To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [84]
‘I met him through Mistress Clémence,’ said the girl. She was dressed with exceptional neatness, her hair-caul ribboned, her sleeves tight to the knuckle. The few jewels she was permitted were exceptionally fine. She was Adorne’s niece. He could see the coloured specks in her eyes, she was so angry. She said, ‘I believe I regret it already.’
He said, ‘It was unavoidable. Jordan is going home soon.’ He had picked, reluctantly, the only language he was sure no one else but themselves could understand.
‘Before the warm water?’ said the girl. Here, the Arabic sounded ridiculous. She had flushed. ‘Before or after you lead an army to France?’
It was unexpected. Considering the implications, he said something impolite under his breath. Now he knew why she was angry. The child said, ‘I speak to the parrot.’
The girl’s face changed. Nicholas looked down at his son. ‘You have heard the parrot say that? Well, only parrots and fathers say that, never Jodi. There is Kathi’s hand; there is mine. Now we shall dance.’ It closed the conversation with Kathi. He would have to reopen it some time, but certainly not now.
They parted soon enough and presently he was able to restore the boy, heavy-lidded and fractious, to Mistress Clémence. Will Roger said, ‘I heard what you told her to do. It won’t work.’
‘Yes, it will,’ Nicholas said. ‘We’re all sick of your playing. I want some real action.’
‘Games?’ said Roger. ‘Kathi has some good ones. Nicol, be careful with Kathi.’
It surprised him. ‘She must be better now,’ Nicholas said. ‘Anyway, she’s sober, and I’m not.’
Once before, when they were all three years younger, he had got the children of the royal family into trouble on Leith sands. Now two of the three present were married, and James had experienced the weight of his position, and carried the authority to match it. It meant that sometimes, they felt the need to break out. It meant that when they did, there was no one to gainsay them.
The crown of the Castle rock, on which the royal lodgings were built, was not large, but many people lived in its towers, and crammed the lower offices that crowded round the hall, the chapel, the arsenal and the barracks, the archery ground and the stables. Ringed by its stout walls, the Castle of Edinburgh stood above the smoke and noise of the town, and its own smoke and noise affected only itself and the angels, which was fortunate.
The party spilled outside after the first few games, and the next barrel of wine had been broached. The men by then were all in their loose shirts and hose: the current wager had to do with a ball, bouncing between them. The Queen trotted among them, not quite screaming like Meg, but with her eyes bright and her face heated. Her brother’s friends, you could imagine, played rough games sometimes like this in the snow, on the sands, in the forests. She had begun not to notice when James, between vicious attacks on the ball and his rivals, set his hand at her waist, or pulled her running close beside him.
Nicholas noticed, in between fending off the same vicious attacks, and worse ones from Sandy and John. So did Kathi, sprinting beside him. Neither commented. Nicholas said, ‘I still want to thank you for Venice. I have something for you.’ A brick sliced through his hair and he ducked. He had lost his cap and her hair, short like Gelis’s, had escaped from its caul.
‘That was John,’ the girl said. ‘He doesn’t like you. Whatever I did, it was for Gelis and Jordan as well. I don’t want anything.’
‘Oh,’ he said. The ball, flying over their heads, landed on the top of the citadel wall and for a moment seemed lost. Then James was streaking after it whooping, banging into people regardless, followed by his two younger brothers. They started up the nearest flight of wall-steps, three at a time. The ball, rebounding, had trickled safely down to a roof. Nicholas said, ‘Then I should have said that the gift is from us all, but two of us don’t realise it yet. However. I take the point. I’ll give it to Willie, and you can play on it anyway. Why are they all running