She could also see many armed men on the perimeter of the church, big knights with big swords. She couldn’t see their faces because they had their helms on, rather bad manners for being inside a church, but they stayed to the shadows for they were there to watch the king and not participate in the mass.She could also see a few men-at-arms back near the entry door, which had been closed, so they stood just inside the door. And she could see, clearly, that one of those men-at-arms was Maxton.
Somehow, she felt safe and comforted simply to see him there. She knew he would not let anything happen to her, which fed her bravery as well as her resolve. She was well out of sight, back in the shadows. But up near the altar, she could see the Mother Abbess along with Sister Petronilla.
Though it was usual for nuns to worship separately from their male counterparts, during the feast day, they were permitted inside the church with the men. They sat off to the side, at the edge of the sacristy, but they were in full view of the priests and the worshippers. And Andressa could see, very clearly, the pitcher of wine that sat on a table near them.
The pitcher meant for the king.
The order of the service proceeded. ThePenitential Rights, Kyrie eleison, theGloria, and the prayers from the Book of Psalms. The bishop was a loud man with a booming voice and a speech impediment, and his words echoed off the walls and up into the arched ceiling. Andressa could see the priests bringing out the large, silver chalices for Communion, and she knew that now was the time for her to act. Everything had to go smoothly.
The right wine for the right chalice.
It was as if everything in her life had built up to this moment, the time in her life when she would change the course of not only a nation, but of her life as well. No death to the king, but death to the assassins, women who had tortured her for four long years. Maxton and his men had no idea what she had planned, but it didn’t matter. It would all end here and now, and she was brave enough to face it.
Her heart was thumping against her ribs painfully as she watched the priests prepare for Communion, and she movedaround the rear of the altar, back in an area called the Ambulatory, where she wouldn’t be seen in order to deliver the poisoned wine to the Mother Abbess and Sisters Agnes and Petronilla.
This one moment…
It was finally here.
“I shall take that from you.”
Someone was grabbing at the pitcher in her hand, startling her as she pulled it away. She found herself looking at one of the priests that the bishop brought with him, the man preparing for Communion.
My God!She thought in a panic.He wants this wine!
“You cannot have this,” she said, sounding frightened, but she quickly stilled herself. “The wine for the king is with the Mother Abbess. See? It is on the table next to her. It is wine straight from the barrel and has not been touched, by anyone. It is pure for the king.”
The priest, a man with shaggy blond hair, looked at her oddly. “What is wrong withthiswine?”
He was pointing to the one in her hands and she looked at it, struggling to think of a believable reply.
“The… the sisters like it sweet and heavily mulled,” she said. “The king would hate such a wine. It is meant only for them.”
He eyed her. Then, to her horror, he stuck his finger in it and licked it. Immediately, he made a face. “Awful,” he hissed. “By all means, let them have that abomination. I will get the other pitcher.”
Relief flooded Andressa. She seriously thought she might collapse from it, but she forced herself to continue onward, watching as the priest took the pitcher of the king’s wine from Sister Petronilla.
There was the most wicked expression of satisfaction on Sister Petronilla’s face when she handed the wine to him, andwhen the woman saw Andressa approaching with a pitcher of what she believed to be unpoisoned wine, she nodded her vague approval at Andressa as if to sayour mission is complete. They were close to fulfilling their directive from the Holy Father and the expressions of contentment on their faces was obvious.
Cool, collected…and deadly.
Now, it was time to kill a king.
Unaware that he might have the fate of a king’s life in his hands, the priest preparing the chalices made sure to keep John’s wine separate from the wine for the nuns. Since he’d tasted it, he knew it was awful, so when the communal chalices were prepared, Andressa handed over the wine in her hands and watched the man fill the nun’s cup to the rim.
Then, she couldn’t take her eyes from it.
Terrified she might be invited to take Communion from the poisoned cup, she made sure to hide well back in the shadows, watching everything, but ensuring that no one could see her. The priest moved to theCanon of the Massand theEucharist, followed by theSanctus.
Now, it was time for those present to take Communion and Andressa watched, hardly able to breathe through the force of her anticipation, as the king was the first one to receive Communion. He drank deeply of the chalice, licking his lips of the fine wine, and Andressa couldn’t help but notice that the Mother Abbess, Sister Agnes, and Sister Petronilla were watching him with the expressions of hunters sighting prey. Smug in the knowledge that their task was complete, they waited for the monarch to drop dead.
The king was the only one to drink from that particular chalice, which was emptied and wiped, as was the tradition. It was called the Wiping of the Chalice, in fact. Then, others were called forth to take Communion and they did, through the third pitcher of wine that Andressa had prepared for the masses,untainted and pure. The bishop drank from that cup, and so did William, Christopher, David, Gart, and a host of courtiers that had accompanied the king. Andressa breathed a palpable sigh of relief when that was out of the way. Then, came the Communion for the nuns.
It was the moment she’d been waiting for.
Andressa was back to holding her breath again as the priests gave the full chalice of wine to the bishop, who approached the nuns in the sacristy. The chalices weren’t small; they were fairly large, meant for groups. But in this case, it was only three women who would be partaking. Andressa knew she’d put far more poison in the wine than Sister Petronilla had told her to because she knew that the chalice wouldn’t hold the entire pitcher, nor would they drink the entire pitcher at Communion. Therefore, what they did drink had to be very strong.
She couldn’t risk that they would survive it.
