Читать книгу The Dark Knight - Tori Phillips - Страница 11

Sandor turned to face his victim. The knotted cord of the leather garrote bit into the flesh of his palms, just as it would bite deeply into the creamy skin of the lady’s swanlike neck. He swallowed. A burst of sweat dampened his mask. He took a step toward her. Lady Gastonia shifted on her stool and the wooden crucifix that hung from her neck thumped against her tight bodice. Sandor stared at the tiny, outstretched figure on the cross—the same cross that had damned the Rom to wander the earth forever, or so the storytellers swore.

Sandor loosened his grip on the garrote. Even though she was a gadji, he knew that Lady Gastonia was a holy woman. Her plain garb and absence of jewelry proclaimed her piety. He could not kill her without allowing her the chance to make her amends to God, though he could not imagine what sin she could possibly have committed. He did not want to have her unshriven spirit haunt him the remaining years of his life.

Just then, the lady looked up at him. The expression in the depths of her azure eyes melted away his murderous intent. Forgive me, lady.

Then she laughed, though there was no mirth in the sound. “Did you know that my good judges have decreed that none of my blood shall be shed?”

Sandor suspected that they did not want her death to defile them any more than they already were. When he did not reply, she continued.

“When my father learns of my execution, the King and his minions can truthfully say that they did not spill my blood, yet I will be stone dead all the same.” She shook her head. “Oh, the clever wit of the lawyerly mind! They split their words thinner than a cook can slice an onion. Aye, and weep the same tears without sorrow while doing it.”

Behind his back, Sandor gripped the garrote. He said nothing since there was nothing he could tell her that would refute her clear-eyed deduction. He cleared his throat. Best to warn her to make herself ready to meet death. His hands shook.

She sipped more water from the cup then asked, “How will you do it? Kill me, that is?”

Sandor winced inwardly yet marveled at the candor of her question. He held up the knotted garrote. “With this, my lady.”

Her mouth trembled just a little before she bit her lower lip. Then she asked, “Will it hurt much?”

I have no idea. Aloud, he spoke in the same voice he used to soothe a skittish colt. “They say ’tis quick.”

She gave him a taut smile. “Who are ‘they,’ I wonder? And how do these wise men know such a thing? Has anyone come back from the dead to tell them?”

Sandor knelt before her so that they were eye-to-eye. He longed to take her hand in his. He hated the idea that she feared him. “I could wait until you sleep, then cover your face with my cloak.”

She touched the furred edge of his cape. “How could I fall asleep knowing that I would never wake again in this world?”

He tore his gaze from hers. “I have no answer to that, my lady. I only know what I must do. I pray that you forgive me.”

She touched the back of his hand. “Gentle Lord of Death, I have already forgiven you.”

Sandor’s skin burned under the light pressure of her fingers. A nerve throbbed at his temple. Do the deed now and be gone for the sake of your soul! He rose, towering over her. “Then, my lady, I must ask you to make your peace with God. I will give you a few moments alone.”

He turned on his heel, anxious to flee from her before she unmanned him completely. Quick as a cat, she fell to her knees and clutched the hem of his cloak.

“Then my first prayer will be to you, Monsieur de Mort.”

Sandor’s resolve shivered at the sight of the innocent beauty at his feet. He clenched his hands under the cover of his cape. “I am neither God nor the devil, my lady. Why pray to me?”

Tonia could not remember feeling so cold in her life. Her mouth had gone completely dry. Death was so close to her that she could smell the dark reaper’s breath of decay over her shoulder. Mustering the last shred of her courage, she stared up at the powerful man who stood over her. Avoiding the sight of his large, long-fingered hands, she wished she could read his expression on the face that was hidden by his black hood.

“I beg you for one boon—a small one—before you snuff out my life.”

He cleared his throat again. “What boon?”

She wet her lips. “I ask your generosity to allow me to live until dawn. I wish to admire the beauty of the sunrise one more time. ’Tis only a few more hours,” she added. She smiled for additional effect, though she had no idea if he was moved or not. “Besides, I do not think you intended to begin your journey back to London when the night hours are only half-spent.”

He said nothing, but looked over her head as if he sought some guidance from a ghost in the corner of her cell.

Grasping at this small hesitation, she added, “Methinks that my cold corpse would make poor company until the morning.”

Continuing to stare at the far wall in stiff silence, he clenched and unclenched his hands. Tonia found this action alarming. She tightened her grip on his cape.

