The Hostage Queen by Freda Lightfoot Read Free Book Online Page A

nephew, the young Henri, Duke of Guise. Face flushed with youthful defiance, he refused point-blank to play the game.
    ‘You ask too much. I cannot betray the memory of my father, not even to please Your Majesty.’
    Catherine considered the heartfelt passion in the boy’s face, his rigid stance with his hand on his sword, as was Coligny’s still, and knew she had lost. She noted how the rest of his family stood proudly behind him, emphasizing by their very stance that although their great leader was dead, they nonetheless had a fine replacement in the form of his son. The meeting had turned into a farce. For all her efforts, her clever acting and dissembling, nothing had been achieved.
     
    Henri and Margot walked hand in hand in the park. ‘How could I betray my father’s memory? You know how I loved him, how I have sworn to take revenge for his murder.’
    Margot pulled Henri down on a grassy sward to hold him in her arms, breathing in the warm scent of his skin, loving him, swearing her complete support as emotion overcame him over the loss of the father he loved so dearly.
    ‘You are right, my love. How could you risk it? I thought you so brave to stand up to my mother the Queen like that. It was unfair of her to attempt this nonsense of a reconciliation. The order certainly did not come from the King. Charles has far too much sensitivity.’
    The young man dashed the tears from his eyes, embarrassed by this show of weakness. ‘I hate Coligny. The coward should own up to his crime. Poltrot was but a half-witted youth of twenty, clearly acting under orders. My father didn’t stand a chance. He wasn’t even wearing his usual coat of mail, and was shot in the back by an arquebus.’
    ‘I remember that my mother offered her finest surgeons, sitting by his bedside at the camp until he breathed his last,’ Margot said, combing her fingers through Guise’s fair curls as she leaned against the hard strength of his shoulder.
    ‘Poltrot said Coligny had offered him one hundred écus to do the job. What price is that for a life? My father’s life, for pity’s sake! A hero, a warlord.’ Too agitated to sit still, the hot-headed young man broke free from her embrace to stride back and forth in a fury of impatience. ‘I know Coligny swore on his life that he did no such thing, that he was innocent, but I do not believe him. He is a liar! The plot came directly from him. He freely admitted that Poltrot was one of his men, but it is no defence to say that he would never have trusted the gibbering fool to carry out such a task. The fellow’s very idiocy might have been considered a defence.’
    Margot frowned. ‘I am sure you have every right to be angry, my love.’ Whatever the rights and wrong of the case, Margot wished he would stop ranting and railing, and hold her in his arms.
    Guise swung about, fists clenched, eyes burning with hatred. ‘And do you know what else he said? That although he was innocent, he nevertheless regarded the duke’s death as the greatest benefit which could have befallen the kingdom, God’s Church, and in particular his whole House. What kind of remark is that to make about my father?’
    ‘Despicable!’
    ‘It fills me with rage to think of it. I’d rather run the blackguard through with my sword than kiss his cheek.’
    ‘You can kiss mine.’
    He looked at her lovely face, at the glittering promise in her chestnut eyes, then put back his head and laughed. Gathering Margot tightly in his arms, he kissed her cheek, her lips, her hair, the smooth silk of her throat. ‘At least I have you. Know that I love you, Margot.’
    Warmth spread through her as sweet as honey. ‘I know it. I carry your love in my heart every day.’
    ‘They may allow us to marry in time; we can still hope.’
    ‘There is always hope, and I shall ever love you.’
    ‘And one day – one blessed day – I shall have my revenge on Coligny.’
     
    ***

Part Two
     
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