‘Chateauneuf is a fanatic. You must have known he would not tolerate a man like me under his roof.’
‘I thought you might have found yourself a patron in London by then,’ he said, still sulky. Then his expression changed. ‘Or perhaps you did. There were concerns about you at the embassy, you know.’ He lifted his head and gave me a sly look from under his lashes, his lip curled in a knowing smile. ‘Some of the household seemed to think there was a breach of security.’
I kept my face entirely blank.
‘It was suggested that private letters might be finding their way into the wrong hands.’
He left a pause to see how I would respond. If I have learned one thing in these past years, it is how to conceal every shift of emotion behind a face as neutral as a Greek mask when it matters. I merely allowed my eyes to widen in a question.
‘It seems the old ambassador was not the only one who appeared over-familiar with English court circles. Your friendship with Sir Philip Sidney did not go unremarked, for instance. I heard you were sometimes his guest at the house of his father-in-law, Sir Francis Walsingham. Who is called Elizabeth’s spymaster, as I’m sure you’re aware.’
‘Sir Philip and I talked only of poetry, Majesty. I barely knew Sir Francis.’
‘Don’t play me for a fool, Bruno.’ He gripped my arm and his face loomed suddenly an inch from mine, his tone no longer flippant. ‘I’m talking about secret letters between the Duke of Guise and Mary Stuart, and the English Catholics here who support her claim to the throne, sent using our embassy as a conduit. Elizabeth wrote to me. She said those letters were evidence of advanced plans for an invasion of England by Guise’s troops, backed by Spanish money, to free Mary Stuart from gaol and give her the English throne. Whoever intercepted those letters at the embassy, Elizabeth said, probably saved her life.’
‘God be praised for His mercy, then.’
He let go of me and stepped back, eyeing me for several heartbeats in silence. ‘Amen, I suppose. Put me in a damned awkward position though.’
‘You would have preferred it if Guise had succeeded?’
‘Of course not!’ He looked appalled. ‘But how do you think it made me look? I have been striving for an alliance with England, despite my brother’s death and the end of the marriage plan. I send expensive diplomatic missions to flatter the old cow into entente, and all the while there’s a faction in my own country strong enough to raise an army against her. That I know nothing about! How can Elizabeth have any faith in me as an ally? It makes a mockery of my kingship.’
You do that all by yourself, I refrained from saying. ‘But it can only inflame the situation to send an ambassador whose first loyalty is to your enemies and who hates all Protestants, including the English Queen.’
He slapped his hand down on the balustrade. ‘God’s teeth, Bruno – I do not pay you to teach me diplomacy.’
‘You do not pay me at all at the moment. Majesty,’ I added, holding his gaze. It was a gamble. Henri liked men of spirit who had the courage to speak frankly to him, but only up to a point. His eyes blazed.
‘Do I owe you? Is that what you think?’ He pointed a finger in my face; the dog yelped again. ‘I sent you out of danger, at my own expense, and you repay me by taking money from the English to spy on my ambassador.’
‘I thought you said those letters came from Guise.’
‘Don’t cavil, damn you. If you were opening his letters, you were reading everybody else’s too. You don’t know how hard I had to work to defend myself against the rumours that followed you, after you left.’
‘Lies spread by my enemies.’
‘I know that!’ He threw his hands up. ‘The people of Paris don’t know it. All they hear is that their sovereign king, whom they already believe to be a galloping sodomite and friend to heretics, keeps a defrocked Dominican at his court to teach him black magic. Why do you think I bring you here like this—’ he gestured to the night sky – ‘in secret?’
‘I never understood why I was considered such a threat,’ I said mildly. ‘Your mother keeps a Florentine astrologer known as a magician in her household, and the people forgive her that.’
‘Oh, but the people love my mother,’ he said, not bothering to disguise the bitterness. ‘Her morals and her religion are beyond reproach. Even so, she’s had to banish Ruggieri on occasion to quash gossip, you know that. He keeps his mouth shut at the moment, I assure you.’ He grimaced. ‘Look – I cannot give you back your old position at court, Bruno. I cannot risk any public association with you while my standing is so precarious – you must understand that. Recognise what you are.’
‘I know what I am, sire. But I was also your friend, once.’ I kept my eyes to the ground. A long silence spread around us. When I looked up, I was amazed to see tears in his eyes.
‘And so you are still,’ he said, a catch in his voice. He raised a hand as if to touch my face, but let it fall limply to his side. ‘I miss the old days. Those afternoons shut away in my library with Jacopo, talking of the secrets of the ancients. Do you not think I would bring those days back, if I could?’ He shook his head and the fat pearl drops in his ears scattered reflections of the torchlight. ‘I don’t
