Letter of love. Chapter 2
Hey my peeps…. well not really since no one has read it yet…. Lol any ways here is chapter 2.
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Nan was not surprised when Tony escorted Kagome home, but she was disturbed. That her mistress brought him back to sup did not bother her, it was the planes that may be hatched that worried Nan. Against her better judgment she allowed her charge her privacy, hoping Kagome would confide in her before she committed any folly.
She thought perhaps the time had come when she should give Kagome the legacy that her mother had entrusted to her. As the hour grew late, Nan entered that fire lit chamber to see the couple cuddling and whispering together and she was convinced that now was the time.
Nan climbed to the attic with her candlestick and lifted that lid of Lady Jane's trunk. With reverent hands she withdrew the book she had kept for twenty years. It was centuries old, and though Nan could not read, she appreciated the beauty of the handwritten pages, now yellow with age. She rewrapped the treasure in the cloth of purple velvet and took it down to her bedchamber.
Before the embers of the fire died low, Kagome and Tony had made plans for their secret marriage. She hadn't told him to whom the queen planned to marry her, only that the wedding was imminent and that there was a need for great haste. Anthony promised to take care of the license and find a willing priest who would make it legal.
"I've been looking at a house in Surry, in the country. Would you like that, sweeting?"
"Can you afford it, Tony?" she asked with concern.
He laughed. "I have money aplenty, Kagome. I sell information, and it brings a high price in Elizabeth's England."
"I hate her!" Kagome said with passion.
"Softly, my sweet. Walls have ears. We could end up in the Fleet for what we have planned, or worse, the Tower."
Kagome shuddered. "I care not. A few months of prison are preferable to a life sentence in a love-less marriage!"
They lingered long over their good-night kisses. Anthony wished that Nan wasn't in the house or he would persuade Kagome to let him stay all night. She too, was tempted to spend the night in Tony's arms, but knew that one more week would melt away as swiftly as snow in the summer, and they would be married.
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Upon her return to Hampton Court, Kagome was again summoned buy the queen, but this time she was serene in the knowledge of her secret plans. "Mistress," Elizabeth said in a voice that carried to the other ladies in the chamber, "It seems that Lord Tashio is well pleased with my choice of bride."
Kagome felt the woman's glances as they looked at her in speculation.
"Well mistress, what do you have to say to me?" Elizabeth demanded archly, tapping her foot on the [parquet floor.
Kagome immediately went down in to a gracious curtsy "I thank you Your Majesty with all my heart. I am unworthy of the honor you do me."
"Tush child, I shall have my reward when I see Lady Jane's daughter become the Countess of Devon." Elizabeth's lips twitched as she heard her ladies gasp. "I am giving a private dinner in the Presence Chamber this evening to celebrate your betrothal." The queen's imperative hand summoned her Mistress of the Wardrobe. "Mistress Kagome is to wed in a sennight. See that she is fitted with a gown worthy of a Countess."
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That evening when Kagome entered the Queen's Presence Chamber, she had rehearsed her role as if she was an actress on the stage of a playhouse. No more sparks must fly between herself and Maru Tashio. She must be all sweet submission. Kagome swallowed hard as he came to meet her; sweet submission was probably beyond her.
His dark glance swept over the violet taffeta that hugged her body in the right areas. "Good evening, Kagome." He said low. "Tonight I give you the stone of the oceans, to match the sea green that is your eyes." He pulled out a small jeweler box holding pearl earrings. Kagome smiled donning the gift; all the while thinking how much she could pawn them off for.
Tonight the chamber was lit buy hundreds of candles, bathing the strolling musicians with their lutes in a romantic glow. Kagome clung sweetly to Maru's hand as he led her forward to make her curtsy in front of the queen, and then seated her beside him in the place of honor.
Maru noticed immediately that the light of challenge was gone from her eyes, replaced by a look of deference. The little bitch was a consummate actress!
