The Harlot’s Daughter

Too late. He pulled off the hood, letting the fake antlers skitter down the stairs, and took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look into his eyes, dark with anger, and something more.

His breath touched her cheek. ‘And her eyes are not the colour of royalty.’

Her lips parted and she struggled to catch a breath that did not smell of him.

He swayed nearer, his lips dangerously close to hers. One more breath, and they would touch.

He let her go and held out the hood. ‘No, I see you are nothing like a hart.’

She snatched it back, her breath still coming fast. What good would she be to Lady Agnes now? ‘Did you not think I played the part well?’

He dusted his palms, to brush off her touch. ‘It seems all of life is a disguising to you, a deception for amusement.’

‘’Tis not true,’ she said, though the idea gave her pause. She had mirrored the others in the play, just as she did every day, playing a part to please the watcher.

‘Where is Lady Agnes this evening?’ he asked, ignoring her answer.

‘She was taken ill. She did not want to disappoint their Majesties.’

‘So you lie for others as well as for yourself.’

‘Why do you assume I lie?’ Not only did the man demand truth, he had an uncanny knack of discerning it.

‘Because I saw Lady Agnes just after the feast. She was laughing and excited about her part in the disguising. Where is she?’

‘She was taken to her bed suddenly,’ she said, hoping still to hide Agnes’s sin.

‘I’m certain she was, but not by illness and not alone.’ His strong brows furrowed with disapproval.

‘I told you, she didn’t feel well.’ Her tongue ran away with her, trying to make him believe. ‘She must have eaten too much of the noodles and saffron.’

‘You are the only one who thinks that Hibernia’s trysts with Lady Agnes are a secret.’

Her cheeks went cold. ‘I am newly come to court.’ Where ignorance of such secrets was dangerous. No wonder the page’s livery looked familiar. The Duke was the King’s dearest companion. Poor, foolish Agnes. ‘And if that is so, there’s nothing to be gained by speaking of tonight.’

‘You seem to have nothing but secrets, Lady Solay. Don’t expect me to keep them for ever.’

‘I denied you a kiss last night.’ She had been told a woman’s body could enslave a man, though she knew little of how. She leaned close to him, feeling her breasts soft against his hard chest, fighting her traitorous body as it weakened next to his. ‘Perhaps you want it now?’

He raised his arms. She waited, wanting him to take her.

Instead, his hands curved into fists. Nothing else moved except the truth of his response, pounding below his waist.

Then, he pushed her away. ‘You are just like your mother.’ He spat the words like a curse.

She gripped his sleeve, fighting her anger. She had tried to tell him about her mother, but this implacable man had no compassion. And now, her foolish move had only strengthened his mistrust.

She swallowed her emotions and tried to think clearly. ‘What do you want? What can I give you?’

The harsh planes of his face held no more feeling than a stone. ‘Nothing. The Council will not be swayed by kisses, Lady Solay.’ He uncurled her fingers from their grip on his sleeve. ‘And neither will I.’

Shaking, Solay watched him leave, fear drowning both her want and her anger. She knew how to charm men. She had even cajoled the King, but this man, this man could resist everything she offered. This man could ruin it all.

She slipped the hood over her head and hurried back to her room, knocking cautiously before entering.

She opened the door to the scent of lovemaking. The smell tugged at her. What would that be like, to share such closeness?

She shut the door behind her. Dangerous. It would be dangerous.

Agnes sprawled under the covers, tears streaking her rounded cheeks.

Had Agnes’s sad lesson come so soon? ‘What’s the matter?’

‘His wife comes tomorrow.’

She had wondered where the Duchess was while all the King’s favourites were gathered at Windsor. Perhaps she had stayed home to avoid humiliation. ‘She travels on Christmas day?’ The rumours must have driven her to protect herself. No wonder the urgency to bed him one more time. Surely, Agnes would see him no more after his wife arrived.

Agnes shrugged her answer, speechless in the face of disaster. She folded a little white piece of cloth and blew her nose.

Solay sat on the side of the bed and patted her arm. ‘It’s all right. Everything will work out,’ she said, without sincerity. Such naïveté could only lead to pain. What had the silly goose expected? That he would leave his wife for his mistress?

