Outrageous Read Free Page B

purse?”
    More slowly, he produced the heavy pouch.
    She weighed it in her hand and sighed with relief. “Sweet Mary has blessed me.”
    “The queen sends you much of her meager allowance.”
    “Aye,” she agreed, her thoughts on the two-year-old napping in her cottage. “She is ever tender of my well-being.” Then she saw his outrage, which he didn’t bother to hide. Sitting down on a stone bench, she cocked her head and smiled scornfully. “Why, Griffith ap Powel, whatever were you thinking?”
    “I was wondering if you have some knowledge the queen wishes withheld, and so dip your hand into her pocket.”
    His bluntness proved his blatant disrespect for her, and anger, so recently subdued, again flashed through her. The light breeze off the lake accentuated the burn of her cheeks, and she glared at him. Thenshe remembered the secret that was not her own, and she dropped her gaze. In a careful monotone she said, “The Lady Elizabeth is no mark for a blackmailer. She’s lived an exemplary life. How could she not? Her father, King Edward, cherished her first. Then her uncle, King Richard the Third, did his duty by her.”
    “ King Richard?” He sneered. “The usurper, you mean. Richard was Edward’s brother. Edward’s sons should have inherited the throne, but where are they now? Where are they now?”
    Clutching the leather, feeling the roll of the coins inside, she again repressed her animosity. “I do not know, but Elizabeth was their sister. She had naught to do with their disappearance.”
    “’Twas Richard who imprisoned them in the Tower, from whence they never returned.” He put his foot on the bench beside her, leaned his arm on his knee, and bent his face close against hers. “They disappeared, never to be seen again. I fought for Henry and prayed he would be given the chance to unite the Yorks and the Lancasters in marriage, but when we came to London, we discovered the truth. We discovered the lady Elizabeth had danced with their murderer. She lived in Richard’s court, wore the clothes with which he gifted her, and gave his court a legitimacy it wouldn’t have had without her. Elizabeth shows the streak of decay that has riddled the House of York, and now that decay has passed into the Tudor line.”
    Without conscious thought, she swung the gold-filled purse against his face. His nose cracked. Staggering back, he covered his face, and while blood seeped through his fingers, she grasped his shirt in her hands and jerked him toward her.
    The linen tore in small, high bursts, but her voice was low and intense. “My lady Elizabeth sacrificed everything to save her brothers. Everything. By mytroth, do not ever malign her in my hearing again, lest I take my sword and run you through.”
    She shoved him away and rushed up the path, abandoning the purse in her haste and her fury. When she was sure she was out of sight, she picked up her skirts for more speed and lengthened her stride. She wanted to get away from that boor, that ass, that sycophant of Henry’s.
    It probably hadn’t been politic to strike him. Especially not with that heavy purse. She’d heard a crack—had she broken his nose?
    Yet how dare he accuse Elizabeth of collaborating with Richard in the death of her brothers? Marian knew the truth of it. She had been placed in Elizabeth’s service at five, for they were the same age and related by blood. From the very beginning it had been made clear to Marian that she was to serve Elizabeth in every way.
    At the same time, it had been made clear to Elizabeth that she was a sacrifice to the dynasty. Every motion, every word, every smile, was weighed and judged as worthy or not worthy of a princess of the House of York. A kind, amiable child, Elizabeth strove always to be judged worthy, and if her intelligence was not the highest—well, a princess had no need of intelligence.
    No need, until her father, King Edward IV, died. Then came the days of treachery, and Elizabeth was ill