The Game by Brenda Joyce Read Free Book Online Page B

he is a prisoner…in disgrace.”
    The pirate regarded her intently, so intently that Katherine looked away. Finally he spoke. “After Affane, Butler imprisoned your father at Clonmel. The queen ordered them both to court, and your father was immediately tossed into the Tower. He remained there for two years. The queen and her Council were undecided about what to do with him. She was angry with Tom Butler, of course, for his part in their feud, but he was pardoned.”
    “Of course,” Katherine said stiffly. Tom Butler, the earl of Ormond, was not just her father’s hated enemy, but Queen Elizabeth’s cousin and thus a favorite of hers as well. Katherine leaned forward, toward the pirate captain, her hands splayed out on the table, almost touching his. “But why?” she cried earnestly. “My father has transgressed before—but was always pardoned! Why did the queen not pardon him when she pardoned Ormond?”
    “The queen was younger when she pardoned your father,” Liam said flatly. “And reluctant, I believe, to take on the issue of Ireland. This time she felt she must begin to bring the Irish lords to heel, especially your father, who refused to accept her authority on his lands. Do not forget, Ormond is a loyal subject. Nonetheless, her Council was divided. Factions formed. Some, led by Dudley and Sir William Cecil, favored a pardon and the return of your father to Desmond. Others, led by Ormond, favored his removal—forever.”
    Katherine clawed the table. “And Black Tom Butler won.”
    He nodded. “But with your father’s help. After two years, he was allowed to reside in Southwark, under guard and with restrictions. As you can well understand, he tried to escape, but the sea captain who was to aid him turned Judas. I believe the queen herself was most happy that they finally had some substantial charge with which to rid themselves of Desmond. He was tried for treason and convicted, his lands and title forfeit, two years ago. As far as I know, he is still under arrest at St. Leger House in Southwark.”
    Katherine was dazed by what he had told her—dazed and dismayed. The refrain drummed through her brain: she was Mistress Nobody now, Mistress Nobody. “You are telling me that my father has been a prisoner ever since Affane.”
    He nodded, watching her. “In the end, the need to bring southern Ireland under the Crown’s control, once and for all, won the day. As your father was the most powerful lord in Ireland, and the most defiant, his fate was doomed the moment Butler took him prisoner at Affane.”
    Katherine closed her eyes, giving in to a moment of despair. Her father had been in one prison or another ever since she had left southern Ireland for France. For six years, he had been confined. And he had lost everything. How unjust it was. “I cannot believe this,” she whispered. “Dear Lord, I cannot.” And now she had lost everything, too. Now she had no future. No gentleman would want her—no one but this pirate would want her now.
    “You must face the truth if you wish to survive.” His piercing tone brought her eyes to his face. His gaze held hers. “Listen closely to one who knows. I am a man of the sea, without either clan or country, and in order for me to survive, I must know every happenstance of import worldwide—and my actions are directed accordingly.”
    She stared at him unblinkingly. “You are an O’Neill. I do not understand you. You have a clan, you have a country. And if you have chosen otherwise, then that was your stupidity.”
    His smile was grim. “My father was as Irish as you are, but my mother was an Englishwoman. I was given no choice in the matter. Stupidity had little to do with the union between my parents, violence had everything to do with it. The O’Neills consider me as English as the queen. The English think me a savage like my father.”
    He spoke flatly, without self-pity or regret. Katherine stared at him, and his meaning hit her, hard. Their