The King's Falcon (Roundheads & Cavaliers Book 3) (60 page)

‘One or two.’

‘Very well.
 
I’m listening.’

Archie nodded but took his time about answering.
 
Finally, he said somewhat belligerently, ‘My girl ain’t no lightskirt.’

‘I know she isn’t – and have never for a moment thought it.’

‘All very well and fine, Colonel.
 
But what are your intentions towards ’er?’

Ashley was distantly aware that, in other circumstances, this might have been funny.
 
As it was, it merely made his stomach clench.

‘Truthfully?’

‘Don’t see no point in lying.’

‘No.
 
It’s just … Archie, you can’t repeat what I’m about to say to Athenais.
 
It wouldn’t be helpful.’

‘Between us, then.
 
Man to man.’

‘Thank you.’
 
Ashley looked him in the eye and said bluntly, ‘I love her and I wish more than anything that I could marry her – but I can’t.’

‘Why?
 
Not leg-shackled already, are you?’

‘No.
 
But you know how I’m placed.
 
My future is, at best, uncertain.
 
So marrying Athenais wouldn’t be doing her any favours.
 
And she deserves better than to be tied to someone like me.’

‘But, in the meantime, you don’t mind ’aving your fun wiv ’er.’

Ashley flushed.

‘It’s not like that!
 
I never intended things to work out as they have.
 
I tried …’ He stopped, aware that there was no point in saying it.
 
Then, ‘
Christ
, Archie – if you think this situation is fun for me, you have no bloody idea. I’d cut off my right hand rather than hurt her.
 
But sooner or later, it’s going to be unavoidable.’

Archie nodded. ‘I know.’

‘You
know?
 
Then why the hell --’

‘’Cos I wanted to see if
you
did.’
 
Archie dropped a hand on his shoulder and said, ‘You make ’er ’appy, lad. ’Appier than I’ve ever seen ’er.
 
So keep on doing it for as long as you can and let tomorrow take care of itself.
 
It ’as an ’
abit
of doing that, you know.’

*
 
*
 
*

Ashley was still trying to decide if this conversation had left him feeling better or worse when Francis, Pauline and Athenais returned from the afternoon’s rehearsal.
 
Francis looked as though he’d been laughing himself silly; Pauline looked more than usually enigmatic; and Athenais looked sulky.

‘God alone knows why it’s taken so long,’ announced Francis, ‘but the King has heard about
M
é
nage
.’

‘Which King?’ asked Ashley, immediately understanding Athenais’s pout.

‘Ours.
 
And he’s asked for a private performance in his apartments at the Louvre.’

‘When?’

‘On Sunday evening,’ said Athenais.
 
‘The only night the theatre is closed.
 
So, while I’m sitting here like an orphan,
you’ll
all be at the palace.’
 
She thumped Ashley’s chest.
 
‘Don’t laugh.’

‘I didn’t,’ he protested.

‘You wanted to and that’s just as bad.’

‘The reason she’s spitting feathers,’ offered Pauline, ‘is because Froissart says only the actors needed for the play are to go.
 
As you might expect, everyone is in a fever of excitement at the notion of a command performance – so it was necessary to stop the entire company turning up.’

Ashley took Athenais’s hand and dropped a light kiss on it.

‘I’m sorry you’re disappointed.
 
But look on the bright side.
 
You and I can have a whole evening to ourselves.’

‘We can’t,’ she said gloomily.
 

‘Why not? I don’t have to go.’

‘You do,’ said Francis. ‘Aside from the formal request to Monsieur Laroque, Charles sent a personal note addressed to you and me.
 
Naturally, I’m invited as the author of the piece.
 
I’m not quite sure why he wants you as well – but it seems that he does.’

‘And that,’ grumbled Athenais, ‘is why it isn’t fair and why I’m wildly jealous.’
 
She smiled suddenly, ‘But at least you now have a respectable coat to wear.’

‘And at least,’ replied Ashley wryly, ‘I don’t have to worry about getting killed in the rush when the King, the Duke of Buckingham and doubtless half-a-dozen other similarly smitten gentlemen take one look at you and trip over themselves to win a smile.’

~
 
*
 
*
 
~
 
*
 
*
 
~

By Saturday evening, word of the Th
éâ
tre du Marais’s forthcoming royal performance had tripped blithely off the stage and was stampeding through the auditorium.
 
The pit amused itself by thinking up new and pithy comments to shout out and one performance of
M
é
nage
had to be halted completely when Pauline, in her role as the
belle-m
è
re
, retorted with a line so cuttingly funny that it reduced the entire audience to near-hysteria.

Athenais spent most of Sunday afternoon fussing over Ashley’s clothes – which he found endearing and exasperating in equal parts.
 
She ironed his best shirt, brushed the green coat and would even have polished his boots had not Archie waved her away, saying that he could do it better.
 
Then she sat on the bed, watching him shave and giving Ashley the uneasy feeling that she was going to insist on brushing his hair and making sure that he had a clean handkerchief.

Dabbing the residual bits of soap from his face and catching her eye in the mirror, he said, ‘What now?
 
