Free Threads of Silk by Linda Lee Chaikin Page A

Andelot told me. It held a pearl pendant. You wore it several times and it did not affect you. You may have received a straightforward gift because some different plan formed in her mind, convincing her that she would have need of you. Now that I’ve guessed her desire to use me to rid her of Duc de Guise, I think we may settle upon why she wanted you alive. Why she at this moment continues to take an interest in you.”
    She clutched at his sleeve. “This is my opportunity to ask the dwarves about the gloves.”
    “It is not wise. Nor will it serve your purpose. They will report every word you speak back to the Queen Mother. It is enough Madalenna saw you follow Catherine to the Ruggerio Brothers’ shop on the quay.”
    “But surely the Queen Mother must already suspect I know about Grandmère.”
    “ Précisément . And if she suspects your motive for following her to the quay, questioning her dwarves about the gloves will reinforce her resentment. For your own sake it is best you say nothing.”
    “Why doesn’t she realize I have no power to harm her, while she can do anything she wishes?”
    “Catherine cannot do anything she wishes, chérie. You must understand. It is true that she sits as Queen Mother and you cannot harm her. She has power, but she is no longer the queen of France. Her son Francis is king, but Duc de Guise has great influence over Francis, and is also more powerful than she.”
    “Duc de Guise!”
    “Yes, the house of Guise. The duc has Rome and Spain behind him, as well as an army of mercenaries should he need to fight a religious civil war. The silver and gold Spain takes from the Americas on her treasure galleons pays for Spain’s armies. Both the pope and King Philip would like to have Catherine put aside entirely in order to place a Guise on the throne. A Guise could then move against the heretics once and for all.”
    “But she is no amie of the Huguenots! Remember Amboise? Two thousand men and nobles beheaded at her order — ”
    “And the Cardinal de Lorraine’s order. She did so because she was threatened. The Huguenots wished to place her under palais arrest along with the Guises, and make my kinsman the prince become regent of young King Francis. Of course she is no amie of the Huguenots or the house of Bourbon. Catherine is on the side of the strongest force in France who will support her while avoiding civil war. Presently she needs the Huguenot nobles to oppose the house of Guise and keep some power. But she is one faux pas away from slipping — and she knows it, so she maintains a grasp on power through secret manipulations, schemes, and murder.”
    Rachelle shivered. “You seem to know her well.”
    “I have watched her at court for years. I was there when the dauphin died, some say of poison, allowing her husband, Henry, to come to the throne. From what I remember of her while growing up, she tries to spin her webs in the shadows, unnoticed. She trusts few and is wary of anyone disclosing her Machiavellian schemes. She lives for the day when her precious Anjou becomes king, yet she knows she is disliked by the people of France. The Guises control her son King Francis, and that likely keeps her awake at night, worrying and planning as she fears losing power. That is why she wants Guise dead. He is the one leader in France who could rally the people against her. She also fears that if word begins to circulate that she has used poison again and the Ruggerio brothers are named as accomplices, they could go to the Bastille, and under torture, they would implicate her.”
    “You mean no one knows about the Ruggerio brothers?”
    “Very few. Why do you think she masquerades when she visits them on the quay, and uses secret stairways and listening closets? She does not want the Guises to talk about her use of poison in their appeals to the King of Spain. You do not want to become a goad to Catherine, chérie. It is as dangerous as cornering a viper.”
    She remembered that