I bowed in silence and turned to leave.
‘And please do not leave the premises without permission this time,’ she added, lightly. ‘I am feeling less indulgent towards you today.’
As I passed Balthasar’s prone form, he lifted his hands away from his face, blood still trickling down his chin. It disturbed me to see that the look he gave me was one less of hatred than contempt, mingled with pity. I would come out of this worse off than him, it seemed to imply.
Gabrielle slid in beside me on a window seat overlooking the courtyard below.
‘For a moment there, I was afraid you suspected me,’ she murmured.
I shook my head. ‘Not of the murders. But I still accuse you of trying to detain me on Catherine’s behalf last night. Sorry about locking you in.’
‘It’s not the worst that’s happened to me in her service.’ She breathed on the window and rubbed a small circle of frost away from the pane with her sleeve. ‘I’ve decided I want to go home for Christmas,’ she said quietly.
‘Home?’
‘To Ligny. To my husband and daughter. Away from this place.’
‘Will Catherine allow that?’
‘I don’t suppose she can do much to stop me, if my husband demands it. I am his to command, after all. I have written to him already.’
‘She might make it hard for you to come back.’
‘I don’t know that I want to.’ She sighed and rearranged her legs beneath her. ‘I have been thinking about it a lot since Léonie died. That could have been any of us. What I learned in there’ – she jerked her thumb towards the closed doors of Catherine’s room – ‘didn’t surprise me at all.’ She tilted her head to look at me sidelong. ‘I have always known Catherine was ruthless. She once offered to have her own daughter killed, as a bargain with Navarre, to release him from the marriage. If she was prepared to do that, how much more disposable are the rest of us? Our bodies are no more than a form of currency to be bartered, and one that is easily debased.’ She sighed and rubbed the glass again. ‘I shall be thirty soon. I want to see my daughter before she forgets me. Be a mother to her. Teach her not to live as I have lived, while there’s still time.’
I heard the tremor in her voice. I laid a hand on her arm and she folded her fingers over it.
‘Do that,’ I said softly. ‘Teach her to live well. Teach her to love, and be courageous, and she will grow into a fine woman. Like her mother.’
‘Thank you, Bruno.’ She squeezed my hand and turned her face away so that I would not see her blink away tears. We sat in silence as the minutes passed, the only sound the furious rise and fall of argument from the other side of the doors.
‘What will you do now?’ she asked, after a long time.
‘That depends on what they decide in there,’ I said, trying to sound unconcerned. ‘I could be banished, executed or ennobled. It’s anyone’s guess.’
‘Absurd, isn’t it? You have done nothing except uncover a great wrong, and you are the one in fear of punishment.’
‘That is Medici justice for you.’
An hour passed, marked by the chiming of the clocks, and still the sound of voices raised in accusation echoed from Catherine’s chamber. My stomach growled with hunger, though I could do nothing but wait; guards stood at each end of the gallery, and Ruggieri had stationed himself in the window seat opposite, where he perched like an ancient raven, watching us, black eyes brooding. Eventually the doors opened and the Queen Mother emerged, her face strained, followed by Balthasar, clutching his swollen lip. He walked past without looking at me.
‘The King will see you now,’ she said, pausing to lean on her stick. Her tone was imperious as ever, but she looked exhausted. For once, her strength of purpose was not enough to hide the fact that she was old and tired, and had not had a moment’s peace of mind in twenty-five years. I thought of my conversation with Balthasar, when he had urged me to respect her age and frailty. Impossible to know now whether he had been moved by concern for her or for himself. Perhaps they are the same thing, when you serve the Medici.
‘You will follow Henri’s instructions to the letter,’ Catherine said. ‘And keep away from the Tuileries from now on. I sincerely hope not to cross paths with you again, Doctor Bruno. My advice is to stop meddling in the affairs of princes if you intend to keep your head attached to your neck for the long-term. As I said, you are a dangerous man. But the greatest danger you pose is to yourself, I fear.’
‘It is a lesson I will take to heart, Your Majesty.’ I scrambled to my feet and offered a hasty bow. I wanted to remind her about the book but I felt that might be stretching her patience too far, in the circumstances.
‘See that you do. Come, Balthasar. And you, Ruggieri.’ She flicked her gnarled fingers in his direction and the old sorcerer heaved himself up, looking at me with undisguised glee.
‘Now we shall see my latest prediction come true,’ he cackled, showing his broken teeth. ‘When I said you should not be in Paris much longer.’
‘Will you take a wager on it?’ I drew myself up, defiant; whatever my fate was to be, I would not go down to the sound of this pseudo-magician’s mockery.
He assumed an air of gravitas. ‘One does not make wagers with the gift of prophecy.’
‘Then what on earth is the point of having it?’ I said, as I walked away.
Henri sat in his mother’s chair, slumped like a straw effigy that had lost its stuffing. His
