CHAPTER 13

WHATdo you mean, ”you know”?” Catherine Howard demanded nervously of her friend Nyssa de Winter.

The two young women were walking together along the sandy beach. Although the day was fair, the flat white horizon indicated that the weather would soon change. It was their last day at Hull. Tomorrow they would move on again, heading south for the capital. It had not been easy to get the queen all to herself, but Nyssa had made certain that Tom Culpeper would not be left behind today when the king went fishing. Last night at the banquet she had innocently told the king that she had heard that Master Culpeper was a fisherman par excellence, yet, she said, wide-eyed, she had seen no evidence of it to date. The king had absolutely insisted that Master Culpeper join him on their last day, much to Nyssa”s delight. The handsome man had glared angrily at her.

Nyssa had coaxed the queen out into the fresh air, and Cat, her boredom beginning to settle in again, had gone willingly. The other ladies were just as glad to be left behind. Walking in the sunshine was not an activity most of them endorsed. Tomorrow they would be on the road again, and there would be no delightful interludes until they reached Windsor.

Now, Catherine Howard, her blue velvet skirts blowing about her, repeated her question. ”You know what?”

”About you and Tom Culpeper,” Nyssa replied.

”I do not know to what you refer,” the queen said coldly.

”Cat, I saw you together.” Nyssa”s cheeks grew pink with the recollection. ”There was no mistaking what you were doing. I did not mean to spy, I swear it! I came to fetch you one day in York when the king was out hunting and I had remained behind because I had a headache. When my head felt well enough, I came to ask if you desired a game of cards. I called to you, but you did not answer. I thought perhaps that you were sleeping, so I lifted up the flap to your sleeping area. It was then I saw you. I am sorry.”

The queen ceased her denials now, saying, ”What do you want of me, Nyssa? Gold? Jewels? A high position for your husband or some other relative? I will give you whatever it is you want in exchange for your silence. You are not the first to blackmail me.”

”Your Grace!” The shock in Nyssa”s voice was so genuine that it startled the queen.

”Well, you must want something,” Catherine Howard said petulantly, ”or you would not have told me that you knew. What is it?”

”I want you to cease this reckless behavior, Cat,” Nyssa said to her. ”You endanger not just yourself, but many others as well. What has driven you to such a thing? You have a husband who loves you and gives you everything. You are Queen of England!”

”It is not enough!” Catherine Howard said low. ”Oh, Nyssa, I never knew it would be like this! The jewels, the clothing, the servants, the privileges of being a queen are wonderful, but I would give them all up in a trice had I but known the rest. Now I am caught like an animal in a net. I am the plaything of an old man, and I hate it. I want to love, and be loved as you are.” She half sobbed. ”Why has not love remembered me?”

”You are loved,” Nyssa said quietly. ”The king adores you, Cat. He can scarce keep his hands from you even in public. So much so that it is spoken about by the common people. He has not changed since the days he courted you. Surely you were not so blinded by the perquisites of being a queen that you overlooked the fact Henry Tudor was hardly in the first flush of his youth. I saw it. I lived in terror that he would favor me above you. Why could you not see it?”

Above them the gulls screamed and mewled as they swooped and soared above the two young women.

”You do not know what it was like to be born a Howard. My mother died when I was not yet five. My father”s only interest was in finding another rich widow to marry, and in obtaining some position that would take him away from his five children. I was sent to the Howards at Horsham with my sisters to be brought up. We were raised like a litter of kittens or puppies. From the moment we arrived it was impressed upon us that though our lineage was the finest, we were poor relations. We must take what was given us and be thankful for whatever we got, no matter how coarse. I was given no education. I hid in the schoolroom where my brothers and other male relations were being taught so I might learn to read, and write my name. My hand is poor to this day, and I cannot spell to save my soul.

”Until I came to court I never had a garment made just for me. Everything I wore had been worn by someone before me. I handed my clothes, as I outgrew them, down to my little sisters. Sometimes the garments I was given were in such terrible condition I was afraid they would tear each time I put them on. Yet if I did not preserve them for Elizabeth and Mary, I was beaten for my carelessness and wastefulness.”

