The Prince of Lies (Night's Masque, #3)(128)

“It doesn’t hurt, being him,” he said. “It’s exciting really. He knows so much, though he won’t tell me everything. He says I’m not old enough yet.”

“He’s probably right.” The former ambassador must have seen many things that were not good for a child to know.

“Father and Uncle Sandy are going to fight Prince Henry, aren’t they?”

Coby hesitated.

“Aren’t they?”

“Yes.”

“I want to go with them.”

“You’re not old enough. It’s far too dangerous.”

“But I hate the prince. He lied to me. He said he wanted to be my friend, but he–” Kit broke off, frowning. “And then Shawe killed my friend Sidney.”

“I know. I’m so sorry.” She cradled his head against her shoulder, expecting him to cry.

“So.” He pushed himself upright, mouth set in a hard line. “I want to kill Henry.”

“Kit, darling, you can’t go around killing people. Especially princes.”

“But you said it was all right, to protect your loved ones. And Henry will hurt you and Daddy and Uncle Sandy if he’s not stopped.”

She sighed. “We’ll talk about it again tomorrow. Now go to bed. You’re tired, and so am I.”

He scrambled out of her lap, still glowering. She walked him to the door – he and Sandy had the adjoining bedchamber – and closed it behind him. Going over to the bed she began unbuttoning her doublet, then remembered herself and knelt to pray. For all their souls, but Kit’s most of all. If he had one left.



“Witchcraft?” Grey leaned forward in his chair. “How long have you known about this, Catlyn?”

Mal looked around uncomfortably. The two men were alone now, Sandy having excused himself as soon as his own part in this was done.

“A long time,” he said at last. “But I had no proof. Shawe had a powerful protector in the Earl of Northumberland, and there is no law against alchemy.”

“We must take this news to the Regency Council–”

“We cannot. They…” He halted as Grey’s words sank in. “Regency? Robert is dead?”

“Yesterday. You did not hear the news?”

“We’ve been avoiding inns and other travellers.” He shook his head. “Dear God… Then we must act quickly, or Prince Arthur too will be dead within the week.”

“Arthur? What has he to do with all this?”

“Nothing, except that he is the only other man in the kingdom with an indisputable claim to the throne. The conspirators who planned the assassination of King Robert and the murder of Prince Edward have one thorn in their side, one obstacle to total domination of the new king.” He leapt up from his seat and rounded on the duke. “It will take a couple of days’ preparation, but I believe I know how to stop them.”





CHAPTER XXXV



“I don’t know why I let you talk me into this,” Mal said as Grey’s men snapped the manacles around his wrists.

He shuffled out of the stables into the courtyard, blinking against the sunlight. Sandy was likewise chained at wrist and ankle; Coby remained free, and was now dressed in women’s attire again. Mal wondered if she had managed to conceal any lockpicks or weaponry under the full brocade skirts. If not, or if she was searched, this could be a very short mission.

“Henry wants us prisoner more than anything else in the world,” she said in a low voice. “He will be too eager to take charge of us to think about anything else.”

“She is right,” Sandy put in. “Jathekkil may be a twice-reborn guiser, but he is at present a boy, and a boy’s emotions rule him. He will strut and gloat a while, and not stop to consider that we came to him willingly.”

Grey limped across the courtyard towards them, his pain-racked features smoothed into an approximation of a smile. The duke was taking far more pleasure in this plan than was entirely necessary.

“What of your men, my lord?” Mal said quietly. “Can they be trusted to play their part?”

“Of course. They are not amateurs like Frogmore. They may be Huntsmen, but I hold their loyalty.”

“I hope so.”

Grey’s men fell in around them. Most were in the duke’s blue-and-white livery with his scarlet unicorn badge on the left breast, but two were rough-looking fellows in leather jerkins and threadbare trews. Their pupils were still slightly dilated from last night’s dose of qoheetsakhan.

“Henry won’t notice, will he?” Mal asked Sandy.

“I hope he will be too pleased to see us to question the means of acquiring us.”

“And Grey was telling the truth, that they are real Huntsmen?”

Sandy shuddered. “Oh yes.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, but we need them to be able to fool Henry.”

His brother nodded. It was a necessary part of the plan. If Olivia questioned the men, she would use nothing as clumsy as torture. Mal needed the men to have some genuine memories of hunting skraylings, to distract her from the false memories Sandy had given them of capturing the twins.

Four liveried men with pole-arms led the way out of Suffolk House, followed by the three prisoners. Behind them came more retainers, this time with crossbows, just in case the captives changed their mind and tried to run for it. Last of all came the Huntsmen, sauntering along the street with heads held high. After all, they truly believed they had captured the King’s worst enemies and would be rewarded for it.