‘You can tell them to go to the Devil.’

  ‘And I do. But I do not wish to be disturbed from this moment.’

  I smiled and emptied my cup. The king filled it again for me. ‘Me, too, Harry. I like this.’

  The king sighed. ‘Wasn’t this a splendid day?’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘And do you know … I was almost tempted. Almost, I say, to your offer to rush away from it all, to gallop down to the nearest farm and offer up my jewels for it. Almost.’

  ‘You’d make a fine farmer, Harry. You understand the land.’

  He chuckled.

  I glanced at him, his profile edged by firelight. ‘Would you have? With a little more prodding from me?’

  He smiled and gazed at me sidelong. ‘I reckon we’ll both never know.’

  I sat back and shivered, looking up past the treetops. ‘Aye me, will you look at that sky?’

  He lay back his head against his chair and marveled, as did I, at the blackness sprinkled with thousands upon thousands of stars, like a bejeweled gown. He pointed upward as we both observed a shooting star streak across the heavens.

  ‘Look at that, Will,’ he breathed. ‘Do you suppose it is a good omen?’

  ‘I can’t believe that anything this night, at the end of this perfect day, could be anything other than a good omen.’

  ‘I think so too, God will it.’

  ‘Then let’s drink to it, Harry!’ He clapped our goblets together, spilling a good deal of the contents onto our hose and shoes, and drank up.

  An icy breeze came up and he hugged his leopard pelt around his shoulders. I had to make do with a fox fur. ‘Will,’ he began, sounding sober, ‘everyone has an opinion about who is under my bedclothes, but I know nothing of your bedchamber. Is there some lady who has caught your eye? You are young yet.’

  By the grace of God, an opening. The perfect moment to tell him of Marion and her recalcitrant father. If Heyward could see me now in intimate conversation with the mightiest monarch in Christendom, what would he say to that! Would he still think wifing his daughter to a fool was worthless?

  I opened my mouth to say, but the dim, sober part of me told me to pause. Remember, Will, you aren’t going to talk to Henry about it. And you recall why, don’t you? Because it would put a wall up between Marion and her father. Her stubborn, irrational father who refuses to learn anything about me, who doesn’t like me simply because I am a fool by profession and have no title other than that.

  What was I to say to Henry, then?

  ‘Oh … here and there, sire.’

  ‘No one in particular?’

  ‘Who would love this silly face and this crooked back?’ I hoist my cup to my lips again. Though once, I had thought I was not worthy of love, but my quick humor brought women and men to my bed. They may not have noticed my face upon first look, but they took a second look when I made them laugh.

  ‘Nonsense, Will. I see the way maids look at you.’

  I smiled. ‘You have?’

  He nodded with a wide grin, the lubrication of wine brightening his eyes again. ‘I have.’

  ‘So you see? What need do I have of a sweetheart … or a wife?’

  ‘You dally? For shame.’

  ‘What is good for the king is good enough for his jester.’

  ‘A king has a different role.’

  ‘In the end, we are all men. We are the bee, flitting from flower to flower. And we are all fools.’

  ‘You must not get yourself into trouble, Will. I am the king. I cannot be prodded by several gruff fellows in the dark corners of court, defending the honor of a sister or daughter.’

  ‘Ah. Then you know such things occur?’

  ‘Of course I do. And many a man has pleaded with me to help them with a lady.’

  ‘Oh?’ As casually as I could with an unsteady hand full of a goblet of spirits, I rested my chin on the other hand. ‘And, er, what is the outcome? Say, when a father will not grant a man the leave to wed his daughter … or some such. And the suitor pleads to you.’

  ‘I tell them that my influence in the matter will cause rifts in the family. That a father must know best for his own daughter.’

  ‘Oh.’ And so Providence had saved my skin once again. My conscience would not let me speak, and it had been the right choice, after all. But my heart still ached.

  Suddenly, I was weary of this hunt and just wanted to return home. To court. To Marion.

  ‘Perhaps it is time to go to bed,’ I said, slowly levering myself from the chair.

  ‘Will you not wait with me for a while?’