Nyssa was astounded by Cat”s description of her childhood. How different it was from her own pampered upbringing as the only daughter in a houseful of little brothers. She had been loved and cossetted from her birth by her parents, her grandparents, and all of her extended family. Her stepfather had spoiled her constantly. All of her siblings had been raised in the same loving manner. She was amazed that the powerful and wealthy Howards could treat their young so badly. But then, should she have been surprised? She knew what Varian”s early life had been like.

Still, it was no excuse for the queen”s adultery. ”Under the circumstances, Cat, I should think, then, that the king”s deep love for you would have made you happy instead of unhappy,” Nyssa said.

”He does not love me,” Catherine Howard said. ”Oh, he thinks that he loves me, but what he loves is having a pretty young wife to flaunt before King Fran?ois I of France and the Holy Roman Emperor. Everyone says so. A pretty young wife whom his courtiers envy—that is what pleasures him, Nyssa. As a lover he is horrendous, I assure you. Did your mother not ever speak about it to you? She was, after all, his mistress for a short time.”

Nyssa shook her head. ”It is not something a mother would discuss with her daughter, Cat. The intimacies, I mean.”

”Well,” the queen allowed, ”perhaps he was not so gross in her day. He was still a young man then. But now, he is so fat, Nyssa, that he cannot mount me like a normal man. No! He must either sit me on his lap atop his manhood or I must kneel before him upon our bed, or stand bent over braced upon a table while he enters my female passage from the rear. If he lay atop me, he would kill me! Then he grunts and sweats over me until he has received his pleasure. Were I not able to quickly obtain mine, I should have none myself.”

I do not want to hear this, Nyssa thought, shocked. And still Cat did not understand what was involved. ”Whatever your difficulties or disappointments, Cat,” she patiently explained to her friend, ”you are married to Henry Tudor. You are his wife until death parts you. You have no other choice. If this adultery is discovered, you will lose your head, Cat. Your cousin Anne, for all her temperament, was innocent of the crimes with which she was charged. Everyone knew it, though no one would dare to speak the truth. And still she was beheaded. You are not innocent, Cat. If you fall, you will take the house of Howard down with you. Unfortunately my husband is Duke Thomas”s grandson. If you hurt the king”s heart and his pride, he will strike out with all the venom of a poisonous snake at anyone with Howard connections.”

”But I love Tom Culpeper, and he loves me,” the queen said plaintively.

”If Tom Culpeper really loves you, Cat, then speak to him. Tell him that his love endangers both your lives. If he wishes to squander his own life away, then he is free to, but if he truly loves you, he will want to protect you, Cat. Besides, what if you should become with child? Would you foist a bastard heir upon England?”

”Have I not said that I know well how to meddle with a man and not become enceinte?” the queen bragged. Then she shivered, drawing her cloak about her. ”It is growing cloudy and cold, Nyssa. Let us walk back to the encampment.”

”You have not promised me yet that you will give up this madness,” Nyssa said. ”If the duke learns of it, he will denounce you himself to save his own skin. He was the first to desert Anne Boleyn.”

”He will not learn of it if you do not tell him,” Cat said slyly. ”Ohh, Nyssa! Tom is the only thing that keeps me happy.”

”Who else knows, Cat?” Nyssa asked. ”You could not carry on this liaison without help. And did you not tell me earlier that you were being blackmailed? The situation is already out of control. You have escaped detection only because we have been on progress. Once we have returned to London, it will be harder, and more dangerous.”

”Rochford knows,” the queen said. ”You know how we always made fun of her and thought her silly? Well, she isn”t, Nyssa. She has been so kind, and she knows how to keep a secret. I could not do without her. She understands how I feel. She does!”

”And the others? The ones who stoop to blackmail?”

”They do not know about Tom,” Catherine Howard said. ”They are Joan Bulmer, Katherine Tylney, Alice Restwold, and Margaret Morton. Then, too, there”s Francis Dereham, my secretary. I”ve told you about him. They were all with me at Lambeth. The old dowager did not keep as tight a rein upon her charges as she should have. We were sometimes very naughty. But by giving them places in my household, I have silenced their wagging tongues. They are not dangerous, Nyssa. You need not worry about them.”

