Dangerous Sanctuary by Michelle Diener Read Free Book Online

CHAPTER ONE

    Susanna came back to the world like a swimmer breeching the water’s surface to draw breath, pulling herself from the hold of her work.
    She shifted on the hard church bench and set down her charcoal and parchment, stretching her legs and tipping back her head to ease her neck. As she straightened, she looked down the length of Paul’s walk, the long nave that ran the length of St. Paul’s Cathedral, eyes burning with strain from sketching so long in the dim light.
    She’d arrived early in the morning, when there was almost no one else within the cathedral, but now, as midday approached, it was becoming more crowded.
    Usually, the booksellers would move in, taking over the nave to set up their tables, and the newsmongers would stroll up and down the length of the walk for the latest gossip and news in London, but not today.
    Today the King’s procession through London from Bridewell would end here, in a ceremony of thanks to God for the capture of the French king, Francis I, and the death of the Yorkist Pretender, Richard de la Pole.
    It had taken the King’s fancy—late last night, deep into making merry with his courtiers—to have a commemoration of today’s occasion. A painting of the ceremony.
    A page had been sent to knock on her door, waking Susanna andher betrothed, Parker, in the early hours to inform her of her new commission.
    And so she sat now, sketching the main altar from which the Cardinal Wolsey would say the Sarum rite. She had come as early as the light would allow, drawing the background so she could focus on the King and Wolsey when the ceremony began. Her fingers were stiff and cold from capturing the intricate, soaring interior of the church in the freezing March air.
    Susanna turned her head and looked at the crowd that was starting to gather. They would have to move back from the main altar, she supposed, when the King arrived. But for now, they could gawk at the decorations the priests were erecting in preparation for the royal arrival.
    A man, a courtier judging by the velvet of his dress, caught her eye. He brought to mind a cat, sleek and predatory, as he made his way down the long walk.
    There was a pent-up anger in him, transmitting itself in the sharp way he moved his head from side to side as he walked, and in the way his hands were fisted tight against his thighs.
    He was looking for someone.
    He headed toward the east end of the nave, in the direction of the magnificent stained glass circular window she had been itching to sketch, but as the crowds thinned out at that end and he did not find the person he was searching for, he turned and stalked back toward her.
    The massive window distracted her, as it had since she’d arrived, and she lifted her eyes from him up to it again. She knew she could lose herself in reproducing it. She had seen fine examples of stained glass before. Her father had designed the cartoons for many, butshe had never seen anything of this scale and workmanship. It was breathtaking.
    And it would have to wait.
    She was cold and hungry, and wondered if she had time to slip home for a bite and a little time in front of a fire before the procession reached the cathedral.
    A thin, icy breeze from the entrance snaked through the nave and puffed a frigid, incense-laden breath down the back of her neck. It made up her mind. She shivered and stepped into Paul’s walk, carefully rolling her sketch and slipping it into her satchel.
    As she walked to the door, the talk around her was of the procession and the promised free drink that would be provided in the streets. The roads would be almost impassable as the crowds of London took advantage of the King’s good humor. She hoped they were clear enough now to make it worth her while going home.
    “Where have you been?”
    Susanna’s step faltered until she realized the harsh, low hiss was not for her.
    Near the door, in the shadows, the courtier she’d watched earlier stood close to another man, crowding