Ten Little Wizards: A Lord Darcy Novel Read Online Free Page A

the strength and intelligence that was, generation after generation, infused into the Plantagenet bloodline. And the five queens regnant: Anne, Mary I, Edith, Stephanie, and Mary II, had proved during their reigns that the Plantagenet skills ran as deeply in the female line as in the male.
    Lord Peter nodded to the two guards flanking the doors, and entered the throne room. The King was not present; the two hours of public audience did not begin until two o’clock. But Marquis Sherrinford, resplendant in his forest-green and silver court costume, was already at his small desk to the side of the ancient oak throne, sorting dockets, perusing files, listening to urgent pleas, deciding who would get to see His Majesty today and who would not. Harbleury, the gnomelike ancient who was his personal assistant and was privy to more of the secrets of state than many a duke, stood behind him.
    Lord Peter looked with concern at his master as he approached. Marquis Sherrinford suffered from headaches. For the past year they had been growing more frequent and stronger, and had proved beyond the reach of the healer’s arts. He refused to consider easing up on his duties, and indeed, the headaches did not seem to be affecting his judgment; but at times these days he was difficult to work with. Besides, above everything else, he was Lord Peter’s good friend, and being impotently unable to help a friend in pain is not a good feeling.
    “Ah, good day, Lord Peter,” His Lordship said, taking his spectacles off and looking up as his private secretary approached. He rubbed at his temples briefly with his thumbs, then replaced the wire-rim spectacles. “You bring the day’s post from London, I presume. Anything of note?”
    Lord Peter removed the blue-tied bundle from his shoulder bag. “For His Lordship, the Duke of Clarence,” he said. Then, removing the remaining green-tied bundle: “For Your Lordship.”
    “I shall pass this on to His Lordship of Clarence immediately,” Marquis Sherrinford said. “Harbleury, see to it. Now, is there anything in our pile that demands our immediate attention?”
    Lord Peter took the letter from his inside pocket and passed it over to the King’s Equerry. “I fancy Your Lordship will agree that this merits such,” he said.
    Marquis Sherrinford took his spectacles off, wiped them with a bit of white linen, carefully hooked them back behind his ears, and then unfolded the three sheets of stiff paper. “Ha,” he said. “Hmm.”
    Lord Peter looked up at Harbleury, who had passed the blue-tied bundle of documents on to an aide and was once again standing at his master’s back. He raised an eyebrow slightly, and Harbleury shook his head. The nonverbal exchange of information was complete. Is His Lordship suffering from one of his attacks? Not at the moment, as far as Harbleury could tell. Lord Peter nodded his thanks to the old man.
    Marquis Sherrinford stared at each page of the letter long enough to have read it several times, and then gathered them together and laid the letter on the table, neatly and precisely. A frown formed across his brow. “What do you think, Peter?” he asked without looking up.
    “I think we must treat it as though it is true,” Lord Peter said. “Although I will at once, of course, try to check through my own sources.”
    “Yes,” the Marquis said impatiently, “but what do you think? Is it true?”
    I can only say that I’ll investigate,” Lord Peter repeated. “I have heard nothing of it. It is very hard to establish a negative, so if it is not true, we may be some time in proving it. in the meantime, we must proceed as though it were fact.”
    Marquis Sherrinford tapped the end of his pen impatiently on the desk top. “Why have none of your sources picked it up?”
    Lord Peter shrugged. “Perhaps because it isn’t true. Perhaps because it is well hidden. Perhaps because I am incompetent, Your Lordship.”
    The Marquis glanced up sharply, looking over his