”Were there others, Cat? Others who knew you at Lambeth?”

”Aye,” she said, ”but I could not offer them places, for it would have seemed odd had I done so. I cannot employ everyone who knew me in my childhood, after all. They understood.” The queen turned back toward the encampment. Their private interview was at an end.

Catherine Howard is teetering upon a precipice, and she does not even realize it, Nyssa thought, amazed. The whole situation was absolutely terrifying. She and Varian had to go home. They had to go home to Winterhaven before the king found out about all of this and wreaked his vengeance on them. She could no longer bear the burden alone. She must talk with Varian. They must leave the progress at Amphill. If they were out of sight, the king would forget all about them. Cat had not promised to give up Tom Culpeper. When she was caught in her misbehavior, and she would be, at least the de Winters would not be held responsible. Nyssa was almost frantic in her determination to flee the court now.

Because of the early departure planned for the next morning, there was no banquet or dancing that evening. For the first time in many days Nyssa and Varian had time alone together. A charcoal brazier warmed their bed space, its orange coals casting a faint glow about the chamber, the candles making shadows upon the walls. Propped up by pillows and bolsters, they sat naked in their camp bed sipping wine.

Nyssa knew this would eventually lead to lovemaking, and she needed to broach the subject of the queen before that happened. ”I must speak with you on a serious matter,” she told him.

”Hummmmm,” he said, a finger trailing suggestively down her thigh and then back up again. ”Why do you want to be serious now?”

”Because,” she said with a small chuckle, ”it seems to be the only time I have to do so. Do you realize that ever since we joined the royal progress, we have hardly been together at all except at night in bed? And some nights one of us has retired ahead of the other and fallen asleep. You spend your days with the king ahorse. I spend mine with your cousin. That, Varian, is where the problem lies.”

”Has Cat been whining at you about her boredom?” he said. He reached over to take her in his arms and kiss her, but she pulled away.

”She is having an affair, Varian,” Nyssa told him.

He stiffened and looked sharply at her. ”Who the hell told you such a treasonous thing?” he demanded.

”No one told me, my lord. I caught them myself, but until today Cat did not know that I knew. Sin Vaughn is also aware of what is going on between the queen and his friend Tom Culpeper. I have been flirting with him in order to find out, Varian. Lady Ferretface knows too, I fear. She seems to encourage Cat to this madness.”

Nyssa then went on to tell him the rest of the sordid tale of blackmail and adultery. When she had finished, she said, ”Sooner than later, it will all come out, Varian. The king will be like a mad, wounded animal. He will strike out at the Howards for causing his pain. Your position is not safe. If we go home, however, then he is less likely to think of us in connection with Duke Thomas and the rest of the Howards. We have Edmund and Sabrina to think about. I can see no other way.”

”Aye,” he agreed with her. ”We certainly cannot tell my grandfather, at this point. If it had not gone so far, we might have, and he could have exercised some control over Cat, but not now. The duke will protect himself first. The rest of the Howards and their kin will have to scramble for their lives. Damn! How could Cat be so stupid? I do not know why my grandfather chose her for the king. She is and will always be a heedless girl. She thinks only of her own pleasure. God help us all!” He ran an impatient hand through his dark hair. ”You should have told me immediately, sweeting, and you should not have involved yourself with Sir Cynric Vaughn.”

”I thought I could reason with Cat, Varian. I believed I could bring her back to her senses, but she simply refuses to understand how serious this is. She thinks if she can continue to please the king, all will be well. She will not accept the possibility that someone may expose her.”

He shook his head. ”Poor Cat. She does not understand that there is much more involved than just her marriage. The Church is divided between the more orthodox form of worship and the reformers. Each side thinks they have God”s blessing on their endeavors. They will do whatever they have to do to gain their way, even if it means toppling a foolish little girl off her glittering throne. I do not want to be here to see that happen. You are right, Nyssa. There is nothing we can do. We must go home!”