He moistened his lips. “You think that I…” He paused then snapped, “Are you offering me your body for my pleasure in exchange for a few more hours of life?”

With a gasp, Tonia let go of his cloak and sat back on her heels. She hadn’t meant that at all. She shook her head, embarrassed to look at him and fearful that he might believe such a lewd thought. “I am a virgin, dedicated to our Lord. I do not know if you believe in God but…”

“I am no savage, Lady Gastonia,” he rumbled overhead. “And I do believe in the same God as you, though I worship in a different manner.”

A sliver of relief pierced her terror. “Then you should realize that I was not offering you my chastity as payment for my boon. If you require carnal pleasure, ’tis best that you strangle me now.” She dared to look up at him to discover that he stared down at her. “Do you think that I could greet my Lord God with the sin of impurity staining my soul?”

The executioner drew in a deep breath. His chest seemed to double its width. “Nay, lady. You need have no fear of this…dirty Gypsy.” He spat out the last two words. “I have no intention to defile you.”

Tonia sighed inwardly, her mind spinning with a flicker of hope. If she could beg a few hours from him now, then she had a chance to beg a few more in the morning, and perhaps a few more after that, until she could devise some way to escape him altogether. “I fear no Gypsy, Master Death, only the devil, and I do not think you are he.”

Though he remained silent, the man’s shoulders relaxed their tense posture. Tonia took another deep breath, then continued. “What are a few hours to you? Nothing, but they are a lifetime to me. In the name of the merciful God that both you and I serve, will you grant me my request?”

He rubbed his forehead, then he flicked his cape from her grasp. He strode to the cell’s door before he answered her. “I am not made of stone, my lady, and as you pointed out, the hour is late. I am tired and need to sleep. You may spend the rest of the night at your own leisure. I will not intrude until the sun climbs over yon mountain’s crest.” He flung open the door. A wintry gust of wind whipped through the small chamber, causing the lantern’s light to flicker.

Tonia glanced at the fat candle glowing inside its glass house. “You have forgotten your light, Monsieur de Mort.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. “My people believe that a burning candle in the night keeps troublesome spirits at bay. I would not have your remaining hours—nor mine—be filled with disquiet. I bid you good-night, my lady.”

Before she could thank him for this little kindness, the headsman whirled out the door, slammed and locked it behind him. Tonia sagged against the stool, weak with gratitude for her small reprieve. She cradled her head in the crook of her elbow and wept a few tears of relief. Though she tried to direct her mind toward spiritual matters, thoughts of the mysterious stranger intruded into her prayers.

Everything about the man intrigued her, beginning with his masked visage. Though she could not see most of his face, she thought that he must possess some good looks. His mouth belied his somber occupation, for his full lips looked as if they hovered perpetually on the edge of a smile. His profile, accented by the firelight, spoke of great inner strength. He moved his powerful body with the easy grace of a dancer. Yet Tonia sensed an air of isolation about him, as if he preferred to stand on the edges of a dance floor and observe the merrymaking of others. His eyes? They fascinated her. Turquoise blue behind his mask, they flashed his changing emotions like the suddenness of summer lightning. Had she detected a warmth simmering in their depths, a glimmer of compassion?

Tonia did not intend to fall asleep, but fatigue settled over her like a thick feather bed. In the midst of her musings of the virile, enigmatic man who lay just down the hall, she closed her eyes and drifted into oblivion.

The wind off the North Sea hurled sleet against the leaded glass panes of Snape Castle’s high arched windows. Seeking greater warmth from the lashings of the spring storm, Lady Celeste Cavendish and her handsome husband, Sir Guy, had retreated to the small solar on the second floor where they played a lively game of piquant before the blazing fireplace.

Celeste fanned her cards. “Oh la la, mon cher, I have you now.”

Guy said nothing but frowned at his hand. By his expression, his wife knew she had him by the tail. She always did whenever they played piquant.

An urgent knocking on the chamber door interrupted her gloating. Without waiting to be admitted, Master Bigelow, the family’s chamberlain, threw open the door. A pale visage had replaced his normally ruddy complexion.

“Your pardon, my lord and lady, but Lady Lucy Talbott has just arrived and she is in great distress.”

Celeste cocked her head. Lucy was one of the girls who had joined Tonia’s venture into the religious life.

Folding his cards, Guy turned to his servant. “In this weather? Does her father accompany her?”

The chamberlain shook his head. “Nay, she comes alone save for some hireling lad of York. From the looks of them both, I would venture to say that they have been in the saddle since daybreak.”