She caught a look of secret amusement on Tashio's face, as if he knew something that she did not. It made her uneasy. She ran the tip of her tonge along her bottom lip, and blushed when she noticed his eyes had followed it.
"My lord, I fear the queen has exaggerated when she refers to the Lyntons as a great shipping family. They were great once, but, alas, their fortunes and their fleet have been dwindled over the years."
"I could be instrumental in restoring the Lynton's fortunes," he replied smoothly.
Kagome shook her head. He watched the play of light and shadow on her silken tresses and longed to bind himself in them. A half-smile of apology curved her soft mouth. "My lord, I am afraid Her Majesty is trying to fob me off on you. The Lynton's cast out my mother when she wed my father."
A muscle ticked in his jaw. "The will doubtless welcome you to their bosom once you are web to me, mistress."
They can go to hell, and you with them, thought Kagome. Instead she said, "Perhaps, perhaps not. I must warn you the queen always likes to get the best out of any arrangement."
"Elizabeth's shrewd alright. Shrewd enough to use your grandfather's vessels to help transport my reinforcements to Ireland in exchange for this union." He said, grinning.
So that was her attraction… her grandfather's ships! The situation got better and better. Elizabeth, Devon, and the bloody Lyntons deserved each other! What sweet revenge when they all learned the poor little pigeon had flown the coop.
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Nan stood gazing through the leaded panes into the darkness with unseeing eyes. The picture she saw so clearly was in her mind's eye, as she relived the night Kagome' s mother died.
The pain was as sharp as if it had happened yesterday. The lump in Nan's throat almost choked her. Behind her, the fire crackled and she turned to gaze into its flames, remembering…remembering:
Sleet dashed against the windowpane of the bedchamber as Nan tried to poke up the meager fire.
"Don't cry, Kaede. I brought it all upon myself and I am resigned to my fate."
"Jane, my lamb, you mustn't say such things. You have the babe to live for now."
Jane smiled poignantly and shook her head. "It's all right Kaede. It's very important that we don't pretend anymore. There are things that you must promise to do for me. I have no one else."
Kaede was almost overcome. If only the Lord in his mercy would take her instead.
"Bring me a quill with parchment. I must write a letter to the queen begging her forgiveness. I am going to ask her to see to my child's education. I must find words that will pull on Elizabeth's heart strings."
"She has no heart, Jane. She flew in to a fury and dismissed you because you flaunted her authority."
Jane shook her head again, and brushed the raven tendrils from her baby's temples. "The queen will do what is right, as I should have done."
Lady Jane Lynton, maid of honor to Elizabeth Tudor, had fallen in love with Kujo Higurashi, a secret agent of Walsingham's. The intrigue had been exciting until she suspected she was with child. Rather than marry the man her family and the queen had chosen for her, she eloped with her lover and turned her back upon her duty to others. And as the legend of the ancient book foretold, disaster had followed.
Jane had been dismissed from the court amid a scandal. Her parents had disowned her. Trouble had not drawn her and her new husband closer, but had caused bitter feelings. Kujo Higurashi was away much of the time in other countries, leaving Jane in poor lodgings in London with only Kaede for company.
Then ill luck befell the Lyntons. Their merchant ships sank in storms, their precious cargoes were lost at sea, two of their sons drowned, and then the queen had withdrawn her patronage and bestowed it elsewhere. Now, Jane lay dying, her life blood ebbing away in childbirth, leaving her babe motherless.
When Nan took the queens letter from her, Jane clung to the quill. "One more letter…this one for my daughter. Promise me you will keep this book safe for her. It has been in my family for generations, lovingly passed down from mother to daughter through the centuries."
Nan's heart constricted as she heard her lady's voice go weaker. " Do not give it to her until she is old enough to understand the legend. This ancient book is her legacy. I hope she is wise enough to see that 'with honor, comes glory.'"
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There ya go chapter 2. Next chapter is the wedding
kaspier