”Oh, Varian, I feel so sorry for Cat, and for the king too,” Nyssa said softly. She lay her head upon his broad chest.

He stroked her dark hair. It was soft and silky, and faintly perfumed. He had never before loved any woman until her. He knew that he would never love any woman but her. ”We can do nothing for them,” he said quietly. His voice was sad, and she raised her head up to look at him.

”What is it, Varian?” she asked him.

”Your sorrow is for the king and Cat. Mine is for my grandfather. I cannot help but wonder what kind of a life he would have had were he not so desirous of power. Why could he not be content with his lands and his family? His responsibilities are great, and yet he is constantly seeking more. Why could he not be happy with all that he has? He is so fortunate.”

”He is a great man,” Nyssa admitted reluctantly, ”and great men are not like you and I, my love.” Then she kissed him.

His head swam at the touch of her lips. He wrapped his arms about her and held her close. ”I adore you,” he told her softly.

She smiled seductively up at him. ”You lust after me,” she told him, caressing his cheek with a teasing hand.

”Aye, I do,” he admitted, answering her smile. ”I think we are wise to take advantage of this interlude, sweeting.” A hand reached out to cup her breast, and her nipple puckered at his touch. ”Such an eager little girl, she is,” he crooned, stroking the firm breast beneath his fingers. Bending his head, he licked at her skin, faintly salty, yet sweet to his tongue. She murmured, and shifted against him so that they were closer. His mouth closed over the taut nipple, suckling hard upon it, making her whimper low. His teeth tenderly scored the tender nub, and she cried out softly. His hand cradled her head. His mouth now found her throat, and his hot kisses made her wild with her own deep longing for him.

”Oh, my darling,” she whispered to him. ”I do love you so very much! I can imagine no other life than as your wife and lover!”

He was almost ashamed of his eagerness to possess her, but her excitement was every bit as great as his. She sobbed with pleasure as he entered her, shuddering as he filled her with an incredible sweetness. There could be no more than this! It was so overwhelming that she could scarcely bear the pleasure of it. And afterward she lay contented in his arms, contented even as she knew he was contented. Later they would make love again, and the next time it would be long and drawn out. It was always that way with them. An insatiable hunger to possess each other, followed by a lengthier sweetness. She wondered as she did each time they made love if they had begun another child. She wanted more children, and knew that he did too.

Tillie awakened them before first light. Already outside their pavilion they could hear the sounds of activity as the encampment was dismantled about them. Their servants helped them to dress in warm, sturdy traveling garments, for the weather had turned wet overnight. Toby brought them food from the field kitchens: trenchers of hot oats, ham, hot bread, and cheese. They ate everything, knowing it would be late before they ate again.

”I”ve wrapped a loaf, some cheese, and apples for you, m”lord,” Toby said, ”and tucked ”em in your saddlebag. There”s some in your bag too, m”lady. The king”s groomsmen say he”s anxious now to be home. He”ll be riding everyone hard.”

”You”ve scavenged for the rest of you too, I hope,” the earl said. ”This traveling is difficult for all of us.”

”When are we going home, m”lady?” Tillie asked.

”We hope to have the king”s permission to leave the progress at Amphill,” Nyssa told her tiring woman. ”He promised we could leave before Christmas. We are anxious to return to Winterhaven too, Tillie.”

The sunny and warm respite they had had in Hull was over, and over too was the summer. It was October. The day was cool. The gray clouds lay low on the land, and the rain poured down. Here and there patches of bright color broke the bleakness as stands of trees, dressed in gold, showed off their autumn leaves. There was no hunting now. The court was eager to return south to lodgings with stone walls that the wind did not get so easily through.

The damp, cool weather was beginning to bother the king”s ulcerous leg. He rode upon one of the great dun horses that the princess Anne had given him New Year”s last, hunched against the rain, and with his pain. He could be approached by no one but the queen and his faithful fool, Will Somers. The Earl of March despaired, for they could not leave court without the king”s permission.

”We must wait until we get to Windsor,” he told his wife. ”There is no getting to him at the moment.”

