In a Treacherous Court by Michelle Diener

Author:Michelle Diener
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2011-08-02T04:00:00+00:00

Parker left her so reluctantly, she thought he would refuse the King’s call to come in alone. He stood just outside the door to the inner sanctum looking so painfully conflicted, it was as though he were leaving her in a den of wolves rather than the privy chamber.

“Call out loudly, should you need me,” he told her, and then murmured in the ears of the guards at the door. With a final, hard look around the room, he stepped into the passageway beyond.

Susanna sank back down on the chair that had been brought for her when they arrived. Despite the laughter around her, the conversations of the courtiers making merry after their evening meal, every eye had lighted upon her at least once since she’d arrived.

She was too tired to care, and she looked down at her lap, not even regretting her lack of charcoal and paper. If she ignored them, she knew they would lose interest.

“I know you.”

The man who addressed her, coming right up to her chair, was drunk. His face was flushed with too much wine and he looked pleased with himself, as if he carried a most satisfying secret.

Susanna felt the sudden freeze of fear. A stone had lodged in her throat, all but choking her. She could do nothing but stare up at him and hope Parker would not be long.

Because she knew only too well who he was. George Boleyn. Womanizer, rapist, pig. The last time she’d seen him, he’d tried to rape her in a dark corner of the great hall of Margaret of Austria’s court.

She would never forget his face. It seemed he had not forgotten hers, either, despite the years that had passed since then.

“My lord.” She did not rise from her chair but she merely inclined her head, uncaring of the rudeness.

“You’re speaking English now. If I recall, you pretended otherwise last time we met.”

Talking to him at all was a mistake, but antagonizing him would be even worse.

“I am here at the King’s request, sir, and I took instruction in English before I came, to better serve His Majesty.” Perhaps knowing she was here for the King would penetrate his drink-fogged brain and restrain him.

“And what use has the King for you, little Lowlander?” He spoke loudly, and there were a few titters of laughter from courtiers nearby, but they were subdued. She was an unknown entity, and no one wanted to risk an offense that would reach the King’s ears.

She did not respond. He had never asked her reason for being at Margaret’s court, in the short conversation they’d had before he’d turned on her all those years ago. She had let him strike up a conversation because she had not heard the rumors that he took whichever woman he wanted. That women should take care never to be alone with him.

Boleyn crouched down and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I had to leave Margaret’s court in disgrace because of you.” Spittle sprayed

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