Do you want to check that I haven’t missed a bit?’

‘No.’ She walked across to stand behind him. ‘I want to kiss your back.’
 
And, sliding her arms about his waist, she did so.
 
‘There will be lovely women in beautiful gowns this evening, won’t there?’

‘Yes.’ He managed to inject a subtle note of pleased anticipation into his tone. ‘I imagine that there will be.’

She laid her cheek against his shoulder.

‘And they will want to flirt with you.’

‘You think so?’

‘Yes.’
 
Her hands tightened around him.
 
‘You are not to notice them.’

‘Well, I’ll try,’ he said doubtfully. ‘But you’ll understand that it might be difficult.’

‘I won’t understand at all.’

Ashley broke from her hold and turned to read her expression.
 
The uncertainty in it all but undid him.
 
He said gently, ‘I was teasing, Athenais. With or without their beautiful gowns, there won’t be a woman there who could hold a candle to you.
 
Surely you know that?’

 
‘Perhaps.
 
But they’ll be ladies.
 
Real
ladies, I mean – not --’

‘Stop right there.’
 
He grasped her shoulders and gave her a little shake.
 
‘They may have birth and some of them may even have breeding … but not one of them is in any way better than you.
 
Not one.
 
And I won’t have you think it.
 
Now stop worrying and give me a kiss. If Charles has asked me to be there, it’s probably because he wants to hand me some task I’d rather not be bothered with.
 
So there’ll be no flirting – or not until I’m home again with you.’

Visibly comforted, she kissed him and then said, ‘You don’t mind that I’m a little bit jealous?’

‘No.
 
But I’d mind very much if I thought you didn’t trust me,’ he said firmly.
 
‘Now … it’s Suzon’s night off – but Jem and your father will both be here and --’

She kissed him again.
 
‘I’ll be fine.
 
Don’t worry.’

‘And I’ll be back as soon as I can.
 
So you can sit by the fire and learn your next role … or, alternatively, you can decide what forfeit you’d like me to pay to atone for my absence.’
 
He grinned.
 
‘I rather like that idea – so use your imagination.’

*
 
*
 
*

Athenais rather liked the idea, too and spent some time enjoying a couple of fairly erotic fantasies.
 
Then, sternly telling herself that Ashley was unlikely to be home for some time and that she should therefore occupy herself more profitably, she picked up next week’s script and attempted to concentrate on it.

She had barely got through the first half-dozen pages when there was an almighty crash that sounded as if it came from the kitchen, followed by curse-ridden shouts and a series of thuds and grunts.
 
Alarmed, she tossed the play-script aside and stood up.

It’s just Father and Jem – drunk and having a falling-out
, she told herself.
 

But deep down, she knew it wasn’t. Someone … and from the noise, more than
one
someone … had broken into the house from the yard.

Thieves, then?
 
But instinct told her it wasn’t that either.
 
And she was suddenly ice-cold with fear.
 

It had only been seconds.
 
The fight in the kitchen was still going on and she could hear items bouncing off shelves and furniture being knocked over.
 
She could run. She
should
run.
 
But to where?
 
Both the stairs and the front door involved crossing the hall – which meant she might be seen.
 
Furthermore, the door to the street would be locked, thus taking precious minutes to open; and, even assuming she made it to the upper floors, she couldn’t think of anywhere she could hide where she wouldn’t be found.
 
Which left staying where she was and attempting to defend herself. Her frightened gaze skimmed the room, searching for a weapon and then, heart racing and with hands that were already starting to shake, she grabbed the poker.

It was cast iron and the sort that had a small, curved hook near the end but the length and weight of it meant that she needed both hands to hold it steady. Athenais gripped it until her knuckles glowed white.

The kitchen had gone ominously quiet.
 
She heard the door open and a rough voice saying, ‘These won’t give you no trouble now, milord.’

Oh God, oh God.
 
What’s happened to Father and Jem?

There was a chink of coins, as if a purse had been tossed from one hand to another. Then she heard a different voice; low, cultured and only too familiar.

‘Good.
 
Leave now, the way you came.
 
And not a word of this to anyone – or it will be the worse for you.
 
Go.’

A moan rose in Athenais’s throat and she took a couple of steps back from the door, holding the poker before her like a club.
 
She’d known it must be him.
 
If he was alone, she might just have a chance.
 
It he wasn’t … if he wasn’t, she didn’t dare think what might happen.

Calm, unhurried footsteps crossed the tiled floor of the hall.
 
Then the door swung open and the Marquis d’Auxerre was smiling at her in a way that made her blood curdle.
 
He gestured to the poker and said negligently, ‘Well, my dear.
 
What
do
you think you’re going to do with that?
 
Hit me?’

‘If I must.
 
What have you d-done with my f-father and the other man?’

‘I?’
 
He strolled towards her.
 
‘I haven’t done anything,
ma belle
.
 
I merely had a couple of hirelings clear the way for me but they are gone now.’
 
He halted some four paces away.
 
‘Put the poker down.’

Athenais raised it threateningly and stepped back, shaking her head.

‘Go away.
 