Nyssa was disappointed, but she understood, and strove to be patient.

They stayed a day at Kettleby, where the queen was already excitedly planning for the Christmas holidays.

”We shall celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas at Hampton Court,” she told her ladies. ”I do love Hampton Court! Nyssa, come and play cards with me. I must have a chance to win back what you won from me these past few nights.” She giggled. ”Henry says I should not gamble if I cannot win at least sometimes.”

I should have said something when she mentioned Hampton Court and the holidays, Nyssa thought, but she decided that had she voiced a request to return to Winterhaven immediately, the queen would have said no, and then they could not have asked the king without insulting her. It was better not to encourage her enmity. I must be patient, Nyssa thought. She played her cards carelessly, and allowed Cat to win back what she had previously lost, plus a bit more.

”You must learn to play as skillfully at other games, Lady de Winter, as you played at cards this evening,” Lady Rochford said softly to Nyssa as she prepared to return to her own pavilion.

Nyssa looked at the woman. Her dark eyes were fathomless. Her expression said nothing. ”I know not what you mean, madame,” she replied. ”You speak in riddles. I am not good at riddles.” She fastened her cloak about her and moved past Lady Rochford into the night. As the encampment was set up in identical fashion at each stop they had made over the progress, it was not necessary for Nyssa to be escorted. The torches outside of each pavilion gave enough light to show her the way. Moving quickly along, she was suddenly aware of footsteps behind her. As she turned to look about, two cloaked figures came up beside her, and taking her by the arms, swiftly forced her from her path into the darkness beyond the pavilions.

”Do not scream, madame, or I shall cut your throat,” a voice warned her.

Scream? How could she? Her throat seemed paralyzed by fear. Who were these men, and what did they want of her? She wore little jewelry. How bold these robbers were to accost her within the king”s own encampment.

The pavilions had been set up tonight just beyond the ruins of an old monastery. Nyssa”s assailants half led, half dragged her into the shadow of its crumbling walls. At the very moment they stopped, the moon slipped out from behind a bank of clouds, revealing to her the faces of Tom Culpeper and Sir Cynric Vaughn. Knowing her kidnappers immediately eased Nyssa”s fear; her throat relaxed and she drew a deep breath.

Then, yanking away from them, she hissed, ”What do you mean by your behavior, sirs? How dare you accost me, and frighten me half to death!” She whirled about to return to the encampment, but cruel fingers closed about her arm and roughly yanked her back.

”Nay, madame, we have business together, you and I,” Culpeper snarled into her face. ”You have involved yourself in something that is not your concern at all. You have deeply distressed and confused a lady of our mutual acquaintance, madame. You must cease these actions. I will see that you do so.” He smiled at her, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

”You involved yourself in something that could cost that lady her life,” Nyssa spat back. ”If you truly care for her, you would not do it, but I believe you to be nothing but a selfish, opportunistic bastard, Tom Culpeper! How can you believe yourself safe? Lady Rochford knows your secret, for she foolishly encourages you both. Every day the danger grows greater, and the chances that the king will learn of your treason increases.”

”You will not tell him!” Culpeper said fiercely.

”I? Are you mad? I should never betray Cat, nor would I be foolish enough to destroy the king”s idyll of love. Nay, I will not tell him! Is that what this is about? You thought I would tell him of your perfidy?” She laughed harshly. ”You are a fool, Master Culpeper.”

”I do not believe you,” he told her angrily. ”If the king had not wed Cat, the chances are good he would have wed you. Cat told me how her uncle, Duke Thomas, arranged for your hasty marriage to his grandson to prevent the king from choosing you over Cat. If you betray my ladylove, the king would turn to you again.”

Nyssa shook her head. This was precisely as she had thought it would be. ”Tom Culpeper, listen to me, and try to understand what I say to you. I never wanted to marry the king. Never! My marriage was forced, but I love Varian de Winter, and I love the children I have borne him. I may even be with child again by my husband,” she lied. ”I think Cat wrong to behave as she does. I think you are wrong to behave as you do, but I will not be the one to expose your treason. My family would suffer for it. I will not do that to them just to satisfy a principle, particularly when the two people most involved in this disgraceful matter have no principles. Now let me go! My husband will wonder where I am, and you do not want him coming to look for me.”

