Read Online Queenbreaker: Perseverance (The Queenbreaker Trilogy Book 1) by Catherine McCarran - Free Book Online Page B

you might sink into the Thames.”
    Three
ladies not quite my mother’s age stood at the middle window, sunlight picking
out the seed pearls and small jewels decorating their French hoods. The one in
their center, dressed all in costly black velvet, sent us a charming, toothless
smile.
    She
can smile like that and wish me drowned? What a witch.
    Mistress
Seymour’s breadbox swung back. “It’s eating her alive.”
    Madge
sighed. “When does she leave for Calais?”
    “Directly
after the Coronation.” Mistress Seymour’s white lips sketched a moue. “She is
not best pleased by it. Happy to be the King’s aunt by marriage, unhappy to
find her new husband wants his wife near to hand.”
    Madge
and Seymour shared a fierce, gleeful look. I joined in. Honor Lisle and her ill-wishes could go hang.
    Seymour
lifted a squarish shoulder. “He knew her reputation.”
    Madge
let out another gusty sigh. “Poor Lord Lisle.” Pretended sorrow creased her
brow. “Honor will put him in the ground before she gets her daughter a place
with Anne. She’s already got him sending French delicacies. He’ll be a pauper
by Christmastide.”
    Seymour’s
hand flew to cover her laugh, but not quick enough to prevent my seeing her
butter yellow front teeth.
    A
man’s face and horse’s teeth. She’ll never
marry—her father’s not rich enough to lure a husband for that.
    I smiled as Seymour laughed, exposing my
even rows of pearly teeth. Emma had the handsome Shelton blue eyes, but I’d got
the pretty Boleyn teeth. I’d never been so satisfied with them before.
    The
high sweet note of a working violin ended our laughter. Anne’s Privy Chamber
door had opened again. I leaned around Madge trying to see inside.
    “Anne?”
    Madge
shook her head. “The Chamberlain announces the Queen, remember?”
    Lady
Jane Rochford glided out. I tried to glimpse the room behind her, but the door
shut on her heels. I stamped out my first spark of frustration before it caught
and burned me.
    Lady
Rochford’s heavy lidded amber eyes glittered. Laughter and rouge stained her
round cheeks. She had clearly been enjoying herself.
    “Mrs.
Shelton. Mistress Shelton.” She called us to attention as my tutor did at home.
I copied Madge’s deep curtsey.
    Lady
Rochford waved us up. “No formality.” Her eyes slid over Jane Seymour. “We are
kin.”
    Butter-teeth
produced a carefree grin at her pointed dismissal and skimmed away, neck stiff
under her breadbox.
    Madge
chuckled. “You do that so well.”
    Lady
Rochford smirked. “Seymour is easy.” Her eyes flew at Honor Lisle. “Some test
me.”
    Madge
chuckled again. “And lose. La Seymour reports that Honor is disappointed to see
Calais.”
    “More
unhappy that her daughter will not be seeing court.”
    Madge
shrugged. “If she had met your price, she would not be so put out.”
    Lady
Rochford folded her hands. “She put her money on Lady Worcester’s pathetic
promises. Now she knows the whore’s value.”
    Madge
smiled. “They all do.”
    Self-satisfaction
lit their identical smiles.
    Lady
Rochford’s eyes narrowed as they took me in. “I had thought they would choose
the older girl—the one with the creamy skin—“
    “Gabrielle,”
Madge supplied. “I thought the same, but they decided on this one.”
    Lady
Rochford studied me. “Her silence is tres charmant. Your instruction?”
    Madge
snorted. “I think she’s overwhelmed. At home she’s a willful chatterer too
pleased with herself.”
    The
burning in my stomach shot up my throat and lit my face.
    Lady
Rochford grinned. “Who does that remind you of?”
    Madge
tittered. “It’s in the blood.”
    Lady
Rochford’s eyes went stern. “You must learn to take insults as well as you take
compliments, Mistress Shelton. Words are the weaponry of court. Insults couched
in compliments, gossip, promises, lies, you must learn how to receive and
deliver all of them without compromising your reputation or making