz, stretching his hand, drew Tilde and Diniz out of the room and, shutting the door, stood inside. He said, ‘Stop, Nicholas. You are not yourself. Go to your child, both of you. So long as he is safe, nothing else matters. You have, I am afraid, found the miscreant.’
‘Where is Jodi? Is he downstairs?’ Gelis asked.
Nicholas slammed his palms on the back of a chair. ‘My God, do you think I would bring him here? He is in Antwerp, and will stay there. As soon as Mistress Clémence returns, Pasque will receive her wages and go. Robin will be sent back to Scotland. The guard has already been doubled. What sort of mother are you?’
‘You left him alone?’ Gelis said. ‘After all that, you left him alone in order to come here with Henry?’
The priest said, ‘Catherine de Charetty is also with him, and Paul. The men downstairs told me.’
There was a porcelain vase on the table. It was Indian, and had been in the old house as well. Nicholas detached a hand and, lifting it, hurled it with a crash on the floor. ‘I asked you a question.’
She looked up, her eyes wide with shock. ‘You didn’t care about Henry. You left Jordan because you wanted to do this to me. What sort of father are you?’
‘To do what to you?’ Nicholas said. ‘Ask you questions you are ashamed to answer?’ He lifted a glass flask and balanced it.
‘I’m not ashamed. I was asked to meet Julius and his client. You were away. She owns half the Fleury.’
‘The monumental Gräfin,’ Nicholas said. He lifted the glass vase and smashed it straight down. The fragments flew everywhere. ‘You were avid to meet her. Didn’t you know that Charlotte, that stupid woman, wanted your nurses? She didn’t care what happened to Jodi. Jodi thought Henry was chasing for fun. Henry pushed him like a ball, striking him further and further. The last shot of all was aimed to kill, at his head. But he fell.’ He moved about, touching one thing after another. He saw a casket of Marian’s.
Gelis said, ‘You were away. You could have given Jodi these two