To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [255]
She gave in, as he expected: the army was preferable to disgrace. They all agreed, with reluctance. It was just as well, since Nicholas had already visited Henry and, locking the door, had told him where he was going.
Alone through the day, the boy had had time to review, perhaps, what he had done; and to worry about what might now happen to him. A grown man would have done so, and a grown man might have lounged before him like this, insolence on his damaged face, concealing his fears. Nicholas saw that Henry’s supreme confidence was not assumed. Whoever had dared to touch him would soon answer for it to his family The fact that the van Borselen side of his family had rejected him seemed to count not at all. Henry had never thought much of a mother who had died when he was three.
So when Nicholas, perched by the door, twirled the key and told him what was to happen, the smile left the boy’s face. For a moment his lips opened, then he stood.
‘Oh no,’ Henry said. ‘Oh no, you stupid animal, you can’t get away with that. I demand to see a magistrate.’
‘They’re all busy,’ Nicholas said.
‘You won’t? Then I’ll shout,’ Henry said. He walked to the window and opened it. He said, ‘You really shouldn’t have locked the door before you walked in to rape me. I want to be kept safe until my father comes.’
‘I said you’d say that,’ Nicholas said. ‘Actually, they’re all waiting down in the yard hoping you’ll favour them with some technical language. Really, away from the wharfs, I’ve seldom met anyone so obsessed with the business of reproduction. One wonders what your home life is like. In any case, as you surely must know, a doctor has already reported you to be in a state of infantile purity.’
‘Some liar paid by you,’ Henry said.
‘I couldn’t afford him. Dr Andreas is, among other things, a household physician to King James of Scotland. No one,’ Nicholas said, ‘is going to tolerate any more of this conduct. You attempted to kill a young child. You should hang for it. Be thankful that today I am feeling more lenient.’
‘It’s an excuse,’ Henry said. ‘You could never touch me if my father were here. You’re a coward. You’re a traitor as well. You’re going to force me to fight against Scotland’s allies, and whatever happens to me, you’ll say it wasn’t your fault.’
‘You’d rather hang?’ Nicholas said. ‘I can arrange it.’
‘You can’t!’
‘Would you like to place a small wager?’
The boy stared at him. Nicholas gazed back, holding in his mind the sound of the ball and the club, and the screaming. He said, ‘In any case, I didn’t say I was sending you. I am going with you. You will enjoy that.’
He watched the boy’s eyes, and the gleam that came into them. The boy said, ‘I might.’
‘On the other hand, I might make sure that you don’t. That depends on you. We leave in the morning.’ He rose and paused. ‘Don’t you think it a pity that this had to happen?’
‘Yes. I should have killed him,’ said the boy.
Nicholas de Fleury rode off to Arras next morning, Julius beside him, and did not have to bind the boy Henry’s mouth, for it remained set and closed. He said goodbye to the others in public, and to Gelis in private so that his household might retain their illusions. He thought he had secured, with her, the protection of Jordan. He was removing the worst of the danger. And if Simon set foot in Bruges or in Brabant, he would know, for he had returned to his divining, understanding as he now did that it was to be his master for life. He did not kiss his wife because, this time, no one was watching.
The Gräfin Anna came to see Julius leave, and he bent and saluted her hand from the saddle. His face was flushed. She touched his knee, and then walked over to Nicholas. ‘You are well?’
‘Yes,’ he said. He smiled as he usually did.
‘Good. I didn’t wish to trouble you this time with business, but that is why I am here,’ said the Gräfin. ‘I