“Answer me,” the Queen snapped.
Katherine was painfully dry. “What are you asking me to say?”
“Did he please you in bed, Katherine?”
She held the queen’s gaze. She knew better than to respond, fully aware that her cheeks were flaming—providing all the answer the queen needed.
“Slut,” Elizabeth hissed. She turned away.
Katherine closed her eyes, fighting tears of helpless rage. She did not understand why the queen hated her so. And it was nigh impossible for her to defend herself against such malicious slander, to protest her innocence to the queen. Yet what innocence? For in fact, the bulk of Elizabeth’s accusations were true.
Katherine despaired. She had no weapons to wield now, none, and she had no allies. All she had was herself. She must be very clever.
“Your Majesty,” Katherine said, licking her lips, “I accept all blame for enticing Liam, for inflaming him. Like my mother, I could not control myself. You are right. And…I am so sorry.” She bowed her head, shaking, her pride warring with her common sense. “I beg your pardon.”
Elizabeth was unmoving now, and Katherine felt her staring at her. “I am not disposed to give it,” she finally said, but her tone was much calmer and far less rancid now.
Katherine dared to look up and meet her gaze. “As I am the one at fault, ’tis unjust and nonsensical to blame Liam, is it not?”
Elizabeth’s eyes gleamed with sudden respect. “I did not know you were capable of debate, Katherine.”
Katherine held her gaze. “I would not dare to debate you, Your Majesty.”
The queen’s gaze was piercing. “Your mother was very astute, very clever, and very determined, too. She knelt before me more than once, much as you do, begging for my leniency for her lord.”
Katherine regarded her steadily, not daring yet to hope or be assured by the queen’s new tone of voice and by the dialogue now taking place betwixt them.
“Liam is a traitor, even if his lust made him lose his mind, and traitors must hang.”
Katherine remained very still, her face impassive, even though the queen’s words were like the lash of a whip. She must make her argument now, and it must be flawless if Liam were to be saved. “You have known Liam since he was a squalling newborn babe. Surely you still have some small fondness for the boy you grew up with and raised in your very own household?”
“Perhaps,” Elizabeth said, her eyes agleam.
“Does not the history you have shared entitle him to a second chance?” Katherine asked.
“No,” the queen said flatly. “It does not.” Elizabeth was grim. “That sad and lonely little boy is now a dangerous man. One who committed treason against me! The boy I was fond of. The man I abhor!”
And Katherine suddenly realized the cause of thequeen’s hatred for her. “Abhor?” she asked softly. “Or adore?”
Disbelief and then rage transformed the queen’s face.
Before Elizabeth could speak or strike, Katherine cried, “He is a man many women adore, Your Majesty, because of his manliness, because of his nobility, regardless of his pirate ways. I am but one woman in the long line of women he has had, and there will be many more women after me—I do not delude myself. No woman can be immune to such a man, not even a great monarch.”
Her anger gone as quickly as it had come, Elizabeth looked at her with open respect. “You are no green child anymore, are you, Katherine?”
Katherine did not bother to answer. “Your Majesty, once Liam served you well. He can serve you well again. He is, after all, the Master of the Seas. I beg of you, pardon him his crimes. Do not put such a man to death. Punish him, yes, but do not hang him. Think on his value.”
“I cannot trust him,” Elizabeth said.
Katherine was stabbed with fear and dismay and complete understanding. How well she understood Elizabeth now, who was also suffering from Liam’s betrayal. “You have many wise advisors. Surely one of them can devise a scheme where Liam would give some kind of surety to you in return for his worthy behavior.”
The queen did not respond.
Katherine rose to her feet somewhat awkwardly. “He is far more valuable to you alive than dead.”
“He will be a valuable example to other would-be conspirators if he swings from the noose,” Elizabeth replied, but her eyes were darkened by the thought.
Katherine sought desperately for a response. “If he is executed, you will never be able to bring him back—the ending is final. Can you live with that?” And she prayed the queen loved Liam far more than Katherine suspected.