Agnes sat up in bed, sniffing back the tears. ‘I know. You’re right. I must be patient.’ She squeezed Solay’s hands. ‘Thank you. You’re a true friend.’

She blinked. She had known few women and never one who had called her friend. Women did not like her, as a rule.

Agnes blew her nose again and tried to smile. ‘Now, tell me—how was the disguising? It was beautiful, no?’

‘Oh, yes. The King clapped loudly.’

‘No one recognised you?’

She turned away as she folded the wrinkled linen hood and slipped out of the shift. ‘Nothing has changed.’ Based on what Justin had said, the Duke and Agnes had no secrets left. ‘Tell me, Agnes. What do you know of Lord Justin Lamont?’

Agnes’s smile slipped into a frown. ‘He’s a terrible man. He’s the one who led Parliament to impeach the King’s Chancellor.’

Solay shuddered. Worse than a man of law, worse than a Council member. He was a man who would manoeuvre Parliament to destroy those closest to the King, just as her mother’s enemies had done. ‘So he truly is the King’s foe.’

Agnes leaned forward. ‘They want to attack my dear Duke as well,’ she whispered, as if afraid someone might hear, ‘but they do not dare. He is the King’s right arm.’

Agnes had let slip her lover’s identity. The poor girl truly believed he was safe, but in times such as these, no one was safe. Still, if Agnes trusted her, perhaps Solay could glean something useful. ‘Lord Justin does the Council’s legal work?’

Agnes snuggled back under the covers with a pout. ‘I suppose. Who knows how any man spends his time when not with a woman? Documents, diplomacy, bookkeeping.’ She shrugged, as if it were unimportant.

Solay stared, stunned. Her mother had taught her that the work of the King was the work of the world. While feminine arts gave them diversion, money and power, law and war ruled the earth. How could Agnes not care about those things?

‘But that’s not what you really want to know,’ Agnes continued, with a catlike smile. ‘I saw him watch you with hunger during the Christmas feast. You want to know what kind of man he is.’

‘He is the King’s enemy.’ And mine. ‘That is all I need to know.’

‘But not all you want to know. He’s handsome, isn’t he? Many women think so, but he has refused them all.’ Agnes tilted her head. ‘I heard he was to be wed, many years ago, and the girl died.’

‘So he mourns still?’ Somehow, he did not seem like a man who pined for a dead love.

‘He has no interest in marriage.’

‘His family allows it?’ He was certainly nine and twenty. The family must want an heir.

‘He is a second son. His brother has many children. But beware, Solay. He and the Lords Appellant would destroy the King.’

Should Justin demand more than kisses for his silence, how could she refuse? ‘He does not tempt me. I am only trying to learn who’s who.’

‘Good. I saw you with the Earl of Redmon. He might make a good husband. His wife died on Michaelmas and he has three children who need tending. He might not be too particular. I mean…’ A blush spread over her cheekbones. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘It’s all right.’ There would be no marriage for Solay. She had nothing to offer a husband but her body, unless the mere taste of royalty might titillate a man. ‘I am not thinking of a husband.’ Her hopes lay with a grant from the King, not with a group of lords with temporary power, and if she were to please the King, she must produce a horoscope and a poem.

‘Tell me, Agnes, who is the King’s favourite poet?’

Chapter Four

As the Lord of Misrule pranced around the table two days after Christmas, Justin felt no Yuletide spirit.

Across the room, Solay laughed gaily at something John Gower the poet said.

Justin was not laughing.

He sank his teeth into the roast boar. At least the King had bowed to convention and put a whole pig on the spit for the Yule feasts. Usually, the meat at table was spiced, sugared, and so shredded you could eat it with a spoon.

Robert, Duke of Hibernia, had left the King’s side to wander the room and now stood laughing with Solay. That man alone was enough to make him scowl. He was so close to the King that he seemed to fancy that he, too, was royal.

And judging by her wide-eyed attention to him, Solay knew it as well.

He heard her husky laugh again.

Just like her mother, she would lie and cheat and use anyone to get what she wanted. He had avoided her for the past two days, but, mistrustful of her motives, had watched her from afar.

Be honest with yourself, Lamont. This has nothing to do with your distrust of her. You just can’t keep your eyes off the woman.