Celeste dropped her cards on the felt-topped gaming table. “Ma foi, Bigelow! Bring the child up here at once. She must be frozen. Take the boy to the kitchens. Mull some ale and bring a goodly bowl of pottage at once.”

Guy rose, and his great height filled the small room. “In distress, you say?”

Halfway out the door, Bigelow paused. “Aye, my lord. Weeping and gibbering something about Lady Tonia.”

Celeste’s heart thumped within her breast. Had Scottish reivers swept down on Tonia’s little convent and attacked the covey of women there? What about the serving men, Norton and Thompson? Hadn’t they protected Tonia and her friends as they had been instructed?

“Don’t stand a-gaping, man,” Guy shouted. “Bring Lady Lucy here!”

Celeste gripped the arms of her chair, afraid to move lest she shatter into a thousand pieces. What had happened to Tonia, her beloved firstborn? Celeste closed her eyes and sent a silent, urgent prayer winging to heaven.

Guy paced the narrow confines of the chamber like a great caged bear. “This comes of folly—mine own,” he berated himself. “I should have never let her move so far from home—nor have sanctioned her religious ideas.”

Masking her growing fears, Celeste gave her husband a tiny smile. “You know that neither of us could ever deny Tonia anything. And her endeavor to retreat from this wicked world into a house dedicated to praising God was worthy.” But Celeste had never fully understood why her beautiful daughter had chosen to pursue the celibate life when so many of the shire’s bachelors had come wooing her.

Guy turned on his heel. “Mayhap the wicked world has followed her even there.”

Celeste covered her breast with her hand to calm the rapid beating of her heart. Just then, Bigelow opened the door and ushered in Lady Lucy. The young woman, no more than seventeen years old, all but fell into Guy’s outstretched arms.

“Oh, my lord, I am so sorry!” she wailed before her tears overwhelmed her.

Guy helped her to his chair, while Celeste draped her fur lap robe around the shivering girl. Lucy continued to cry in convulsive gulps. Putting her arms around the girl’s thin shoulders, Celeste willed her strength to stem Lucy’s grief. Deep circles, almost purple in color, stained the skin under her red, swollen eyes. Her light brown hair was windblown into tangles from her journey. The news she bore must be very dire indeed if Lucy had ventured out into this foul weather without even a head covering.

One of the kitchen maids arrived, bearing a large tray filled with several steaming bowls of food and drink. Celeste took one of the cups of hot ale, blew on it to cool it then held it to Lucy’s quivering lips.

“Drink, sweetling, and take heart. You are safe with us.”

Lucy slurped the brew, heedless of its scalding heat, until the cup was nearly empty before she leaned against the chair’s back. Stroking the girl’s brow, Celeste was further alarmed to discover that Lucy was running a fever.

Guy hunkered down before their guest so that his great height would be less intimidating. Taking Lucy’s trembling hand in his, he spoke to her in gentle tones. “Now, then, Lucy, what is amiss?”

The girl’s eyes grew larger and fresh tears appeared in their corners. “They have taken Tonia away, my lord. Methinks they are going to…to…to execute her.” She dissolved again into weeping.

Celeste felt hot and cold at the same time. A drumming hummed in her ears. I cannot faint! Oh, my sweet Tonia! She dug the nails of her fingers into her palms to keep from collapsing.

Though Guy’s voice remained soft, a dreadful chill crept into his azure eyes. “Tell us who threatens to do this most foul deed, Lucy.”

The girl wiped her nose on the tail of her hanging sleeve before replying, “The King’s men, Lord Cavendish. They came to our house over a week ago in the dark of the night.”

“Where were my men?”

Lucy hunched her shaking body deeper into the folds of the robe. “Norton and Thompson tried to stop them. They demanded to see the King’s orders but the soldiers…oh, my lord, the soldiers killed them on the doorstep.” She covered her mouth with her hand.

Guy compressed his lips into a thin line. “Are you sure they were minions of King Edward?”

Lucy nodded. “They wore the rose badge and the King’s cipher on their surcoats.”

Celeste and Guy exchanged quick glances. For decades the Cavendishes had feared just this sort of attack from the Tudor upstarts who had snatched the crown of England nearly seventy years ago. Someone must have discovered the family’s secret of their Plantagenet blood and their remote claim to the throne through their descent from King Edward IV of blessed memory. Both King Henry VII and his son, Henry VIII, had spent their lifetimes wiping out the last known traces of the realm’s lawful rulers. But to have visited their obsessive vengeance upon an innocent young woman was beyond perfidy—yet a craven trick well practiced by the uneasy Tudor kings.