  I shivered. Was this not what a saddened Jesus asked of his Apostles the night before his death? But Henry had nothing of that kind to fear. Only more sessions with noisy lawyers and clerics, with obtrusive cardinals and bishops, and always Lady Nan asking over and over, ‘When, Henry? When?’

  So I fell back into my seat and patted his hand. Poor old king. Poor old jester.

  SEVENTEEN

  Three days we were gone from court, and Henry’s privy councillors were glad to have him back, as the petitions and Secretary Knight’s notes piled up.

  I worried that Marion might have been sent away or wed already whilst I was gone … but thank Christ she was not. She was back in her own apartments, but now there was a page guarding them. I pushed the unfortunate boy aside and marched in. ‘MAR-i-on!’

  She came through the door from her bedchamber and glared at me. ‘Where have you been?’

  ‘In the king’s company.’

  ‘You went on the hunt?’

  ‘Aye, I did. Spent a lot of time with His Majesty.’

  ‘Oh.’ She sat in a chair by the fire and gnawed on a fingernail. ‘And did you … speak of such private things as … as …’

  I knelt beside her and took her hand. ‘I thought about asking him to tell your father that, fool or no, you were to marry me. I knew he could force your father’s hand. But … in the end, I did not.’

  She took her hand back. ‘Why, Will?’

  ‘Because … because I knew it would cause trouble between you and your father. And definitely between me and your father. I couldn’t do that to you, Marion.’

  ‘I’m with child, Will.’

  That stopped everything; my heart, my breath, my blood circulating – no. The latter was not true, for it roared like a waterfall through my ears. ‘Marion,’ I whispered, taking back her hand. What did I expect? We did spend a lot of time in each other’s arms, in each other’s beds. ‘That … puts another chess piece on the board.’

  ‘At least, I think I am.’

  ‘Would you tell this to your father?’

  ‘Not until I was certain.’

  ‘He’d still hate me.’

  ‘But we would be wed.’

  I rose from my position and released her hand. ‘When will you be certain enough to tell him? At the child’s birthing?’

  ‘I can be more certain before that.’

  ‘Very well. We’ll wait, then. Rodrigo—’

  ‘Rodrigo has been sent back to Spain.’

  ‘What!’ Three days. Three little days I was absent and suddenly my world had turned over. ‘When?’

  She sighed and bit that nail again. I pulled her hand from her mouth. She’d bite them all to the quick if not told to stop. ‘Yesterday. Father went to the Spanish ambassador with his plea, and they quickly bundled him off on the next ship. He left a letter for you.’

  She rose and went to her table, taking the letter from her secret drawer. She handed it to me and I opened it.

  Dearest Will, God keep you and bless you,

  I am sorry I cannot tell you in person, but circumstances have made it impossible. I shall not have to marry your lady but I return to my homeland in disgrace, or so it is scattered abroad. Do not fear for me, for I shall find another place with another worthy. In the current day, it is no great sin to err in the English court due to the circumstances surrounding the Great Matter. Such is the philosophy of our gracious king and emperor, Charles V. I know you will keep fighting for justice for my lord Gonzalo, and I commend your care to the Holy Virgin to that course. Content yourself that you are doing the best you can. I shall pray for you and always think fondly of you.

  Your loving friend,

  Rodrigo Muñoz

  I folded the paper and tucked it into my doublet. ‘Well, that’s that,’ I said sorrowfully. I would miss him.

  ‘My father still talks of sending me away. I have still refused him.’

  An ache was coming upon my head and I rubbed my brow. ‘Christ, Marion. If you carry my child, not only should I marry you, but you must know that my heart dearly wants to marry you.’

  ‘And if my father still refuses?’

  ‘Then I shall ask Harry.’ I knelt before her again. ‘But first, I must confront that swine Kendrick.’

  ‘He’s a killer, Will. He’s not afraid to hurt people. I’ll not have him hurting you.’

  ‘Me? I fear for you.’

  ‘You silly-faced fool. I shouldn’t want to live if something happened to you.’

  It was a strange thing to perk up to, but I did. ‘You love me … that much?’

