Traitor's Kiss by Pauline Francis Read Free Book Online Page A

door, which is very difficult to do. And it seemed unfair that he should sit on the throne first just because he was the prince. I sighed. Perhaps it was for the best. No Queen would be allowed to rule alone. She would be forced to take a husband to help her.
    I was more nervous than usual as Kat helped me into the royal barge. I had not forgotten the man in the woods. Although it would be treason to call out such things in public and few would dare, I chose a waterside seat in the barge, away from the crowds, sinking into cushions that were soft and deep. Kat took the bank side, next to Lady Catherine. Jane sat opposite, with her nurse, Mistress Ellen.
    The Thames was as smooth as glass, unlike the day I had first seen Francis. I had looked for him ever since, walking by the river although I hated its stench. But he never came back.
    I sighed and Kat patted my hand.
    The banks were bright with bunches of flowers and wheat and garlands of autumn leaves – in celebration of the greatest harvest of all, a living prince. At Chelsea Village, there were crowds on the riverbanks, some dangling their feet in the water. People had left their apple-picking to see us. I bowed my head until a woman called out, “God bless you, Princess Elizabeth.”
    â€œThey love you,” Kat said. “Who could not?” And there was a tear on her cheek.
    â€œYou would make a fine Queen, Bess,” my stepmother said. My heart swelled with love for her. I owed her everything. It was she who had persuaded my father to recognize Mary and me as his legitimate heirs. But in that love was guilt for wanting to know the truth about my mother.
    I leaned past Kat and waved back.
    â€œWhat was it like to be the Queen of England?” Jane asked.
    â€œOh…exciting….exhausting…and dangerous,” Lady Catherine said. “A Queen must have the weak and feeble body of a woman, while being strong enough to bear sons – that is what the King wants – but she must have the mind of a man. A Queen must never draw attention to herself. There is a line that must not be crossed. The problem is this: it is an invisible line. You have to find out where it is. I once crossed it, and it almost cost me my head.”
    Jane gasped. “ You ?” she said, astonished. “But you are the most… What did you do?”
    â€œI was said to be too extreme in my religious views.”
    â€œ Were you?” Jane’s eyes bulged.
    â€œPerhaps,” she replied. “But I do not think that my views were the problem. It was the fact that I was seen to be more outspoken than my husband. The Bishop of Winchester told Henry that he had found banned religious books in my library. Your father signed my arrest…” She shivered. “I would have been taken to the Tower. By chance, I heard about it.”
    Mistress Ellen was aghast. “So what did you do then, madam?”
    â€œI took to my bed and pretended to be ill… very ill…and wept and begged Henry to forgive me. And he did. I still don’t know why. He had mellowed with age, I suppose. But you can see how much men rule our lives.”
    â€œBess becomes ill when she’s in trouble,” Kat said. “But she doesn’t pretend. She swells up like a pig’s bladder. If she fell into this river, she’d float.”
    Jane suddenly laughed and could not stop until she hiccoughed. But her whole body trembled.
    We settled into silence, smiling at the chatter of Mistress Ellen and Kat as they recalled their girlhoods in Devon, the old faith, the old ways and the old days of perpetual sun.
    Two miles downriver, we passed the turreted and gilded towers of Whitehall Palace. This was the palace my father had built for my mother and my longing for her rushed at me like the water beneath us. We did not stop there yet, for we were first to pick up Robert Dudley and his brother, Guildford. Further into London, we passed Edward