Guy squeezed Lucy’s hand. “What happened then?”

Lucy drew the furred robe tighter around her. “The soldiers bound us, even though Tonia fought them. Then they bundled us into a dark coach and drove off into the night.” She grimaced. “Their hands were not gentle nor their tongues. They called us traitors, whores and a great deal of worse filth.”

Anger at the indignities forced on her daughter and her companions replaced Celeste’s fear. Striving to keep her boiling temper out of her voice, she asked, “Did those churls…touch you in an unmannerly way?”

Again Lucy shook her head. “They said they would ravish us if we did not obey their orders, but they never dared to carry out their threats.”

Blue fire blazed in Guy’s eyes. “Where did the knaves take you?”

“To York, though we did not know it at the time. The carriage’s windows were covered with a heavy black cloth. We were blindfolded inside a mews before they led us into the courtroom.”

“They convened a trial against you?” A muscle throbbed along Guy’s jawline.

“Aye, my lord,” the girl answered. “Three bearded men in black robes questioned each of us in turn. Hour upon hour they harangued us about our religious beliefs and our little nunnery. They wanted to know if we held allegiance to the Pope in Rome or to King Edward. They asked us if we read the Bible and what prayers we recited. They even asked us if we danced with the devil or practiced witchcraft. At one point, I fainted from hunger and thirst.”

Though Lucy’s account was dire enough, Celeste felt a small relief that no mention had been made of the Cavendish’s Plantagenet heritage. “Surely, ’tis no treason nor witchcraft to pray to God. What fault could they find in that?”

Lucy’s voice sank into a hoarse whisper. “They accused us of being Catholics, of practicing an outlawed religion and going against the express decrees of the King.”

“And thereby you could be called traitors,” Guy rumbled. “But you are free now. Why not our Tonia?”

At the mention of her friend’s name, Lucy’s eyes again filled with tears. “Alas, they convicted her, Sir Guy! They said that since she was the eldest one of us and because she came from a great family, they would make an example of her to discourage any other members of the nobility who had popish leanings. Those horrible judges condemned sweet Tonia as a traitor and sentenced her to death.”

Celeste sank into her chair, and ice encased her heart. “Mon Dieu, say ’tis a trick. ’Tis a lie.”

Lucy’s tears spilled down her cheeks. “Not so, good lady. Afterward, the soldiers turned the rest of us out into the street without so much as a groat among us, but not Tonia. The last I saw of her, they led her through another door and I know not what they have done with her.”

Celeste swallowed down the lump in her throat. “I pray God that she still lives. They would not dare to execute the niece of the Earl of Thornbury—not without hearing an appeal for her defense.”

Guy stood. “Young King Edward thinks he is doing God’s will by cleaning out so-called popish heresies, but the conniving scullions who whisper in his ear know better. ’Tis earthly power they crave, and they seek to wrest it from the nobility by skullduggery, lies and intimidation. There is no gutter too low for them to wallow in.”

“And Agatha, Margaret and little Nan? Where are they?” Celeste asked, though her thoughts rested only on her daughter’s fate.

“We were taken in by Margaret’s cousins who live in York, though that family gave us grudging hospitality, lest we infect them with our shame.” Lucy drank the rest of her cooling ale. “They supplied us with enough coin to hire horses and escort to see us home. I came directly to you, Sir Guy. Mayhap, there is still time to save Tonia.”

“If not, then I swear there will never be world enough or time to slake my vengeance,” he muttered.

The tone of his voice and the look in his eyes frightened Celeste almost as much as her fear for Tonia. If Guy is rash, I could lose both husband and child within the month.

Leaving Celeste to care for Lucy, Guy sent messengers to the nearby homes of his son, Francis, and his nephew, Kitt, heir of the Earl of Thornbury. Guy chose not to involve his powerful older brother just yet until he knew further particulars of Tonia’s whereabouts. What Guy needed now was the youth, strength and stamina of the younger Cavendish males. He intended to be on the road to York by dawn’s light. Based on Lucy’s account of the time that had elapsed between her release and her arrival at Snape Castle, he reckoned eight days had passed since that farce of a trial. Time enough for Tonia’s execution. He buried that possibility in the depths of his mind. She was still alive, he told himself, as he sharpened his sword. He would have received word by now if she were not.

If Tonia is indeed dead, falsely accused and even more falsely murdered, then God save the King—from me!