  Her hand cupped my cheek and her eyes grew tender. ‘Of course I do. And more. You are my sweet man.’

  I reached up and kissed her, and once tasting that sweet nectar, I rose, embracing her tightly, kissing her deeply. We were thus engaged for a time, and it would have moved to her bed ordinarily, but I thought better of it. Reluctantly, I released her and stepped back. ‘We … cannot. Not now. I must find Kendrick.’

  ‘Yes. My brave, brave jester.’

  Brave jester, or idiot fool?

  I sought out Wolsey. I had heard that in the early days of Henry’s reign, young Wolsey was heaped with many honors by His Majesty. Henry had liked the man’s industry, for Henry himself – as much as he talked of the cares of state – did very little in that regard. He liked his music, his dalliances, his exercise of riding and fighting, but he did not like to read documents and he abhorred writing letters. He truly should have been a farmer.

  But of late, Henry no longer trusted his cardinal. He could not secure a divorce from the pope, and in his failure, Henry did not deem him dependable. Wolsey’s minions – like farm animals – were slowly taking over the farm and the farmer was the last to know.

  I was told by servants that Wolsey was in his apartments, but there was a crowd of courtiers surrounding it, all waiting to see him. Many were turned away.

  ‘Waiting for something, Somers?’

  Like a snake, he came upon me without a sound, and like seeing a snake, I jumped. Cromwell.

  ‘Good master, I seek …’ What could I tell him? For wasn’t it Cromwell who told me Kendrick was no longer welcomed to the cardinal’s presence? ‘I … seek Father Kendrick.’

  ‘Strange you should say so.’

  ‘Why strange, my lord?’

  ‘Because no one has seen him for some days.’

  That was passing strange. ‘Is anyone worried about it?’

  ‘Only you. And why does it concern you so?’ He took a step closer. I resisted taking a step back.

  I studied him, my adversary. For he was the instrument for engineering the exchange from our good Queen Catherine to Lady Nan on the throne. Could I trust him? Every pore in my body, every vein screamed that I could not. So instead, I blurted, ‘It has been said that Father Kendrick’s mother was Spanish born.’

  ‘Yes. I believe that is so. We … had only just discovered it.’

  ‘Do you think he was a spy for the Spanish?’ I said as innocently as my eyes could achieve.

  It did not convince Cromwell. ‘I think you know already, Somers.’

  ‘But truly, Thomas,’ I began, falling back on my presence as a fool, ‘this spying and this condition of his being missing. Does none of that trouble you?’

  ‘I am not troubled.’

  ‘But … missing! That could mean mischief.’

  ‘Could it?’

  ‘Come, Tom. You are as wily as I am. Can you not tell me?’

  ‘And why, Master Somers, should I do that? Why should I tell the court jester of the serious matters of court politics?’

  I suddenly made an elaborate shrug. ‘You know me well, Tom. You know that I use all the information I can find to taunt and to shoot my barbs. I should like to taunt Kendrick. Oh, very much so.’

  I watched his face, and it was like machinery, like the gears of a great clock, each tooth of each gear moving inexorably to the next tooth and the next, moving on until it struck a great chime. This was all on his face, and I had the feeling it was on mine too, for we were not so different, Cromwell and I. We could discern men from the mere look of them, and detect their weaknesses and their faults. But we differed in what we did with that information. I merely wanted to bring their faults to the light of day to make merry, to make fun, and to put them in their place.

  But Cromwell was a ploughman, planting them deep into the furrows they themselves made … and burying them over.

  ‘If I should find out something more about him,’ said Cromwell, ‘say … something scandalous, I would make certain that he disappeared … forever.’

  ‘Forever is a long time. Perhaps this silly jester has information of that kind. But it might implicate someone else who is an innocent and like to lose their place in court. That is my dilemma.’ My place. But I could not hand him an arrow to target me, of course.

  ‘I see. This … innocent. Is their value to court greater by their presence or their absence?’

  The man was an accountant, seeking to find the worth of men on his tally sheet, to see how they could be used or bought. ‘Their value is very much to the greater good should they stay at court, Tom.’ I lifted one hand heavenward and placed the other on my heart. ‘I give my oath before God Almighty.’ The truest prayer I ever made.