How had he let himself be gulled into holding her lies? Now her falsehoods tainted him, too, and, instead of thanks, she accused him of some subversive purpose. He should expose her and have her expelled from court.

But then he would remember the pain in her eyes.

He was ever the fool for a woman in pain.

More than a fool, for the pain he thought he saw was probably as false as her offered kisses.

Gloucester joined him, swilling wine from his goblet. ‘Your eyes are ever upon the Lady Solay.’

‘Her eyes have turned on every man in the room.’ Most had leered at her as long as she’d let them. ‘I even saw her talking to you.’

Gloucester smiled. ‘She has her mother’s talent for pleasing powerful men, but if she seeks a husband, she’ll be hard pressed to find one who will have her.’ He lifted his goblet in a parting toast and laughed, moving on down the hall.

Husband. Startled, Justin looked for her in the crowd. She was smiling at the Earl of Redmon, a recent widower as a result of his third wife’s fall down the stairs. Why had he never thought of marriage for her? A husband would do her more good than a grant, if he came with enough property and a willingness to take on Alys of Weston as a mother-in-law.

And the right husband would not require the Council’s approval. Only the King’s.

He looked to the dais. Despite the joy of the season, the King’s scowl matched Justin’s own. Since he had told the King that the Council refused his appointments, Richard had been in a foul mood.

Tonight, he sulked while the poor fool, the Lord of Misrule, tried to create merriment by ordering the most unlikely couples to embrace.

The Fool forced Hibernia into an embrace with Lady Agnes. Hibernia and Agnes seemed to be enjoying it mightily. The man’s wife did not.

Solay had assumed a bland smile. He wondered what it hid.

The thought deepened his frown, so when the Fool waved his crown before Justin’s eyes, blocking his vision of Solay, Justin only grunted.

The Fool would not be dissuaded. ‘Now here’s another man who needs to show more Yuletide cheer. Who would you like to kiss this evening?’

‘No one. Leave me be.’

‘Ah, but your eyes have been on the Lady Solay. Would you like to put your lips on her as well?’

Hearing her name, Solay turned to look.

His entire body surged to answer. He had refused her kisses before, but those she fawned over tonight might not. The wine had loosened his resistance. Surely, he, too, deserved a taste. ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘I would kiss the daughter of the sun.’

Her eyes widened and her lips parted, as if she inhaled to speak, but no words came.

The diners next to him went silent. Was it because he dared kiss the daughter of a King? Or because no one wanted to be reminded of who she was?

The jester’s babbling broke the awkward silence. ‘The Lord of Misrule makes all things possible.’ He grabbed Justin’s hand and pulled him around the table, to face Solay.

Trapped in the jester’s grip, Justin watched her eyes darken with desire, and regretted his honesty. What would happen when he took her lips? He steeled himself against her. Nothing. She was a woman, nothing more.

The Lord of Misrule laughed merrily. ‘Your wish is my command. Kiss the lady!’

She was too close now, close enough that her scent engulfed him. She smelled of rose petals hidden in a golden box, sweet, yet protected by metal that only fire would melt.

He wanted to take her in his arms, crush her to him and ravish her lips with his. He wanted to possess her, yet something warned him that she would possess him instead.

Her lips parted, but her eyes did not droop with desire. They were open, wide with fear.

He put his hands on her arms, deliberately holding himself away from her body, leaned over and put his lips on hers.

Her lips were soft as he’d expected, but they lay cool and unyielding beneath his. When she did not respond, something burst within him. She had teased him for days. For all those other men, she supplicated and simpered.

He would have what she offered.

He pulled her close, feeling her breasts, soft, pressing against him. Suddenly, he did not care who she was or where they were. He wanted her kiss, yes, but whatever else she hid, he wanted that, too.

The kiss she had dangled before him for days blossomed and the impossible scent of roses made him dizzier than the wine. When she opened to him, he took her lips and thrust his tongue into her mouth, wanting to taste all of her. Her stiffness became softness and he tightened his arms, fearing she would fall if he let go.

And only the beat of the jester’s wand on his shoulder brought him to himself.

‘The man’s eaten nothing but oysters all night,’ the jester said.

Drunken laughter around them brought heat to his cheeks.

He pulled away, torn between desire and scorn, and glimpsed on her face the truth he’d sought.

