Katherine was dismayed. Gerald’s next words distressed her even further. “Do not trust anyone,” he said sternly, “not even that pretty little maid.”
She gasped. “Why, Father! That is ridiculous! The queen herself appointed her to attend me! ’Twas most thoughtful.”
“Listen, daughter, and listen well. Do not trustanyone.”
Katherine grew uneasy. She nodded. She wondered if her father walked outside with her because of Cecil’s spies—or because of her maid. But the thought was too chilling. Surely Elizabeth had not planted a spy upon her—surely not.
“Tell me about O’Neill.”
Katherine’s unease grew. “You wish to talk of the pirate?”
“He is quite the man,” Gerald remarked, regarding her.
Katherine felt her cheeks heat. “He is a pirate,” she said grimly. And she prayed Gerald would find another topic upon which to converse. Surely he did not still think the unthinkable. Katherine was glad that he did not know about Liam’s proposal of marriage to her.
Gerald took her hand. “You are in a position to help me, sweetheart. And I need your help desperately. Will you aid your poor, exiled father?”
Her heart thundered. “How can I help you?”
“You are installed at court—it could not be better. Befriend the queen. Woo her gently, very gently, to our side. Once she loved Joan. She loved Joan greatly and it aided me time after time. If she comes to love you, and I am sure she will, we might be able to win my release. I can regain Desmond, Katie, if I am returned to Ireland. Once home, the lords will join me—and so will the people.”
She looked at her father, who stood tall now, oblivious to his pain, his dark eyes burning with the fervor and the excitement she remembered seeing so often as a child. He did not ask too much. The queen had unfairly deprivedhim of his home, his rank, and his land, and Katherine knew she must help him regain all that he had lost. He was her father. But…she felt that even to contemplate doing as he asked was somehow wrong. For already she loved the queen. The queen who had been nothing but kind and generous to her. It did not feel right to use her friendship, to use her love, for any cause—not even this justifiable one.
Gerald took her arm. “And we must play O’Neill as carefully, nay, far more carefully, than Bess.”
Katherine had stopped breathing. “Wh-what?”
“He lusts for you. A man lusting for a woman is a powerful thing. Such a man is easily led. I need him, Katie. He is the Master of the Seas. If I am returned to Ireland, how easily he could aid me! And even now, if he were allied with us—how easily he could thwart FitzMaurice, who relies upon the Spanish, the French, and the Scots for his victuals and supplies. Yes, we must have O’Neill at our side.”
“What are you asking me to do?” Katherine asked fearfully.
“Lead him on a merry chase. Do not allow him his way with you, girl. Too often men grow bored with the spoils, ’tis the hunt they enjoy. Let him hunt. Lead him on. Bring him to our side. If his lust grows great enough, I might be able to entice him right to the church’s altar. ’Tis my grand desire, Katherine, to see you wed to him.”
Katherine choked. She had thought this horrific subject dead. Oh God. ’Twas hardly dead—and now she began to understand the jeopardy she was in. “Father—he is a pirate,” she managed thickly. “I did not understand before—I do not understand now. I am yourdaughter. How could you suggest this alliance—again?”
“Because I have no other allies,” Gerald cried. “And if I must gain but one, then let him be greatly powerful. And he is the key to my future and my freedom, Katie. He is the key to your future and your freedom, as well.”
“He commits murder—and mayhem—he is a thief—ignobly born—the son of a murderer, the son of a rapist—he is conscienceless!” And she refused to think of thatother side of him, the one that was hardly vicious, hardly ignoble.
Gerald faced her, his jaw clenched tight. “O’Neill wantsyoubadly. He is playing right into our hands! ’Tis a kind act of Fate, my dear—an act we must seize to our advantage. You must do as I instruct you to.”
Katherine looked away, sick at heart and shaken. “I wish to marry honorably,” she whispered. “I want what is my due.”
“You will never be honorable, not until I have Desmond again,” Gerald snapped. “Barry did not want you for a reason. All men of consequence will share his view. You have no choice, Katie—I am not giving you a choice in this matter.”
Somehow Katherine squared her shoulders. Somehow she lifted her chin. A tear spilled from the corner of one of her eyes. “I cannot,” she said. There was a lump in her chest and it hurt terribly. “I cannot do this.”
“You will do it,” Gerald said sharply. “Because you are my daughter, Katherine FitzGerald, and you are loyal to me before anyone else—even before yourself.”
Katherine tried to pull away.
“Katie.” His tone softened. “You are the only one who can help me now, do you not see that? You have the power now to breathe life back into my dead soul. Katie? Youmusthelp me.”
Katherine stared, torn, wiping away her tears. And although she knew that she had little choice in this matter, not if she were to remain loyal to her father, she did not speak up, she did not tell her father that Liam O’Neill had already proposed marriage to her, and that in all likelihood, he would do so again if she gave him the least encouragement. Stubbornly, defiantly, her dreams of the future would not die. And they did not include Liam O’Neill. They did not.
16
The queen loved masques. The current masque told the story of the five daughters of the African river god Niger, and the cast included slaves and sultans, princes and princesses, nymphs, mermaids, sea dragons, and numerous other fanciful monsters.
