The Twylight Tower Read Online Free Page A

French are out of our northern neighbor’s lands for good. Better yet, Scotland will be Protestant now, and thirdly, the Papist French have realized what a power you and England can be, so—”
    “But not enough of a power to get Calais back?” Lord Robin interrupted. “An area right across theEnglish Channel, long held by us, forfeited by Her Grace’s sister, Queen Mary, in an ill-advised Spanish war for her husband’s sake and—”
    “Don’t lecture me about Calais, Lord Robert,” Cecil interrupted this time. “But I see you are now elevated to a height to criticize kings and queens, a Tudor queen included. And evidently you are making foreign policy in my absence, not to mention oth—”
    “I do wish,” the queen said to Secretary Cecil when Meg almost thought Lord Robin would dare to strike him, “you had pushed them for Calais. Mary Stuart and her husband, King Francis, have no just claim to it. Robin is right.”
    Cecil, who Meg knew could hide his real feelings as well as a clever actor like Ned, gaped for air like a beached fish before he recovered. “You must realize, Your Gracious Majesty,” Cecil said, “that Queen Mary and her royal husband are neither cowed by you in war nor friendly in peace. As a matter of fact, I have word here,” he went on, indicating his satchel, “that she is telling everyone in her court that you plan to make a way to wed your married Master of the Horse, something she found most amus—”
    “The slandering, lying witch!” the queen shouted. Meg would have wagered she’d scream some more, but she only said, “Leave off, Cecil. And leave your documents, which I will sign when I can. I am certain you have missed your Mildred more than you have missed your queen. And you have come here with a stiff neck and tawdry rumors from that court of frogs!”
    Meg almost snickered at that picture. The English often called the effete French that because they actually ate such things as frog legs and snails instead of hearty fare like good English roast beef. She could tell the queen was dismissing Cecil now, so didn’t he catch on, being such a brilliant lawyer?
    “I appreciate,” Cecil said, backing up carefully and bowing at the same time the way only courtiers could do, “your kind thoughts and concern, Your Majesty, for how much my wife must be missing me, living in the country as she is, deprived of my presence and care while I attend you at court.”
    Meg saw Lord Robin jerk and stare, like he’d been hit over the head with that clever insult. Everyone knew his wife, Amy, was a country mouse who never came to court and was seldom seen by her husband. Meg watched, wide-eyed, holding her breath for one of the queen’s raving fits, while Kat curtsied, looking as upset as the rest of them, and left with Lord Cecil.
    “ ’S blood,” Elizabeth cried to Robin, and followed with a string of curses. She banged a fist against the birdcage, and turtledoves fluttered and flew, only to stay trapped inside. “Do those two,” the queen went on, pointing stiff-armed after them, “whom I have trusted and favored, presume to glare and lecture their queen like parents with a wayward child? What you and I do in our friendship, Robin, we do in the broad light of day with others in attendance.”
    With that, she darted a sharp glance in Meg’s direction. Meg quickly plunged back to stringing flowers. Ned, she could tell, was just leaning back against thetree, staring off into the distance, so that the queen probably thought they couldn’t hear a word she said.
    “Cecil has too much authority,” Lord Robin said softly, but his voice still carried on the mounting breeze. “You need someone you can trust as a counterbalance to his power and pomposity.”
    Meg could not believe it when the queen nodded, took his arm, and gazed into his eyes. It was evident even to an herb girl that the queen of England was caught deep in love’s snares, just like in the words to a song Geoffrey