  He blinked slowly like some great toad. Finally, he huffed a sigh. ‘I do believe you, Somers. Will you tell me then?’

  I got in close, closer than I wanted to, and with the grace of God to uphold me, I told him quietly, ‘I saw him with a crossbow run from the scene of Lady Jane Perwick’s murder. I followed him and picked up the discarded crossbow. And I have reason to believe that it was he who also murdered Don Gonzalo de Yscar.’

  His eyes widened. I do not think Cromwell was often surprised, but this time he was. ‘Is this the truth, Somers, or is it some elaborate jest?’

  I crossed myself. ‘It is on my honor and my love for His Majesty that I swear the truthfulness of what I have witnessed and discovered.’

  ‘You’ve done well, Somers. You have it on my honor that I shall do everything I can to apprehend him. Does he know you know?’

  ‘Aye, Tom. That’s why I feared to say. What if next time he aimed for me and hit the king?’

  His face blanked, but in a way that gave me courage. ‘Never fear, Somers. I am in your debt.’ He bowed to me – God’s body! – and took his leave through the crowd and into Wolsey’s presence chamber.

  That’s done it. Your fat is in the fire now, Will. No going back. I had told him. And what if he discovered about Will Somers’s penchant for buggery? He’d use it to use me, he would. But I had to take that chance.

  I made my way through the court, dodging some courtiers whom I did not want to entertain, and in so doing, I found myself near the quarters of the queen. At present, because of the roiling dust of the Great Matter, it was a lonely and unused part of the palace, for visitors were no longer allowed. Two guards stood at the door, except one left with a quick trot, probably off to the necessary. The one remaining seemed bored. The queen and the Princess Mary had been shifted to what was now a dark and lonely corner, the loneliest of Greenwich.

  I could not pass up the opportunity, so I sauntered into the corridor’s light. The guard finally had something to do and he watched me carefully. I smiled and came up to him, glancing up and down to his crimson coat and breast plate on his chest. ‘Good ev’ning, friend. Why do you stand alone at an unoccupied door?’

  ‘It’s not unoccupied …’ and then he stopped his mouth, for he had spoken the unspoken.

  ‘Truly?’ I said, inspecting the door as if I were an architect. ‘It does seem unoccupied for such a busy court, for no one seems to come or go. Who lies within?’

  ‘Nobody,’ he said, and even winced at the stupidity of it.

  ‘Nobody? But you said it was occupied.’

  ‘I … God’s teeth,’ he rasped. ‘Go away, Jester.’

  ‘But I am a curious lad, and now here lies a mystery. It is unoccupied and yet occupied … by Nobody. By St George. According to Odysseus, beyond that door lies a Cyclops!’

  He clearly did not understand the reference, and I hadn’t the time to tutor him. ‘Look, friend. I know who is within, and you know who I am.’ I closed on him, speaking frankly. ‘Dear, dear sir. This was my family … and I miss them. May I please spend but a few minutes in their company? It will not harm you and may, in fact, show your mercy to the Almighty.’

  He glanced around. He surely did not wish to accommodate me, but he was young, younger than I, and he had not yet been jaded by court.

  Finally, with a screwed brow, he rasped, ‘Hurry you now. I’ll not wait to get you out again.’

  ‘Bless you, bless you.’ I didn’t hesitate to grab the handle and open the door to the antechamber, closing the door behind me. The first person I encountered was Catherine’s lady-in-waiting, Maria de Salinas, Baroness Willoughby. I had not known she was still at court, hidden away with her dear friend.

  She burst into tears when she saw me and I bowed and took her into my arms. ‘Dear Lady Maria. It is only Will Somers. No need to weep over it. I don’t look that bad, do I?’

  ‘No, you fool,’ she said in her still thick Spanish accent. ‘It is because you look that good. That good to see you again.’

  ‘I don’t have much time. I only wanted to give my salutations to the queen and Princess Mary.’

  ‘The queen. So you still call her so. There are many at court who will not. Come, Will. You are most welcome.’