Free Nine Days a Queen: The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey by Ann Rinaldi Page A

at Beaulieu, her country seat, presenting themselves to her, thinking she would soon be Queen.
    Oh, the monstrous duplicity of people!
    I objected when my parents insisted I go to visit Mary. "It will only remind her there are people in line for the throne after her," I said.
    But I must go, I was told. There was nothing for it. I hated it because I would not have Mary think me an opportunist. But I went anyway.
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    THIRTEEN

    S
    o the spring I was fifteen I paid another visit to Mary. And I couldn't help but notice. She treated me like a woman now.

    "You know John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, of course," she said to me as soon as we were seated in comfort in her private chambers. "What do you know about him?"
    "That I like him not," I said.
    She smiled. Mary was well past thirty now, with the flush of maidenhood gone from her face. But then, had she ever been a true maid? All her life she had had to act with wisdom beyond her years just to survive.
    I was glad I wasn't a princess. Their lot is not a happy one.
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    "You should not only like him not," she told me. "You should fear him. He is not a man of good parts. He may be elegant, handsome, and accomplished, but it is he who set the Seymour brothers against each other. And now he is working to upset the Lord Protector."
    "How?" I asked.
    "For one thing, Northumberland has just put down a bothersome rebellion. Everyone praises him for it. Few stop to think it gave him an excuse to have his own army, and now that he does, the Lord Protector is in danger of being thrown over."
    "Will King Edward allow that to happen?"
    "My little brother is enamored of Northumberland. You know he's the finest jouster of the day and has a skill at games that fascinates Edward. He treats my brother as if he has already attained his majority. And he has hangers-on and climbers in court who will falsely testify in a minute to the Lord Protector's treasonous activities."
    Fear came upon me. "And if he takes over as Lord Protector?"
    "You and I are both in danger. You'll find
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    yourself no longer betrothed to your earl, but likely to one of Northumberland's sons. He has five of them. You know your parents want you attached to power."

"I can't think of one I'd want to be betrothed to."
    "No matter. One is already wed. Prepare yourself for it, though. "
    "And you?" I looked at her. She was no longer pretty, no, but there was a certain strength in her face. And honesty. With herself.
    "All the council is with him," she said of Northumberland. "Including Cranmer, Wriothesley, Arundel, Paulet, and Cecil. I am friendly with the council, but if Northumberland takes over, I shall have to flee England."
    I leaned forward. "Where would you go?"
    "Portugal. I am thinking Portugal," she said.
    She was lying to herself now. For even I knew they would never let her out of England. A princess of the blood in a foreign country? With the opportunity to mass an army around her and return and attack and take over the throne? No, she was surely lying to herself now.
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    "Are you going to the reception for Mary, Queen of Guise?" she asked me.
    Mary, Queen of Guise was Queen Regent of Scotland, returning to her homeland after a trip. "I don't know," I said.
    "You must, if just to see Edward. He's had the measles, you know, and we've all been worried about him.''
    "Are you going?"
    "No. It's too dangerous for me at court. And I'll wager Elizabeth doesn't go, either. But here, I have a present for you." She clapped her hands and one of her ladies-in-waiting brought over a dress, and Mary held it across her lap.
    "You must go. And wear this. For me."
    It was made of tinsel cloth of gold and velvet, laid on with parchment lace of gold. She then reached into a box on a side table and drew out a pearl-and-ruby necklace, and bade me try it on. So I did.
    The red ruby drops drew close around my throat in the fashion of the time.
    "I can't take these things, Mary," I said.
    "You can and you shall. If I know