SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT
Lavish praise for Kate Emerson and
the Secrets of the Tudor Court series
“Emerson skillfully crafts a strong heroine who maintains careful command of her sexuality and independence. Nan’s behavior is as brave as it is scandalous for the time, and Emerson makes readers appreciate the consequences of Nan’s choices.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Emerson’s sharp eye for court nuances, intrigues, and passions thrusts readers straight into Nan’s life, and the swift pace will sweep you along.”
—Romantic Times
“Emerson creates a riveting historical novel of the perils of the Tudor court, vividly fictionalizing historical characters and breathing new life into their personalities and predicaments.”
—Booklist
“Jane Popyncourt is not the idealistically virginal heroine but a skillful player in the intrigues of the Tudor court, who manages to get what she wants without selling too much of herself in the bargain. It is this heroine that separates the book from the pack.”
—Publishers Weekly
“No one knows the unusual customs and dangerous characters of the Tudor court like Kate Emerson. She brings its scandals to life in this beautifully researched novel, the first in a fascinating new historical series. History, love, lust, power ambitions—The Pleasure Palace is a pleasure indeed.”
—Karen Harper, author of The Queen’s Governess
“Rich and lushly detailed, teeming with passion and intrigue, this is a novel in which you can happily immerse yourself in another time and place.”
—Romantic Times
Gallery Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by Kathy Lynn Emerson
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First Gallery Books trade paperback edition December 2010
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Emerson, Kate
Secrets of the Tudor court. By royal decree / Kate Emerson.—1st Gallery Books
trade pbk ed.
p. cm.
1. Northampton, Elizabeth Parr, Marchioness of, 1526–1565—Fiction. 2. Northampton, William Parr, Marquis of, 1513–1571—Fiction. 3. Ladies-in-waiting—Great Britain—Fiction. 4. Great Britain—Court and courtiers—Fiction. 5. Henry VIII, King of England, 1491–1547—Fiction. 6. Great Britain—History—Henry VIII, 1509–1547—Fiction. I. Title. II. Title: By royal decree. PS3555.M414S427 2010
813'.54—dc22 2010019895
ISBN 978-1-4391-7781-5
ISBN 978-1-4391-7783-9 (ebook)
To Elaine Emerson Smith
FAMILY CONNECTIONS OF ELIZABETH BROOKE
DESCENDANTS OF HENRY VII
1
On the twenty-ninth day of January in 1542, twenty-six eligible young women sat at table in Whitehall Palace with King Henry. An additional thirty-five occupied a second table close by. We were arranged by precedence, with the highest-born maidens closest to the king. As the daughter of a baron, I was assigned a seat at the first table, but there were others of nobler birth between me and His Grace.
From that little distance, King Henry the Eighth of England was a glorious sight. At first I could scarcely take my eyes off him. He glittered in the candlelight. Not only did he wear a great many jewels on his person, everything from a diamond cross to a great emerald with a pearl pendant, but the cloth itself was embroidered with gold thread.
I pinched myself to make certain I was not dreaming. Everything at court seemed to sparkle, from the rich tapestries to the painted ceilings to the glass in the windows. I had arrived from Kent the previous day and was still in awe of my surroundings. I had lived in comfort for all of my fifteen and a half years, but this opulent level of luxury stunned me.
Wondrous dishes appeared before me, one after another. When I tasted the next offering, I closed my eyes in delight. The sweet taste of sugar, combined with ginger and the tart flavor of an unknown fruit, exploded on my tongue. I sighed with pleasure and took another spoonful of this marvelous concoction.
“Have you tried the syllabub?” I asked the woman seated beside me. “It is most delicious.”
She did not appear to have eaten anything. Although she’d taken a piece of bread and a bit of meat from the platters the king’s gentlemen had brought around, she’d done no more than toy with the food. At my urging, she spooned a small portion of the syllabub into her mouth.
“Indeed,” she said. “Most delicious.” But instead of eating more, she fixed her bright, dark blue eyes on me, examining me so intently that I began to feel uncomfortable under her steady stare.
I reminded myself that I looked my best. My copper-colored gown was richly embroidered. My pale yellow hair had been washed only that morning. Barely two inches of it showed at the front of my new French hood, but it was a very pretty color and it would have reached nearly to my waist if it had not been caught up in a net at the back.
“Mistress Brooke?” my neighbor asked. “Lord Cobham’s daughter?”
I gave her my most brilliant smile. “Yes, I am Bess Brooke.”
Thawing in the face of my friendliness, she introduced herself as Nan Bassett. She was only a few years older than I was. The tiny bit of hair that showed at the front of her headdress was light brown and she had the pink-and-white complexion I’d heard was favored at court. I had such a complexion myself, and eyes of the same color, too, although mine were a less intense shade of blue.
We chatted amiably for the rest of the meal. I learned that she had been a maid of honor to each of King Henry’s last three wives. She’d been with Queen Jane Seymour when Queen Jane gave birth to the king’s heir, Prince Edward, who was now five years old. She’d been with Queen Anna of Cleves, until the king annulled that marriage in order to wed another of Queen Anna’s maids of honor, Catherine Howard. And she had served Queen Catherine Howard, too, until Catherine betrayed her husband with another man and was arrested for treason.