She wanted him.

Her eyes were dark with desire, her mouth ripe with lust. Then she touched her lips and blinked the softness from her eyes, and for once he was grateful—her disguise protected them both.

The jester turned to Solay. ‘Since you have suffered this dullard’s embrace, you deserve a wish of your own. What boon can I grant the lady?’

She grabbed her goblet and lifted it toward the King’s table. ‘I desire to toast our gracious Majesties, King Richard and QueenAnne. Long life, health and defeat of all their enemies.’

Tapered fingers hugging the chalice, she lifted it to drink, but instead of looking at the King, her eyes met Justin’s.

He touched his goblet to his lips, wishing the wine could wash away her kiss.

Now that he had tasted her, he could no longer deny that her body tugged at his loins. Her eyes put him in mind of bedchambers and the pale skin of her inner wrist made him want to see the pale skin of her thighs.

All the better, then, if she took a husband, although none of the popinjays at court seemed right. As long as she kept out of the King’s Treasury, she was no concern of his.

Gloucester returned to his side. ‘How does she taste?’

Like no one else in the world. ‘’Twas but a Yuletide jest.’

‘You obviously enjoyed it,’ Gloucester said. ‘And you put her in her place.’

The words kindled his shame. She had succumbed, yes, but he had forced her. No matter that she had tried to tempt him earlier. He had let his desire overrun his sense, spoken his want aloud, then forced it upon her.

And he had promised himself never to force a woman. He knew too well the bitter results.

For that, she deserved an apology.

Unable to sleep, Solay looked out of the window at the last star fading in the blue dawn light. An insistent rooster heralded the coming day, yet beside her in the bed, Agnes slept undisturbed, her gentle, drunken snore ruffling the air.

Solay, too, felt drunk, perhaps from the wine or the sweetness of the almond cake.

Or perhaps from his kiss. It still burned her mouth and seared her mind, speaking of promises not to be hoped for, particularly from a man who hated her.

Wide awake, she rolled over. What boon does the lady want? the Fool had asked. She wanted such simple things. To be safe. To be looked at without scorn. To sleep through the night without worrying whether they would have food to meet the morrow. To see her mother smile and hear her sister laugh.

And tonight, God help her, she wanted him.

She crept from bed and grabbed her cape as Agnes snored on. Crossing the ward, she climbed again to the roof of the tower. As a child, she had loved to watch the sun rise. Each time, she could begin life anew. For those few moments when first light touched the world, she had had no one to please, no one to be but herself.

Here, as the winter wind quieted in anticipation of the life-giving ball of light, she could believe that the stars ruled people’s lives and that she was truly a daughter of the sun.

She recognised his steps, surprised that, after only a few days, she knew his gait. As he reached the ramparts, she composed her smile and turned, dizzy at the sight of him.

Impossible hopes danced in her heart. ‘Did the Lord of Misrule send you after me again?’

He held himself stiffly, his hands clenched as if to keep from reaching for her. ‘We must talk.’ The words seemed forced. ‘About the kiss.’

Kiss. The word lingered on lips that had moved soft and urgent over hers. The memory brought heat to her cheeks and to places deeper inside. ‘What is there to say?’

‘I should not have forced you.’

So. He regretted his passion now. Well, she would not reveal her weakness for him. He would only use it against her in the end. She shrugged. ‘It is Yuletide. It meant nothing.’

‘Really?’

His question trapped her. To admit he moved her would leave her with no defence. Oh, Mother, how do I protect myself against the wanting?

‘Of course not.’ She crafted a light and airy tone so he would not know she had dissolved at his kiss and no longer recognised the new form she found herself in. ‘You took no more than I had offered.’

‘Well, then…’ He nodded, finishing the sentence and the incident. His rigid muscles relaxed, but he did not move closer. ‘What brings you to the roof, Lady Solay? It is too late to see the stars.’

‘I come to watch the sun.’

She was grateful that the breeze quickened and blew his scent away from her. One more step and she might reach for his shelter.

‘The sun is near its lowest point, Lady Solay. It has withdrawn its light from the world.’

His words brought back her childhood fears. Sometimes, as her life had changed, she had watched for the sun to rise, uncertain that it really would. ‘Yet it was at this, the darkest hour upon earth, that the brightest son was born.’

