The Boleyn King by Laura Andersen

Author:Laura Andersen [Andersen, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780345534095
Publisher: Ballantine
Published: 2012-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

IN A LIFETIME of long days, Dominic thought, this one was the longest. He was late into the great hall for the dancing. By that time he was so keyed up from lack of sleep, long days of travel, and the events of the day that he had to keep blinking himself into reality. Every time someone called him Exeter, it took a breath or two for him to answer. He kept expecting someone to tap him on the shoulder and tell him it had all been a mistake.

He felt he had accomplished little enough in Europe, and so he had claimed last night at the final gathering of the regency council. But in spite of the general resentment of the French, the lords had been gracious in their thanks, and even Rochford had unbent so far as to shake his hand and say softly, “Never underestimate the power of backstairs diplomacy.”

Dominic suspected that the next encounter with France would have little to do with diplomacy, backstairs or not. He had seen the look in William’s eyes and knew his king was itching for the opportunity to fight the French. The next move was Henri’s—and Dominic planned to keep in good fighting condition until then. Like William, he preferred the thought of an open battlefield in France to the twists and uneasiness of the Penitent’s Confession and Catholic conspiracies. Better to face off against a known enemy than brood over a hidden one. Rochford could do the latter well enough—as he had pointed out earlier. “Let me monitor conditions for a few weeks,” he’d concluded after Dominic had burnt the banner. “I am not certain it is wise to allow Lady Mary to continue on to Framlingham with Norfolk.”

“I think it is,” William had said with conviction. “Most important, I gave her my word. She came to chapel with me—and managed to acknowledge my mother without throwing anything. Her reward is a stay with Norfolk. And if we wish to draw out the enemy, we must give him space. If we give her a measure of liberty in this, the traitor may very well be drawn out. Especially if it is Norfolk.”

He’s starting to think like Rochford, Dominic thought, and didn’t know if he was pleased or not. Normally he would celebrate any restraint from William—but while restraint was one thing, cold-blooded calculation could be turned to something else entirely.

When he at last entered the great hall, his eyes went straight to Minuette with the unerring instinct of a man besotted. She positively glowed in a dress of shot silk that swirled through every shade of blue and green when she moved. She spoke to a young man that Dominic recognized as Jonathan Percy, her head tilted to the side in a manner that made his chest ache.

“How is the newest peer of the realm?” William came up next to him, sounding remarkably pleased with himself.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever learn to answer to Exeter.” Dominic smiled a little. “Thank you.

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