Maid of Secrets Read Free

years.
    “God’s eyes!” Momentarily forgetting everything except that this girl was a child with no one to care for her, I dropped my basket with a thunk and dove toward her, barely catching her in time before she went facedown into the mud. As it was, I yanked the girl back so heavily that she crashed into me, her hands grasping for mine as her eyes fluttered back open.
    The moment our fingers touched, I knew.
    Somehow I’d just been marked.
    Oblivious to my sudden panic, the girl caught my gaze and held it, her face quivering in distress. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her voice broken with tears.
    “Sorry for what? Who is doing this to you?” I jerked the girl to her feet, then shook her thin shoulders roughly, my lye-burned fingers looking painful and cracked against the fine fabric of her gown. “Who are you?” I demanded.
    “Sophia!” she breathed. “But you must flee! I’d thought it was just a dream, but it’s coming true! I would never— Please know that I would never have done this had I known what they would do!”
    It was already too late to ask her what in the bloody bones she was talking about, because steps were even now soundingaround me. The fleeting soft strides of someone else slipping away, and then the thunking crunch of authority.
    “Unhand the girl,” came the terse command behind me, puffed with the weight of nobility. That’d be Sir William, sure as I was born.
    Damn my eyes.
    I carefully made sure Sophia, if that was truly her name, was steady on her feet, then turned to face Sir William, ready to spin myself out of whatever trouble I’d stumbled into. I could play the role of a rollicking washerwoman as well as any other part I’d learned. It was something of a specialty of mine.
    I opened up my mouth to let fly a string of expletives, but Sir William raised his hand abruptly, cutting me off. “Your presence is demanded by the Queen,” he said.
    Hadn’t expected that.
    “The Queen!” I burst out, masking my alarm with a roughneck London cackle. I raised my brows and thrust my hip out, eyeing Sir William up one side and down the other. “The Queen ’erself, ’e says. Well, I doubt that, I surely do. Wot would the Queen want with me, eh, bonny?”
    I beamed at Sir William with a gape-mouthed grin, wishing for all the world that I’d lost a few of my teeth already. “But what a fine man you are, my lord. Do I know you? Might you simply ’ave a fancy to buy me an ale—is that what this is about?”
    Sir William took a step back. “I beg your pardon?”
    The guards that were with him tried to remain unperturbed, but I caught a stifled laugh, a nervous shuffle. I bore my gaze down on Sir William and took a long step forward,jamming my fists onto my padded hips, amply stuffed with rags.
    “It is, isn’t it!” I crowed. “You ’ad but to ask, my lord. Ol’ Sally is always thirsty.” I grinned back at Sophia, only to find that she was also staring at me, stupefied.
    This might actually work.
    I returned my attention to Sir William, advancing on him with a wide smile, making a show of adjusting my apron over my round belly before I reached out to squeeze his arm. “What a right strong man you are.” I grinned. “I’m happy to spend an hour chattin’ with you.”
    Sir William was looking at me with growing alarm. “I am ordering you to come with me to the Queen’s court,” he intoned harshly. “Or failing that, to her Tower. It is your choice.”
    “The Tower!” I threw up my arms at that, thrusting my padded belly forward like I was going to dissolve into a puddle of jollity. This was going to be one devil of a costume to flee in, but one did what one had to do. “There’s no need for any of that. You can tell me everythin’ right ’ere. What is it then, eh?” I winked broadly, reaching up to chuck him under the chin. “What stories do you want to whisper in my ear?”
    “I beg your pardon!”
    “You won’t be the