”Perhaps you are telling me the truth,” Culpeper said slowly, ”and perhaps you are not. Mayhap you say these things simply so I will release you, Nyssa de Winter. Before I do, however, I will give you a little taste of what will happen to you should you attempt to betray my ladylove and I.” He moved swiftly behind her and, linking his arms through hers, hoisted her over his back so that she was quite successfully immobilized, her feet just off the ground. ”She is all yours, Sin,” he said. ”Did you know, madame, that Sin lusts after you?”

”I will scream,” Nyssa threatened them.

”If you do, we will claim you lured us here for immoral purposes, madame,” he threatened. ”Gag her, Sin, for good measure.”

Sin Vaughn stepped forward and quickly tied a silk square about her protesting mouth. He caressed her face gently, but his eyes were cruel. Carefully, with skillful fingers, he unfastened first her cloak, which he lay aside, and then her bodice, which he fully opened. He ripped her chemise away and her breasts tumbled forth. His hands closed over the trembling flesh, and he crushed her breasts cruelly, his fingers imprinting themselves like scarlet ribbons across her skin.

Nyssa tried to struggle, but Tom Culpeper was quite successful in keeping her pinioned and helpless. She tried to scream, but the gag prevented her cries from being heard. Her attacker smiled, and holding onto one of her breasts, he bent his head and began to suckle strongly upon the other”s nipple. When he had satisfied himself, he bit down hard on the nipple. Tears of pain slid down her cheeks as he moved his head to her other breast. Both rage and fear welled up bitterly in her throat, almost choking her. She fought strongly to escape these two beasts, but she could not. Her body arched as he bit upon her other nipple.

Sin Vaughn raised his head and stared lustfully into her eyes. ”Let me have her, Tom,” he said. ”I know that I promised you I would wait, but let me have her here and now! God, she inflames me with desire!”

”Nay, you fool!” Tom Culpeper said angrily. ”Cat will have my neck if I let you rape her now.”

”A moment more then, and you can release her,” he said. Gathering her skirts up, he tucked them in her waistband and tore her silk drawers off, tossing them aside in his eagerness. Kneeling, he leaned forward, pulling her nether lips apart, his tongue seeking her out.

Nyssa did not know how she managed to do it, but she could not allow him to perpetrate this further outrage upon her. She sagged her entire weight against Tom Culpeper, and when he stiffened himself to straighten her, she brought one knee up hard. The crunching contact she made with Sin Vaughn”s jaw was extremely satisfying. He groaned, and collapsed on the ground at her feet. Hearing the noise, Culpeper released Nyssa. She tore the gag from her mouth, gasping for air and frantically drawing her skirts down to cover her nakedness.

Culpeper knelt by his friend. Sin Vaughn was quite unconscious. ”What the hell did you do to him, bitch?” he demanded.

She gave him no explanation, saying instead, ”If you ever come near me again, Tom Culpeper—you, or that animal lying on his back in the muck—I will tell my husband of this incident. Nay,” she told him in answer to the unspoken question in his eyes, ”I will not tell him now, for he would come after you to kill you. How would we explain his anger without betraying Cat? And I will not tell Cat, for she fancies herself in love with you and would not believe me; but be warned. Stay away from me, or you will regret it!”

”You have children, madame. Remember them, should you be tempted to any foolish behavior,” he warned her.

”Touch my babies,” she snarled, her eyes blazing her hatred, ”and I will kill you myself! If you would feel safe from me, then see Cat does not importune her husband to prevent our leaving court to go home. Remember, the king promised we could leave before Christmas.” Then she left him to attend to his fallen companion.

