Beware, Princess Elizabeth Read Free Page B

he had the same bright eyes, reddish brown hair, and quick smile that I remembered well. He approached me shyly, but as soon as we joined the other dancers, his shyness vanished.
    The dance was my favorite—lavolta, in which the partners take turns lifting each other off the floor. Of course, the lady does no actual lifting; the gentleman first executes a leap and then seizes the lady by the waist and propels her high into the air. When finally we stopped, breathless and laughing, Robin brought me a cup of hippocras and begged me to tell him where my life was taking me.
    "I cannot say, Robin," I told him frankly as we sipped the spiced wine. "I am the king's daughter, but I think they have all forgotten me."
    "I have not," he said, suddenly serious and taking my hand. "I shall never forget you, Elizabeth."
    The passion with which he uttered this promise startled me, for I'd always thought of him as a brother. Yet his tone as well as his words held my attention. "Nor shall I forget you," I said.
    I was happy passing the time with my old friend. But to my surprise, Tom Seymour appeared and claimed me for the next dance, a grave and stately pavane. I had felt lighthearted and at ease with Robin Dudley, but my feet turned to lumps of clay and my hands were cold as fish when I was on Tom Seymour's arm. I wanted to hide from embarrassment, and at the same time I wanted the dance to go on and on. The attraction I felt for this man was strong, the strongest I had ever experienced, and I sensed that he was drawn to me as well. But I knew the attraction was improper, even dangerous.
    Later, when I looked again for Robin, he had disappeared. Then Kat materialized and announced that it would be wise for me to retire. "King Edward has long departed for his bedchamber," she said, frowning at me, "and so must you, madam."
    I blamed the fireworks and booming cannons for keeping me awake until dawn. In truth the faces of a handsome man and a handsome boy troubled my sleep.

CHAPTER 3
The Lord Admiral
    The day after Edward's coronation, Dowager Queen Catherine, my father's widow, astonished me with an invitation to come live with her at Chelsea Palace in London. "I would be happy for your company, Elizabeth," she said, "and it would give me great pleasure to continue to oversee your education. What do you say? Are you in agreement?"
    "Oh yes, my lady Catherine!" I said, for I was fond of my stepmother.
    London was noisy and dirty, unlike my quiet country home at Hatfield, where the only noise came from flocks of sheep in the nearby fields. But London was also exciting.
    In preparation for the move from Hatfield, Kat bustled from chamber to chamber, giving orders to the serving maids. Now and again she paused to smile broadly at me.
    "To London, to London!" she fairly sang. "Such a life you shall now have, madam!"
    The maids were packing my chemises, my petticoats, my kirtles and gowns, my shoes and stockings and boots—all now too short, too tight, or too worn or threadbare—into wooden trunks. Kat looked first at a blue velvet gown she was holding in her hands and then at me. "You need a new gown, or two or three. You have grown at least a hand span since this one was made for you. I shall speak to Mr. Parry about it."
    Thomas Parry, a puffed-up little Welshman, was my cofferer, in charge of the allowance that my father used to send for the upkeep of my household. His sister, Blanche Parry, a plainspoken and practical woman, was also in my service. Blanche and Kat had always complained there were not enough funds to provide properly for the king's younger daughter, although there always seemed to be plenty for his elder daughter, Mary. I wondered if that might now change with my brother on the throne.
    On a wintry day in early March, under clouds heavy with snow, Kat and I and a small retinue of servants once again set out for London. Thick mud sucked at the horses' hooves, slowing our pace.
    "Does my sister know of this change?" I asked