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I must go.”
    Norrie was used to quick good-byes. She let me go with a word of caution and a hug. Sybil’s leave-taking was more restrained. She wanted to come with us; I saw it in her face. But it was all too plain that the summons hadn’t included her.
    Instead of protesting, she became quiet and remote. As Gabriel and I left, she took her place again among her ladies-in-waiting. When I glanced back, her beautiful face had become a tense mask, and the distance between us yawned.

CHAPTER FIVE
    DARK DEEDS
    An hour later, I still hadn’t reached the King’s side, though not for want of trying. Instead I stood on the dimly lit deck of a small pinnace, knees braced against the dark slap of the waves, listening hard to the music of the river and the patchy mist around me.
    Now and again, I’d used magic to speed the journey, singing us through the rapids at London Bridge and urging the currents to flow in our favor. Whenever the mist grew too thick, I cleared it so that the rising moon could light our way. So far, however, I hadn’t resorted to the more powerful music that would send us hurtling toward Greenwich at a truly miraculous rate. That was a demanding magic, and since I didn’t know what I would face at the end of our journey, I wanted to conserve my energies.
    Behind me, voices rose and broke my concentration. I glanced back and saw that Gabriel was talking with Sir Barnaby Gadding.
    “I tell you, I know no more about it than you do.” It was Gabriel speaking, with a slight edge to his suave voice. “The summons reached Whitehall as I was coming in, and it was in the King’s own hand. He wanted the Chantress and his chief councilors to meet him at Greenwich, to aid him in a matter of great urgency. He said nothing more.”
    “Chief councilors, eh?” Sir Barnaby tapped his fine ivory cane against the deck. Head of the King’s Council, he had been at death’s door not all that long ago, and he was continually plagued by gout. But you would never have guessed that from the dapper figure he cut on deck. “And yet you came too?”
    “I wanted to be of help, Sir Barnaby.” Gabriel’s reply was mild, but the edge was still there. “And the Chantress asked me to come.”
    That wasn’t how I remembered it. Instead it had been Gabriel who’d suggested he escort me onto the waiting pinnace. But I wasn’t going to correct his version of events. The newest member of the Council, he already had problems enough with old-timers like Sir Barnaby. They couldn’t forgive him for either his present liberties or his past mistakes.
    As far as I was concerned, however, liberties were just part of Gabriel’s nature. Take the habit he used to have of proposing every time he saw me. Whenever I refused him, he’d merely laugh and kiss my hand, then try again next time. It was a habit he had with other women as well, I suspected, for no one enjoyed flirtation more than Gabriel did. When his courtship had finally ended, just as amiably as it had begun, I’d been relieved but also surprised.
    When he wasn’t playing the suitor, Gabriel could be quite good company. Not that Sir Barnaby saw it that way. As he and Gabriel continued to wrangle, I moved up to the bow and trained my attention on the river again. Nothing had changed, except that the mist was dissipating; all was just as it should be.
    I found my thoughts returning to Nat. He’ll be here soon , I told myself. You need to decide what to do . Perhaps Sybil and Norrie were right. Perhaps it was time I stood my ground and learned what Nat truly thought of me. Yet I loathed the thought of having to play out our drama while the entire Court watched. Because they would be watching, of that I could be sure.
    “Ah, there you are.” Holding fast to his floppy cap, Cornelius Penebrygg came up beside me. The mist had given a sheen to his spectacles and his thick silver beard. “You look worried, my dear. Is everything all right?”
    “Yes. Quite all right.” The