You shouldn’t be here.
 
Ashley – C-Colonel Peverell will be back any minute and he --’

D’Auxerre laughed in a way that wasn’t either pleasant or comforting.

‘He won’t.
 
He’s at the Louvre with the rest of them.’
 
He advanced on her again. ‘Did you honestly think I wouldn’t hear of this special performance for the beggar-king?
 
Why else do you think I chose tonight?’

The weight of the poker was making her arms ache and there was cramp in her hands from gripping it so tightly.
 
Lowering it slightly, she flexed her fingers … and disaster struck as, seizing the small shift in her concentration, the Marquis wrenched it from her grasp and flung it down.

Athenais’s breath hissed through her teeth as the rough metal scored her palms and she watched her only hope slide across the floor to arrive half-way under the sofa.
 
She said breathlessly, ‘Please, Monseigneur … please just go.’

‘After all the trouble you’ve put me to?
 
I don’t think so.’

‘Trouble?
 
I haven’t – I n-never meant --’ He was moving towards her again with the lazy steps of a predator who knows the prey is caught.
 
She backed away in the general direction of the sofa, hoping for a chance to retrieve the poker.
 
‘I don’t understand!
 
Why are you doing this?’

‘I told you some months ago that I intended to have you – willing or not – and that is still true.
 
I also warned you not to anger me by lying with anyone else.
 
But you did, didn’t you?
 
It’s all over the theatre.
 
You’re sleeping with that filthy cur of an Englishman.
 
Aren’t you?
’

The sudden venom in his tone made her jump.

‘Yes.
 
He – I – we l-love each other.’

‘Do you?
 
Do you indeed?
 
Well, that will make this all the sweeter.’
 
He was so close now he was almost touching her.
 
‘Two birds with one stone, in fact.
 
If
he loves you, knowing that I’ve had you will hurt more than carving him up with a blade, won’t it?
 
And I
want
to hurt him, Athenais.
 
Not only has he a nasty habit of getting in my way – he has offered me gross insults and dared to lay his hands on me. So I’ll take my pleasure with you … and then, if and when I feel so inclined, I’ll hurt him a little more. Physically.’

Athenais felt sick. ‘He’ll kill you.’

‘No.
 
I don’t think so.
 
The Cardinal would have his head.’ Gripping her chin in hard fingers, he said, ‘I think we’ve talked enough, don’t you? Are you going to remove this gown or would you like me to do it for you?’
 
Then, with another smile, ‘What a silly question.
 
I can’t imagine why I asked it.’

And, taking hold of the neckline of her gown, he ripped it savagely from her shoulders.
 
The lacing held but the fabric surrendered to his assault and came apart in his hands.
 
Athenais staggered and tried to grab the torn edges but he chopped her hand away with the edge of his palm, making her gasp with pain.
 
She rammed her fists against his chest, twisting away from him.
 
And this time he hit her across the face, so hard that she stumbled against the wall.

‘Carry on fighting me if you will – but you won’t win. You’ll only make it harder for yourself.’
 
He grasped another handful of her gown and tore it still further so that the seams came completely adrift and it slithered down past her waist to rest on her petticoats. ‘Of course, there’s no need to bother with your clothes.
 
But I might as well see what I’m getting.’

He spun her round, forcing her against the wall with one hand whilst using the other to snap the tapes of her petticoats and yank her stay-laces free.
 
Athenais’s face was half-numb where he’d hit her.
 
Tears trickled helplessly down her cheeks and her breath was coming in short, agonising gasps.
 
Corset and petticoats fell away, leaving her in only her shift and she thought,
This is going to happen.
 
I can’t stop him.
 
It’s going to happen.
 
Oh God … please God, let somebody come.

Taking one of her arms in a bruising grip, d’Auxerre dragged her away from both the wall and the remains of her clothes.
 
He looked her over with insulting thoroughness and then, releasing her in order to use both hands, he tore her chemise from neck to hem.
 
Athenais used her second of freedom to lurch away from him.
 
He halted her by seizing a handful of her hair, then used one foot to sweep her legs from under her.
 
She landed on the floor like a sack of meal, the breath knocked from her body.

He stared down at her and lifted one faintly amused brow.

‘I suppose this is where you ask me to let you go, isn’t it?’

She couldn’t make her throat work.
 
It was closed tight with horror.
 
She hadn’t thought anything could ever be worse than what had happened with Guillaume in the churchyard but she’d been wrong.
 
That had been degrading and painful … but nothing like this. Guillaume had merely hoisted up her skirts and taken her because he felt like it and the opportunity was there.
 
The Marquis was intent on punishing her.
 
He didn’t just want to rape her. He wanted to hurt her – and, through her, Ashley; so he was cold-bloodedly inflicting as much pain and humiliation as he could along the way.
 
Now, for example, it seemed that he wanted her to beg … and for a moment, she almost did so, even though she knew it would make no difference.
 
He hadn’t taken things this far to stop now and she wasn’t physically strong enough to make him.
 
She had no control here except in one tiny thing.
 
She wouldn’t plead with him only to have him laugh in her face.