Chantress Alchemy Read Online Free Page A

experience, were a stuffy and bone-rattling way to travel—but Knollys had said that we would need to travel all day and most of the night, and that we would find it impossible to keep up with his hand-picked riders on horseback. Despite my protests, he’d insisted on the point, and now I was glad. Norrie could never have ridden all the way to Greenwich.
    “A sound night’s sleep, that’s what I need,” Norrie said, grimacing as I tucked the blankets around her. “I’ll be right as rain tomorrow.”
    “Let’s hope so.” I hated having to go to Greenwich at all, but seeing Norrie in such terrible pain made it harder.
    †    †    †
    That night, just as I was about to slip into bed, I heard the strange droning again. This time it was difficult to locate the source: perhaps the river nearby? It was so faint that I could make no sense of it at all, but I feared it still meant danger. I checked on Norrie, but she was sleeping peacefully. When I crept out to the hall, I saw only Rowan Knollys and his men standing guard.
    There was nothing more I could do.
    When I finally did fall asleep, however, I was restless. Toward morning I dreamed I was in the Tower of London, running through its maze of rooms in panic. I heard a scream behind me. Lady Helaine  . . .
    I woke, my heart hammering at my ribs. Above me was the low-beamed ceiling of the hunting lodge.
    It was just a dream , I told myself. But then I heard the yelp again.
    It was Norrie.
    “I can’t move,” she groaned, still flat in bed. “I’m so sorry, child, but I can’t get up.”
    An hour later, after the application of salves and plasters and heat, she still had not managed to stand. The only medicine that helped was poppy syrup, and it merely took the edge off the pain while making her very sleepy. Any attempt to lift her made the pain come roaring back.
    “She’s in no condition to travel,” I told Knollys, who was watching from the door. “We’ll have to wait.”
    “We can’t wait,” Knollys said. “My orders are to bring you to Greenwich without delay. The King requires your presence immediately.”
    “But a carriage ride would be torture to her right now,” I said.
    “To her, perhaps, but not to you. And you’re the one the King needs to see.” He went over to Norrie and leaned down to her, speaking loudly and clearly. “Miss Northam, I need to take the Lady Chantress to Greenwich. When you’re better, there will be another carriage at your disposal, and you can follow her in easy stages, if you like. Unless, that is, she has already returned to you, which is what we all hope for.”
    I resented the way he was making all the decisions. But the suggestion that I might be back so soon was a welcome one. Ifthat were the case, better I should go right away, and spare Norrie the rigors of the trip entirely.
    “Lucy?” Norrie searched me out with sleep-fogged eyes. “You can’t . . . go alone. I will . . .”
    I took her hand. “I’ll be fine, Norrie. It’s you I’m worried about. You must stay here and get well. I wish I could stay—”
    “No, no. Must go. King needs . . .” Her eyes were closing. Succumbing to the poppy syrup, she fell fast asleep.
    “Come,” Knollys said. “We can’t delay any longer.”
    I bent and kissed Norrie’s cheek, soft as worn chamois. “Will she be safe here?” I asked Knollys.
    “With the King’s household to look after her and the King’s gamekeepers to guard her? Absolutely.” As he guided me out of the room, he added, “There will be more peril on the road, truth be told.”
    I stopped in the doorway. “What kind of peril are you expecting?”
    “Nothing you need worry about, my lady.” Knollys looked uncomfortable. “It’s time we were off.”
    And although I pressed him again, that was all he would say.
    †    †    †
    Two weary days later, I was still in the dark about the perils Knollys had hinted at. But I had ceased to care. Instead, I sat