AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Greer stood before her, his hands continuing to hold her up.
Lucy swallowed and focused on the tie at his throat. “My friend, Maggie, was able to break her husband out of the Tower. We could get Cordy out and all of us ride to Scotland.”
“I’m certain Walsingham learned how to tighten his defenses after that escape.”
Lucy pressed her hands, one over the top, to her forehead, making her cap fall off. “I cannot let Cordy be killed.” Greer caught her braid, and she leaned numbly against the wall as he coiled it back around into a knot on her head and pushed the cap over it. She looked up into his face.
It was hard, his brows pinched. He knew how dire things were. She didn’t have to convince him of that. Even if he wouldn’t marry her, he would help her.Unless I’m with his child. Then he might marry me.The hope surfaced easily, bobbing as if on the top of the Thames.
But there was no time to think of babes or weddings or happiness.I will have no one if Cordy dies.Lucy dropped her face in her hands. “I am a coward,” she whispered.
Greer squeezed her shoulders. “Ye are not a coward.”
Fear gripped her throat. She swallowed, tipping her face to his. “I am,” she said. “The thought of losing Cordy is too much.” She shook her head. “I can barely stand.”
Greer looked up and down the vacant alley as if making sure no one was nearby. “I believe that Walsingham is setting a trap for ye with Cordelia’s sentence. It may not even be true.”
Tears filled her eyes. “But what if she thinks it is? She must be terrified.” Lucy’s heart pounded as if tethered to her sister’s wildly flying pulse.
He exhaled and squeezed her hands. “We need to find the real culprit. And fast.”
“And it must be Jasper Lintel,” she said.
He caught her chin gently in his fingers. “And if the worst happens, I am stealing ye away to Scotland before Walsingham can grab ye too.”
Lucy wiped her eyes to clear them of tears. “I cannot even think about the worst.” Cordelia dying by the blade or hanging. Even touching the very edge of the thought made a swollen tear break free to run down her cheek. Greer wiped it with his thumb.
“We need to hurry back to Cranfield House,” Greer said. “Walsingham is acting quicker than I anticipated. We’ll take the children, Simmons, and the dogs to Norfolk’s to plan our next step.”
Lucy nodded, taking an even breath to push back against the immobilizing fear. “Let’s move, then.”
They traveled back the way they’d walked, hurrying this time. As they rounded the corner onto St. Martin’s Lane, Greer grabbed her arm, pulling her to the side of the road. “No,” she said, her voice low. She stopped as she spotted a wagon bearing Elizabeth’s coat of arms outside Cranfield House. Neighbors had come forth from their own houses to watch the spectacle.
John Simmons was led outside, his balding head bowed.
Lucy gasped softly, and her heart clenched as Pip and Percy trotted out on the ends of ropes about their necks. She hadn’t even had time to put their collars on. Walsingham would no doubt return them to the Bear Garden kennels.
Greer pressed his arm firmly against hers. Thank goodness they had quartered Greer’s horse in Norfolk’s stables, or Darach might have been seized as well.
Greer and Lucy waited until the wagon, with Simmons sitting bound in the middle, rumbled over the cobblestones east toward the Tower. Once the sound of the wheels had faded and the neighbors had dispersed, Greer tugged her arm to follow him. They stepped back out, walking casually until they reached the side of Cranfield House where they ducked around behind.
The house was silent as they stepped in the back door. “Walsingham may have left a guard or two,” Greer whispered in her ear. She nodded and they walked lightly through the ornately furnished home that she’d always known. Now it seemed as cold and hollow as a tomb.
Whispering came from the study, and they crept that way. Peeking around the door, Lucy saw Alyce hugging Catherine as Nick tried to start a fire in the hearth.
“Are you well?” Lucy asked. All three children spun around, their eyes wide with terror and then relief when they saw them.
“The queen’s guards took Simmons,” Alyce said.
“And Pip and Percy.” Catherine ran to Lucy, throwing her arms around her. Lucy hugged the girl tightly.
Nick looked pale. “The head guard said you stole the dogs and that Lord Walsingham was taking them back.”
Alyce looked close to tears but was being brave. “They said Simmons bought poison to kill the queen.”
“How terrifying for you all,” Lucy said, pulling the three in together to hug. The panic that had taken her strength before was no match to the need to protect these three children. They needed her to be strong. Her gaze found Greer’s. “We need you three to be brave.”
“We must save Pip and Percy,” Catherine cried.
