Chapter 276: He Was Helping Me
Livia yanked her arm free and pulled the doublet off. It fell to the floor in a heap. She dragged at the belt next, then the outer garments, until the disguise lay scattered around her. At last, she sank back to the floor in her linen shift, her breath shallow, her body trembling with cold and rage.
"What are they going to do to him?" she asked looking up. "Tell me."
The older woman’s face was tight with unwilling truth. "Lord Ashcroft was already in grave danger before tonight. His confession would have condemned him. This new accusation only gives Her Grace the opportunity not to wait for the king before Lionel dies."
"No."
"My lady."
"No." Livia shook her head. "He was helping me." She pressed her palms against the floor, as though she needed something solid beneath her hands. Whitehall had become a nightmare. Every plan turned into another snare. Every person who helped her moved closer to death.
"His Majesty is going to sentence him anyway when he hears his actions led directly to the death of Lady Bella."
"His Majesty will not know because no one will tell him!" Livia yelled. "I have to find a way to help him."
Tabitha knelt before her. "My lady."
Livia pushed herself to her feet. The linen shift clung to her where sweat had cooled. Her hair fell over one shoulder. "We go ahead with my plan."
Tabitha rose too. "No. The plan was only going to work if Lord Ashcroft was there to get you to a physician quickly." she cried. "You speak as if courage can stop a body from failing. It cannot. If something goes wrong, if the dose is too much, if the physician is delayed, you will die before His Majesty ever returns."
"I have to do something."
"How will your plan help Lord Ashcroft?"
Livia’s breathing slowed. "You do what you have always done with the Queen Mother."
Tabitha frowned. "What does that mean?"
"You threaten her."
"With what?" Tabitha asked, confusion and dread mixing in her voice.
Livia lifted her eyes. "The letter Oswald wrote in her hand."
"Livia, take a breath," Tabitha said. "This is your life you will be risking."
"I know that," Livia said. "And I have received enough lectures from Lionel on the matter to last me until old age, if Her Grace is kind enough to let me reach it. This is the only thing I can do now. For myself. For Lionel. For the other women. If Theodora controls the story by morning, we will all be finished before Henry even sets foot in England."
Tabitha closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, she looked older. "What do I do, my lady?" she asked.
Livia drew in a slow breath. Then she said the words. "Prepare the poison."
*****
"You cannot be serious," Geoffrey thundered.
The Queen Mother looked entirely unmoved. Her Grace had come to the council chamber. Lord Ashcroft, she said, had committed treachery. He had removed the king’s favourite from Whitehall in disguise and everyone had seen how intimate they had been.
Therefore, he was to die. The simplicity of her argument would have been admirable if it were not deranged.
"I am serious, Lord Langford," Theodora replied. "Do you truly believe shouting will make me less so?"
"I have had enough of this madness. My God! You are so exhausting."
Her Grace’s eyes narrowed. "Careful."
Geoffrey placed both hands on the table and leaned forward. "I have been careful. I have been so careful that I am beginning to suspect caution has become a disease. I have entertained your marriage market. But I will not sign away Lord Ashcroft’s life before His Majesty returns."
"You are acting under my son’s authority until he returns from France," Theodora said. "That means you will uphold the law."
"You have no right to tell me about the law. You are the king’s mother. Your actual duty is contained quite plainly in the title. Mother the king. You are not Keeper of the Realm. You do not command the council. You do not issue warrants of execution."
"It is precisely as the king’s mother that I act. My son’s personal guard has committed treachery," she said. "He was found with a woman still of the king as at last night in questionable circumstances. He cannot be allowed anywhere near Henry when he returns. Who knows what he might do?"
"Be that as it may, he will be examined properly. All he did was attempt to protect a woman trapped under a suspicious order that you produced. The rest is merely your usual drama."
Theodora’s eyes chilled. "You tread close to treason yourself."
"I seem to be surrounded by it, so perhaps some has stuck to my boots."
Theodora stepped closer to the table. "Lord Ashcroft betrayed the Crown."
"Then the Crown may condemn him when it returns."
"You would allow him to live long enough to kill my son."
"I am not issuing an execution warrant," he said.
"Poor Lord Langford," Theodora said. "So burdened by responsibility. I had hoped to spare you the embarrassment of proving inadequate before the Church."
Geoffrey’s expression sharpened. "There it is."
"What?"
"The threat you were always walking towards."
"I did not want to involve the Archbishop," she said with false regret. "I truly did not. Look at poor me, trying to protect your position because I kept hoping that someday we would work well together to make England great."
"Again," Geoffrey said, his voice flat, "stick to mothering the king."
"Well, then," Theodora said, drawing herself up. "You give me no choice." She turned as if to leave, but Geoffrey was not finished.
"You must think I am one of those men who quiver in their boots at the rustle of your gown, Your Grace," he said.
Theodora stopped.
Geoffrey sat back in his chair. "Everything I do, I do according to the law. As expected, you know very little of it."
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