VOYAGE OF STRANGERS Read Online Free Page B

ship’s boys with a message for the Admiral. Better, perhaps, for one of his men. They might deem the Admiral too important to be disturbed. But her errand must be to anyone but Diego. Once she had been admitted, her most crucial task was to keep her brother from seeing her.
    Up to a point, all fell out as she had planned. She aroused no interest as she wriggled through the ranks of assembled courtiers. There was not much to see, as the broad backs of halberdiers standing at attention blocked her view of the Taino. She caught the flash of gold and the red of a parrot’s wing, but she would not call it a good look. The King and Queen, not handsome but richly garbed, sat apart talking in low voices to a white-haired man in a disappointingly drab brown cloak who must be the Admiral. There was Diego, towering over the colorful Taino. She looked away, afraid her regard, even staring at his back, would somehow make him aware of her.
    Perhaps she could see better from the side. Stone arches formed a shadowed arcade, much like the cloister at the convent, around the sides of the great hall. Ducking her head and murmuring apologies in as gruff a voice as she could muster, she reached the shelter of the colonnade on the side away from Diego. At that moment, the mass of courtiers stirred and shifted. A trumpet sounded a fanfare, and the King and Queen rose to their feet. The whole crowd streamed forward, while Rachel tried to maintain her position, not willing to follow without knowing more.
    She caught the arm of a page no older than herself.
    “What happens now?” she asked.
                  “Have you never been to Court before?” the boy said scornfully. “Their Majesties lead the way to the Chapel Royal, where a Te Deum will be sung. Are you coming?” 
    Rachel shook her head.
    “Want an apple? I have two.” As Rachel looked up, he added, “Catch.”
    Rachel caught the apple, thinking with some pride that she would like to see Constanza try to do the same. The boy departed without ceremony. Biting into the apple, Rachel stood watching another young sailor motion to Diego to follow the Taino. He started forward, but then turned back for a moment. When he caught sight of Rachel, his face went white with shock.
    He started toward her, but the other sailor called out to him. He turned back toward the Chapel, clearly reluctant to do so, and was swept out of sight by the crowd.
    Rachel looked around for her apple, which she had dropped without realizing it when Diego caught sight of her. It had rolled some distance away, and a hound far more elegantly groomed than Rachel herself was already sniffing at it. As she shrugged and stood wondering what to do next, fingers like a band of steel clamped down on her arm, while her attacker’s other hand seized her roughly by the collar.
    “Got you!”
    With a cry, she looked up into the triumphant face of Don Rodrigo Maldonado.
    “Don’t cry out!” He drew her further into the shadows as the courtiers streamed past, intent on crowding into the Chapel Royal with the King and Queen. “No one will pay the slightest attention. I might even beat a page dressed like an urchin without drawing any gentleman’s censure. How would you like that, Señorita Mendoza?”
    Rachel gasped. Only this morning, her aunt had presented her to him as Raquel Mendes. She twisted and squirmed to no avail.
    Don Rodrigo laughed.
    “Oh, yes,” he said, wrenching her arm cruelly behind her back. “Do you think I am stupid? You cannot escape, little girl. I could have you dragged away in chains right now. If I choose, you might never see sunlight again.”
    “What do you want of me?” Rachel panted.
    She could feel her bowels turn to water and feared she might disgrace herself. If she screamed, would Diego come to her aid? The sound of the Latin chanting, floating out faintly into the audience hall, must fill the ears of everyone listening in the Chapel to the exclusion of all other sound. Even