“These rooms are quite adequate, my lord chancellor,” she demurred. Heath would have to find her again if she was moved.
“I insist, my lady. If I left you here, it would bring down the king’s wrath upon my head.”
Tina shrugged an elegant shoulder and consented sweetly.
“I shall present you to King Henry tonight in the banqueting hall.”
“Ah, thank you, my lord! It is a pleasant change to meet a gentleman.”
The new rooms were exceptionally lovely. The larger chamber was a bed-sitting room paneled in golden oak. The bed-hangings and carpet were Tudor green, and there was a carved fireplace with a small fire burning to keep out the damp of the river. Before the fire was a small table with a pair of cushioned chairs, while the adjoining chamber was designed to be a dressing room with a gilt screen and slipper bath and a trundle bed for a maid.
Since she was finally going to be presented to the king, Tina decided to wear the elegant black and silver creation Ram had purchased for her in Glasgow. It was the latest fashion, with its enormous bishop sleeves and low-cut square neckline. Ada fastened a small silver lace ruff about Tina’s neck and assured her that her vivid hair was far too beautiful to hide beneath a coif.
Tina realized she may only get one opportunity to speak with the king, and when so much depended upon his goodwill, the first impression she made upon him would be vital. This was the fifth day since Ram had been taken. He must have arrived here in London by now. Perhaps the king had already been informed that Lord Vengeance was his prisoner and had given orders to hang him.
Tina closed her eyes and offered up a silent prayer, then sent Ram a silent message to keep up his courage. Her stomach knotted painfully whenever she thought of him, and since this afternoon’s close encounter she hadn’t been able to catch her breath. “Ada, I need air. Walk with me to the stables, and I’ll speak with the men who gave us escort. At tomorrow’s revels I want them to stick close, for even the gardens and park are not safe for unescorted women here at Greenwich.”
They had almost reached the stable doors when there came such a baying of hunting dogs and pounding of hoof-beats that it sounded like the hounds of Hell had been let loose. All of a sudden the courtyard before the stables overflowed with the returning royal hunt and its carnage. A master of hounds shouted orders to the kennelmen and fewterers who brandished whips among the unruly dogs. The hunt master sounded his horn over and over, half-deafening any who were unfortunate enough to be on hand. The men of the court and a sprinkling of women were laughing and congratulating the king for taking down the most game
The king’s beaters had a score of deer trussed, not all of which were dead. The king’s arrows had left some of the stags and does wounded in their haunches, and now to great cheers of encouragement, Henry bent to dispatch them with his knife. He was covered with blood, totally oblivious to his magnificent clothes. He was so immersed in his task, the blood dripped from his elbows, forming great dark pools on the flagstones of the courtyard
Valentina stepped inside the dimness of the stables and swayed. Ada saw that her face had gone chalk white. She took Tina’s arm to steady her “Take a deep breath.”
Tina shook her head, “I can’t breathe—I feel as if I’m suffocating.” Henry Tudor was the coarsest man she had ever seen. Everything he did, he managed to turn into an obscenity. Even the Highland chiefs like Angus and Argyll, though rough and uncouth, were not this repulsive. The King of England did everything to excess. He was oversized, overindulgent, loathsome, and offensive. All those about him fawned upon him to such a degree it made Tina want to spew.
As she slipped from the stables, Lord Howard caught a glimpse of her from the tail of his eye and sent his groom to learn where she was lodged at Greenwich. She was an alluring creature, no longer virgin since her hand-fasting, and the thought of her beneath him sent the blood beating in his throat.
Chapter 33
Tina returned to her chamber and stood at the open casement with unseeing eyes. She shuddered at the thought of going to the banqueting hall to dine, but it would be her only opportunity to be presented to the king and give him the letter. She would have done almost anything to avoid meeting Henry Tudor, but circumstances did not afford her such a luxury.
She stood pensively recalling how she had once hated Ram Douglas. If only he could somehow be there with her now to watch over her, she would have felt completely and totally safe. She sighed and told herself to stop her silly, wishful daydreaming. She had a job to do, and she vowed to do it to the very best of her ability.
A dark shadowed figure appeared at the casement, but before she could be alarmed she heard Heath’s low, reassuring voice: “I saw them take Ram off the ship. He’s in the Bloody Tower which is part of the inner curtain wall That’s the place they’ve reserved for Scots prisoners.”
“Was he chained and manacled?” she demanded.
“Tina, he was alive! For Christ’s sake, stop torturing yourself! Concentrate on getting Howard’s permission to see him. I’ll take care of everything else. We need an official paper.”
“You have a plan!” she cried with renewed hope.
“Aye, but you are better off in ignorance. Just get the paper.” His shadow merged with the darkness of the gardens beyond her window, and though she had a hundred unasked questions, she felt better able to face the task ahead of her.
She brushed her hair until it crackled, picked up her silver-handled black lace fan, and walked to the banqueting hall with feline grace. Ada took her place at a servants’ table, while Tina waited politely for one of the stewards to seat her. He had instructions to find her a place close by the chamberlain so that he could hand her over to the chancellor for presentation to His Majesty after the meal.
Music floated down from the minstrels’ gallery, while pages and squires rushed about the hall doing their masters’ bidding. Finally, Henry Tudor and his so-called gentlemen arrived, and the servitors started carrying in their laden-down trays.
Tina crumbled some bread absently as she sipped a little watered wine. Her nostrils pinched together to keep the smell of the roast venison at bay, and she tried to forget the does’ eyes, which had been liquid with fear. Of course these were not the same animals, but it would be a long time before Tina would be able to eat anything that had been hunted down.
Ada had told her that the queen, Catherine of Aragon, and her ladies had taken up residence at Richmond, farther along the river, so that she could politely turn a blind eye to the king’s pleasures.
Tina paid more attention to the rich garments the courtiers wore than to the people inside them. As a result she did not see the narrowed eyes of Lady Howard, the Countess of Surrey, upon her, nor was she aware of that woman’s son, Edmund, observing her from another part of the hall. She was studying a crimson doublet with a white lace shirt pulled through its slashes when her eyes slowly rose to the closely trimmed beard above a frilled collar, and she looked into the familiar eyes of Lord Howard.
Apparently he had been watching her. Tina was so relieved to have made eye contact with him that she sent him a brilliant smile across the room and received a warm nod from him in acknowledgment. For the first time that day, Tina was able to take a deep breath.
Edmund Howard saw the look his father sent the vivid beauty and cursed beneath his breath. He knew better than to compete with his father for a woman’s favors. Mercifully, Tina had no notion that Lord Howard had just saved her.
Finally the board was cleared except for the wine cups and sweetmeats. Henry Tudor took pride in eating and drinking his gentlemen beneath the table each night. The chamberlain bowed before Valentina, then handed her over to the chancellor. He hurried forward with her toward the raised dais before the wrestlers came out to claim Henry’s attention. The king was diverted from his victuals as his eyes took in the exquisite face and figure of the young woman who had eluded him since mass this morning.