Nyssa hurried back to where the faint lights of the encampment burned. With shaking fingers she fastened her bodice up. Her cloak? Oh, God! She had left her cloak behind, but she would not go back for it. Only Tillie would know it was missing, and then when the tiring woman helped her undress, she would also notice the torn chemise and her lack of drawers. Nyssa knew that Tillie would have to be told, and indeed warned about Tom Culpeper and Sir Cynric Vaughn, lest they try to reach her the next time through her maidservant. Dear heaven! Did the queen have any idea of the kind of man Culpeper was? Nyssa doubted it. All Cat could see was a handsome young lover with bonnie blue eyes.

THEprogress moved southward, passing through Collyweston and Amphill, arriving at Windsor on the twenty-sixth day of October.

Windsor Castle had been begun by William the Conqueror. Originally of earth and timber construction, it sat atop the ruins of an old Saxon hall. It had been erected to stand guard over the Thames River valley. Over the centuries, the English kings had favored it because of the good hunting in the vicinity. The wood defenses of the castle were redone in stone during the reign of Henry II. Henry III finished the stone walls and added towers. Edward III turned the castle into a magnificent residence, and there founded the Order of the Garter, which embodied the ideals of King Arthur”s Round Table.

The original ancient chapel was tumbling down by the time Edward IV became king. He began its replacement, but it was Henry VII who saw that the nave was completed, and his son, Henry VIII, who built the choir. The king”s beloved wife, Queen Jane, was buried in the chapel at Windsor. Henry himself intended to rest there by her side eventually. The king loved Windsor, and had loved it since his boyhood. The years had seen many changes since the young, handsome prince had come to Windsor to sport himself in all manner of athletic competitions. Still, at Windsor, particularly after a long and trying progress, Henry felt young again, despite the toll that time had taken on him. Many in the court watched amazed as the king”s bed, eleven feet square, was brought into the castle. Henry himself could no longer manage the stairs easily, and used a rope and pulley system to haul himself up the steep steps.

At the banquet their second night at Windsor the Earl of March managed to gain the king”s ear, and asked his permission to depart for his own home with his wife.

The king, mellow with good wine, and feeling particularly sentimental, said, ”I know I promised Nyssa you might go before Christmas, but stay with us until Twelfth Night, my lord. Your wife loves to be at her beloved RiversEdge for the holidays, even as her mother did in her youth, but I realize that once I let you return, you will not come back to court again. Nyssa is a country mouse like Blaze was. It would seem that you, Varian de Winter, are every bit as much a country mouse as your wife. I could see it this summer on our progress. Your interest seemed to lie more in the species of sheep and cattle we traveled by, than in the deer we stalked.” He chuckled. ”I will not insist upon your coming again, but stay with us until Twelfth Night.” Henry Tudor turned to his wife and asked, ”You would like that, would you not, my precious sweetheart?” He placed a wet kiss upon her mouth.

”Aye, my lord,” the queen said agreeably. ”Please stay, cousin, and convince Nyssa not to fuss at me because I want her here awhile longer.” Catherine Howard smiled sweetly at Varian, and he could see how easily the king was taken in by her. She looked so wholesome, and seemed so loving to him.

”Pray God she is not caught in her adultery until after we have left court,” Nyssa said to her husband when he told her of his conversation with the monarch and his wife. She knew there was no use in railing to Varian that the king had broken his promise to her. One thing was certain. Cat obviously knew nothing of her lover”s vicious attack upon her at Kettleby. Had the queen known, she would have not been so anxious for her to stay. At least Culpeper and Sin Vaughn had kept out of her way since that night. Sir Cynric had appeared the next morning sporting a rather nasty black and blue bruise about the size of a lemon just beneath his chin. He had, he claimed, fallen out of bed.

They hunted in the New Forest for the next few days. The king was in his element. There was nothing he loved better than being ahorse, chasing a stag. Each night the banquet hall rang with merriment as the court ate, drank, and danced. The lady Anne arrived from Richmond. Although she would have dearly loved to have gone on the progress, she had remained home in order that Catherine would not have to share the limelight.

She greeted Nyssa effusively, hugging her friend warmly. ”Vas it a vunderful progress?” she demanded. ”Ach! How I envy you.”

