Prologue
Adam de Marisco was dead.One moment he had been sitting at the highboard in the Great Hall of his home, surrounded by the many members of his family who were gathered to celebrate the holidays. Three of his stepsons and two of his stepdaughters, along with their families, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren packed the hall, which until a minute ago had been filled with laughter.Adam’s laughter.Even at the advanced age of eighty-four, Adam de Marisco’s laughter boomed loudly when he was amused. It was a particularly ribald jest spoken by his daughter-in-law, Valentina Burke, that had occasioned his latest bout of mirth.
Wiping his eyes, he had taken his wife’s hand up in his and kissed it tenderly. Smiling out at them, he had said, “God bless you all, my dears!” Then his great leonine head had fallen forward upon his chest, and the hall was suddenly deathly silent.
She knew!Skye had, to her great shock, seen the life-light fading rapidly from his blue eyes even as his lips had touched her skin. Almost immediately she thought,Oh, Adam, my dearest, dearest love, how could you leave me like this?And yet what a magnificent death it had been. He had not been ill, nor had he suffered,andhe had left them with his blessing. It was so typical of Adam. His great heart had always been filled to overflowing with his love for them all. It was a merciful God that had taken him when he was surrounded by those whom he loved best.
“Mama?”Her daughter Deirdre Blakeley’s voice quavered nearby.
Skye looked up, her eyes brimming with tears.How can I cope with them at this moment,she wondered. Yet who else was there? She knew she would not be allowed to mourn in peace until she had comforted them all, and assured them that everything was going to be fine despite the awful loss they had just endured. She loved her family, but would there ever come a time when they would look to themselves, and not to her? For a moment she was bitterly resentful, but swallowing back her own grief, she said, “It will be all right, Deirdre.”
And then her children were surrounding her, offering her their love, their comfort, and support. But in Skye O’Malley’s heart there was now an enormous empty place that could never, ever again be filled. Adam de Marisco was dead, and she was left alone to continue on without him.
Chapter One
Belle Fleurs
Winter 1615
“You simply cannot remain here alone, Mama,” Willow, Lady Edwards, said in a firm tone that all of her children knew meant she would have her way in whatever matter she was discussing.
Skye O’Malley de Marisco stared out the window of her day room. The snow was falling lightly, but it had already covered Adam’s grave site upon the hill. The snow, she thought, was better than that raw slash of dark earth. The snow softened everything.
“You are in your seventy-fifth year, Mama,” Willow continued.
“I have only just celebrated my seventy-fourth birthday last month, Willow,” Skye said, her tone edgy with her irritation. She did not bother to turn her view from the landscape. It was growing dark. Soon she would not be able to see Adam’s grave at all. Not until the dawn.
“A woman of your years cannot live by herself,” Willow persisted.
“Why not?” her mother asked.
“Why not?Why not?” Willow blustered a moment, unprepared, although she knew she should have been, forthe question. “Why, Mama, it simply isn’t respectable for a matriarch of your age to live alone.”
The light outside had faded completely now. Skye turned and faced her eldest daughter. “Go home, Willow,” she said wearily. “I want you and all of your siblings to leave me in peace to mourn my husband of forty-two years. From the moment of Adam’s death four nights ago you have not given me a moment’s surcease. I need to be alone. I want to be alone.Go home.”
“But … but …” Willow began again, only to be silenced by a fierce look from her mother.
“I am not helpless, Willow. I have not yet lost my reason. I have absolutely no intention of closing up my home, displacing my servants, and moving myself in withanyof my children. I intend remaining here at Queen’s Malvern until I die. Is that quite clear?”
Daisy Kelly, Skye’s faithful tiring woman, felt her mouth turning up in a small smile, but she withheld her laughter as she sat by the fire, mending the hem on one of her mistress’s gowns. She was surprised at how little Mistress Willow seemed to know her mother if she actually believed Skye would come and live with her, or any of her other children. They might not be as young as they once were, Daisy ruefully admitted to herself as she squinted to see her stitches, but she and her lady were perfectly capable of looking out for themselves.
“But, Mama,” Willow persisted, “Queen’s Malvern no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the little duke of Lundy, Charles Frederick Stuart.”
“Do you really believe that either my granddaughter, or the duke’s guardian, the earl of Glenkirk, would dispossess me, Willow?” Skye snapped. “I think it is you who have lost her wits, and not I.”
“Jemmie Leslie was back at court this autumn, Mama,” Willow informed her mother. “He is very angry that he has notyet been able to track Jasmine down in France. It will be two years this spring since she fled him, taking the children with her.”
Skye chuckled wickedly. “I do not know why he has been unable to find her,” she said. “After all, Adam practically told him exactly where to look, but then, of course, I did send a messenger to warn her of her grandfather’s lapse in judgment.”
“Ohh, Mama, how could you?” Willow wailed. “You will make an enemy of the king should your interference with James Stuart’s will become public knowledge! Was it not enough that you made an enemy of our good queen, Bess? Has age taught you no discretion?”
“My darling girl has made two marriages to please her family,” Skye said in firm tones. “I hope that this time she will be able to make her own choice, Willow. No one, not even the king, should force Jasmine to the altar. It was foolish of James Stuart and his silly romantic queen to even try.”
“But Jemmie Leslie loves Jasmine, Mama,” Willow said softly.
“I know,” Skye said, “but it is not all a certainty that Jasmine loves him. I shall go to France in the spring, and tell my granddaughter of her grandfather’s death. Then we will see what she wants to do. Though I miss her, the choice must be hers to make.”
“You will go to France?”Willow looked horrified.