‘Are you speaking of the Saviour or the King?’

She smiled. The analogy had not occurred to her, but it might make a flattering conceit for the King’s reading. ‘Both.’

‘The sun comes up every morning.’ He leaned on the battlements, facing her. ‘Why do you find it worthy of watching?’

‘Why? Just look.’

He turned.

In anticipation of sunrise, the sky erupted in colour—bruised purple at the horizon, then striped blue, and finally brilliant pink. ‘The heavens are more reliable than your justice. The sun comes up every morning.’ Her words came out in a whisper. ‘Even in our darkest hours.’

‘Have you had many of those?’

‘Enough.’ More than dark hours. Dark years after the death of the old King snuffed the life-giving sun from their sky.

‘But you survived.’ No compassion softened his words.

She blocked the memories. She had spoken too much of herself and her needs. ‘Has the world never been harsh to you?’

‘No more than to most.’ Pain gilded his answer, but whatever weakness had sent him to the roof in near-apology was gone when he looked at her. ‘Do not try to play on my sympathies. You will not change my mind about your grant.’

The memory of the kiss pulsed between them. Could an appeal to his sense of justice change his mind? ‘King Richard has given his clerks more than we would need.’

‘And the clerks didn’t deserve it either.’

‘Don’t deserve?’ Despite her resolution, harsh words leapt to her tongue. ‘The King is the judge of that, not you.’

‘Not according to Parliament.’

‘Parliament!’ She spat the word. ‘Those greedy buzzards stripped us of everything, not only what the King had freely given, but lands my mother acquired with her own means.’

‘Lands she took from others and did not need.’

‘She needed them to support us after his death.’

‘She had a husband to take care of her, more fool he. Better to ask for a husband to support you.’

‘Now you mock me.’ Husbands were for women with dowries and respected families. ‘No one would have me.’

‘If the King decreed, someone would.’

‘Then perhaps I shall ask him.’ The very idea left her giddy.

He grabbed her arms and forced her to look at him. Some special urgency burned behind his eyes. ‘Don’t let him force you. Only wed if it is someone you want.’

Her heart beat in her throat as she looked at him. That was why her mother had warned her against this feeling. If the King decreed, it would not matter whom she wanted.

She stepped back and he let his hands drop. ‘If someone weds me, be assured that I will want him.’

Disgust, or sadness, tinged his look. ‘And if you don’t, you’ll tell him you do.’ The brilliant colours of daybreak faded as the sun emerged. The sky had no colour; the sun, no warmth. ‘Here’s your sun, Lady Solay,’ he said, turning towards the stairs. ‘May it bring you a husband in the New Year.’

As his footsteps faded, the image he had suggested tantalised her like the dawn at the edge of the day. Marriage. Someone to take care of her.

She pulled her cloak tighter and let the wind blow the fantasy away. Better to focus on pleasing the King with a pleasant poem and a pretty future.

But Justin’s suggestion tugged at her. Perhaps he had deliberately shown her the path to circumvent the Council.

If the King had no power to grant her family a living, he might find an alliance for her with a family that would not allow hers to starve.

And if the King were gracious enough to find her a husband, she would take whomever he gave, even if the man’s kisses did not make her burn.

Chapter Five

As the sun rose to its pale peak on the last day of the year, Solay set aside the astrology tables in despair. She read no Latin, so she could understand none of the text. In a week, the Yuletide guests would be gone, and she with them unless she could create a story from the stars to please a King.

Before she wove a fiction, she had tried to decipher the truth, but the symbols in the chart the old astrologer had drawn blurred before her eyes.

She trusted no one for help except Agnes. When she had asked what ill omens the old astrologer had seen, Agnes’s already pale face turned white.

‘He said the King must give up his friendship with the Duke of Hibernia or the realm would be in danger.’

No wonder the man had been jailed.

Idly, she flipped through the tables of planets, wondering when Lord Justin Lamont had been born. He had the stubbornness of the Bull, but his blunt speech reminded her of the Archer. Perhaps one of them was the ascendant and the other…

Foolishness. She put the tables aside and turned to her real work. Her future lay in the hands of the King, not in the kisses of Justin Lamont.