A knife flew from the groom’s hands, skittered through the mud. He really was going to kill me, I thought, dazed. Why does he hate me so—?

And then I understood.

“Hold him,” I croaked to Tom.

Tom looked at me, confused. “Why was he—?”

“Hold him!”

The groom, stunned and clumsy, tried to rise. Tom grabbed the man’s arms, twisted them back, and mashed him face-first into the earth.

“Let me go!” the groom shouted.

Sally reached us. She covered her mouth in shock, then hurried to help me up. “What happened?”

I spat dirt from my teeth. “He’s one of them.”

“I am not!” the groom’s voice carried across the yard. “I’m loyal to the king!”

Tom’s throw must have rattled the man’s brain. Or maybe he just wasn’t that bright to begin with. Either way, he’d made a mistake.

“If you’re not one of them,” I said, “then how do you know what I’m talking about?”

The man sputtered, then stopped. Tom held him fast. There was little point in keeping up the pretense now.

He sneered at me. “You’re too late, unfaithful. Your heretic king dies tonight. The Lord our righteousness!”

The Lord our righteousness. The same as in the letter.

The Covenanters’ battle cry.

“What do we do with him?” Tom said.

I rose, stiffly, and unlatched the door to Blossom’s stall. She stomped out nervously. I patted her neck, trying to calm her, while reaching for the saddle hanging inside.

“Take him to the guard and have him locked up as a Covenanter,” I said. Sally helped me strap on my saddle. “Then follow me as soon as you can.”

“Follow you?” Tom said. “You can’t go alone. Just wait for me!”

“I can’t! I can’t wait! They’re going to ambush the king! I have to warn him! Just don’t let him go. There’s no telling what problems he’ll cause.”

“What can I do?” Sally said.

“Grab all the guards the palace can spare. Have them follow us.”

But there was a problem.

“The guards have already gone,” she said, “with Lord Ashcombe and the king. There’ll only be a few left.”

I cursed. No matter how many soldiers were with Charles, if they walked into an ambush…

Suddenly it came to me. “Berkshire House!”

“What about it?”

“The party,” I said. “Lord Walsingham said he’d make it look as if the king was coming. There’ll be soldiers all over the grounds.”

Sally was already running. “Send them after us, quick as they can!” I shouted as I climbed into the saddle.

Tom dragged the groom through the dirt. “Just wait one minute!” he called to me.

I couldn’t. There was no time.

I rode off into the street.

CHAPTER 46

BLOSSOM’S HOOVES THUNDERED IN THE mud.

My fault, I thought. It’s my fault.

The horse galloped through the darkness. Ignoring the protests of the guard on duty, I’d snatched a torch from Holbein Gate on the way south. It was the only thing lighting our way.