”I would that you had been able to go in my place, dear madame,” Nyssa told her former mistress. ”I should have far preferred to remain at Winterhaven with my babies. When we left, they had each sprouted two little teeth on the bottom, and two top ones were beginning to come in as well. The king will not let us go home until after Twelfth Night. I shall miss Christmas at RiversEdge again. It will be the third year in a row.” She sighed deeply.

”One Christmas you must haf your Mama ask me to RiversEdge,” Anne said. ”I am curious to experience this vunderful time you speak so happily of, Nyssa. But this year ve must content ourselves vith Christmas at Hampton Court. Last year no one knew quite vhat to do vith me. I am glad ve vill be together this year.”

They would travel from Windsor to Hampton Court in barges upon the river. After four months on the road, everyone had spent more than enough time on horseback. Barge and living assignments were arranged by the king”s household staff ahead of time so that everyone would know precisely where they were to go. To Nyssa”s surprise, they found themselves traveling with the Duke of Norfolk.

As they entered his barge, he gave her a courtly bow and an amused smile. ”I realize your antipathy toward me, madame, but I wish to visit with my grandson, and this opportunity cannot be overlooked. Besides, Hampton Court will be so crowded with courtiers that you will be forced to accept my hospitality there.”

”After three months on the road, my lord, I should accept the devil”s own hospitality,” she said to him, knowing that he was really being very generous to them. Without him they might have ended up sleeping in a room with another couple, or separated into male and female dormitories.

”Are you certain, madame, that I am not the devil?” He chuckled.

”Nay, my lord, I am not,” she replied pertly.

He laughed again, and his long face looked young again for a moment, free of all its cares. If he only knew what I know, Nyssa thought, but then he turned to speak with her husband. Nyssa settled herself comfortably back on the velvet bench with its high back, and watched the river go by. It was November first, and the day was gray and chill. Tillie and the other servants had gone overland to Hampton Court with the vehicles, leaving earlier that morning.

Nyssa smoothed an imaginary wrinkle from her orange-tawny velvet gown. She had had to dress elegantly because the king had announced that as soon as everyone reached Hampton Court, they would be expected to join him in the chapel for a service of thanksgiving for their safe return, and for his wonderful queen. He had told them this the previous evening, and the queen had beamed proudly by his side. Nyssa would have felt better if she had known that the queen had ceased her adulterous activities, but she knew that Cat had not. Lady Rochford was always hovering about her mistress, whispering words to the queen that no one else could hear, which usually brought a blush to her fair cheeks.

Tom Culpeper, it seemed to Nyssa, was growing more arrogant with every passing day. The queen”s secretary, Francis Dereham, a man with a very black, nasty temper, had twice gotten into a match of fisticuffs with the handsome courtier. Fortunately the king had not been about, for fighting before the king was a serious offense. The higher in the queen”s favor that Culpeper”s star rose, however, the more openly jealous Dereham became. Several of the queen”s ladies were heard to remark on it, for Dereham treated Catherine Howard with more familiarity than he should have treated his queen.

It was obvious to Nyssa that Cat was still seriously involved with Tom Culpeper. She was beginning to wonder if anyone else suspected the queen”s wicked little secret. Her eye wandered to the barge just ahead. It was the royal barge, and the king and queen had entered it this morning smiling and cooing at each other like newlyweds.

They were close enough that Nyssa could see them through the glass windows of the barge cabin. They had not bothered to draw the curtains to ensure their privacy. She could see the queen seated upon the king”s lap, laughing into his face, and Nyssa flushed, wondering if they were doing what she thought they were doing. Remembering what the queen had told her, and seeing the lustful look on Henry Tudor”s face, she knew she was correct. Catherine Howard was shameless. She truly believed that as long as she did not get caught with her lover, and pleased her husband, it was all right. Nyssa turned away. She sighed deeply. It would be another two months before they could leave court. She prayed the winter would not be severe, and that the roads to Winterhaven would be open to them.

Along the riverbanks people stood waving to the court as they passed by. How glamorous and how exciting it must look to those good souls, Nyssa thought. How excited she had once been to come to London and be a part of it all. Familiarity with the dark side of the court certainly had dimmed her enthusiasm.