The Bones of Avalon Read Online Free PDF

is… Yes, I do.’
    ‘And Arthur? What of him?’
    ‘Arth—?’
    ‘
King
Arthur?’ A smile. ‘Our royal ancestor?’
    ‘Oh him, certainly. Several.’
    ‘I should like to see these books,’ the Queen said.
    ‘Of course. It would be my—’
    There was a sudden, sharp movement in her body, as if in response to a twinge of pain. I thought she was staring at me, but no, it was atsomething beyond me, her eyes grown still. I didn’t like to turn, and so waited for her to speak again. She didn’t.
    I coughed lightly.
    ‘Your Highness…?’
    The Queen blinked.
    ‘Do you have hares,’ she said, ‘in your orchard?’
    ‘I… no. At least…’ Dear God, who had she been talking to? ‘Your Highness has seen a hare?’
    ‘I don’t…
know
,’ the Queen said.
    I grew tense, for I had not seen a hare here. Not this year, nor last. And where she was looking… there was nothing.
    The Queen smiled – and yet it was a smile like a wafer moon in a cold and smoky dawn. And the hare…
    The hare, as you know, because of its curious behaviour, the way it sometimes stands on hind legs to fight with another, as men use their fists, the way it seems to respond to the moon… the hare might be seen as ominous.
    The Queen shook her head lightly, swallowed.
    ‘The books,’ she said briskly. ‘You must—’
    Breaking off again, for Mistress Blanche Parry was upon us, her nose wrinkled in distaste at the pervading stench of fermenting hops from the building where ale is brewed, not a hundred long paces from my mother’s house. Blanche, who must have been lurking closer than either the Queen or I had known.
    ‘Not now, John,’ the Queen said quickly. ‘You must bring the books to me.’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘We’ll sup together. Soon.’ She found a brittle laugh. ‘
If
your health permits it.’
    ‘Madam…’ Blanche Parry at her elbow. ‘
If
I may remind you, you have an appointment for discussion with Sir William Cecil at three.’ Blanche nodding curtly at me. ‘Dr Dee.’
    ‘Good morning,’ I said, ‘cousin.’
    Blanche frowned. The Queen tutted. I said nothing, recognising the interruption for what it was.
    ‘What a shame.’ The Queen smiled. ‘I was only just saying to Dr Dee that I’d hoped to visit the
school
before we left.’
    On her previous visit, she’d spoken of inspecting the nuns’ school for poor children, later expressing regret that there would be insufficient time. She glanced at me with half-closed eyes, tacitly confirming that I’d be sent for, and then turning sharply away. Blanche Parry, however, remained for a moment longer, a spindle of a woman, past fifty now, grey-haired and severe.
    ‘Dr Dee, Sir William also wishes to speak with
you
.’ Not even looking at me. ‘Tomorrow at ten in the morning, at his town house on the Strand. If that is convenient.’
    As if there was the remotest possibility, despite my workload, that it would not be. I nodded, wondering if this could be linked to the discovery of the encoffined effigy of the Queen. Of which, never a mention since. Maybe they’d managed, after all, to keep it from her. I’d made discreet inquiries about Walsingham, but nobody knew if he was in Cecil’s employ.
    Hoar frost was glittering upon the spidery winter branches of the apple trees, and I felt the movement of hidden tides.

     
    Made no move until the last wherry in the royal fleet had rounded the bend in the Thames, and then I went into the house. A fire of fragrant applewood was ablaze in the entrance hall. I’d built the fire myself, my mother adding more logs, in case we should be honoured. I passed by the pastries, all untouched, and found her sitting forlorn in the small parlour, watching the Thames through the poor, milky glass which in summer would protect us from the river’s stink.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ I said.
    Throwing my coat over a chair, tired and more than a little cast down.
    ‘There was a time when Mistress Blanche Parry would have made time for