Free The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau Page B

quaking.
    Slowly, I stood back up, without assistance.
    “Kingston, bring him in now,” the duke said in a low voice. His back was still to me, and I realized for the first time he was not a tall man. Kingston topped him by a head.
    Nodding, Sir William went to the door and knocked twice. It swung open and the lieutenant walked in the room, the man who had received me at the Water Gate. He gripped another young man by the arm, half pulling him inside.
    It was Geoffrey Scovill.

8
    G eoffrey looked far better than when I had last seen him, carried away, unconscious, from the landing gate of the Tower. A proper bandage had replaced my makeshift one. He’d obviously been cleaned up and fed during his imprisonment. He stood tall, his hands unbound, before us.
    But he wouldn’t meet my gaze. He stared down and away, toward the corner of the room.
    What a grave mistake he’d made by coming to my aid,
I thought. He was one of them, after all; he’d gone to Smithfield to observe the administration of the king’s justice. Geoffrey Scovill would be a fool if he did not distance himself from me now. He had not struck me as a fool.
    His arrival blew new purpose into the duke, who pointed at him with his whip and asked me, “What is your connection to this man?”
    “There is no connection,” I said quickly.
    “Wasn’t he by your side at the burning, as you rushed to interfere with the execution?” Norfolk pressed. “What conspiracy did you form?”
    “None, Your Grace. A short time previous, I met Master Scovill when he came to my aid. Another man, a ruffian, attempted to harm me, and he put a stop to it. He was trying to persuade me to leave Smithfield when Lady Bulmer was brought to the stake. He was only concerned for my safety. When he was struck down by the soldier of the guard, Master Scovill was trying to pull me back into the crowd, to protect me.”
    “How chivalrous.” The duke smiled. I hated that thin-lipped leer. I preferred his rage, even his blows, to that. “So you attracted a strapping young protector at Smithfield. That doesn’t seem the way a nun should conduct herself.”
    Geoffrey’s head snapped up.He finally looked right at me, and his mouth fell open. With my disheveled clothing and hair, and the bruise sprouting on my jaw, I was doubtless a pitiful sight.
    The duke sneered. “But then you weren’t a nun yet, were you, Joanna? Still a novice, eh? And this could have been your last chance at a man. He seems a fine enough candidate for the honor.”
    Geoffrey Scovill yanked his arm out of the lieutenant’s grip and moved in the direction of the duke, his blue eyes sparking with rage. He was rising to the bait. In a moment he would defy the Duke of Norfolk, and for someone of his station, the error would be irrevocable.
    “Your Grace is most mistaken,” I said in my hardest voice, turning toward the duke to cut off Geoffrey’s approach. “I had no significant dealings with this man. How could it be otherwise? You must know enough of him to be aware he is a base commoner. I would never form a personal connection with such a person. You yourself say I am of noble family, descended from Plantagenet kings. He is an insect.”
    I turned back toward Geoffrey. He stood frozen in place, his eyes glistening. But I couldn’t say or do anything, couldn’t send him a signal, no matter how subtle, to let him know I was doing this to absolve him.
    “Take him away, Lieutenant, and discharge him from the Tower,” said Norfolk with a shrug, as if calling for a bundle of clothes to be pitched into the river. A minute later, Geoffrey Scovill was gone. I felt relief, but the victory was a heavy one. My false words had caused pain, and I’d never be able to explain to him, to atone.
    A strange scratching sound filled the room, and I looked around, confused. It was the Duke of Norfolk’s wheezing laugh.
    “It was worth a try, eh, Kingston?” he asked.
    “Yes, Your Grace,” Sir William said.
    I gasped as