Tower—there were topics aplenty to be avoided.
Elizabeth’s permission to Minuette was conditional on her own presence at the meeting. So when Dr. Dee arrived at Richmond, Minuette stood back and waited while Elizabeth greeted their guest.
“Dr. Dee,” Elizabeth said, “thank you for coming to see us.”
“Of course, Your Highness. It is I who am flattered by your invitation.”
Minuette was impressed with his confidence; if Dee was at allconcerned about why he’d been summoned to a private audience with royalty, he didn’t show it. He just stood there looking from Elizabeth to Minuette with an inscrutable expression on that somewhat ageless face. As though he knew plenty of things that he did not care to express.
Elizabeth waved him to a chair. “Please,” she said, then indicated that Minuette should begin.
“Dr. Dee,” Minuette said, “we’re wondering what you might be able to tell us about a political plot.”
“Is that not a matter for an intelligencer?”
“The trouble with intelligencers is that they all interpret information according to who is paying them. We are looking rather for the truth.”
“The truth …” Dee smiled and looked all at once every bit the young man he was. “That is a rare commodity. What particular truth are you seeking?”
“A young woman who served the late Queen Anne died quite suddenly two years ago at court. She was with child at the time, and embroiled in a plot to discredit the king. We want to know the truth of her death. I was wondering if you could chart her stars. Perhaps the heavens might point the way to those who used her.”
Dee looked intrigued. “To chart the stars of the dead is not a usual practice. But if you can tell me what I need to know of her birth, then yes, I can give you a chart. Whether it will be useful …” He shrugged.
“More to the point,” Elizabeth intervened sharply, “I am interested in knowing who used this woman and plotted against my brother.”
“Was that not the late Duke of Norfolk, Your Highness? He was being held in the Tower at the time of his death.”
“The evidence against the duke is, shall we say, less thancompelling. Clearly Norfolk had motive, Catholic devotee that he was, but I would not condemn a man or his family based solely on motive.”
“That is wise, Your Highness. We all have motives that are less than pure. But we do not all act on them.”
Why did Minuette feel that he was speaking straight to her? What exactly had he seen in her stars at Christmas? she wondered anew. Did John Dee know she was in love with Dominic? Did he know the lies she was telling to William and Elizabeth? She had told herself the secrecy was for William’s own good …
We all have motives that are less than pure.
But John Dee wasn’t even looking at her; he gave a thin, enigmatic smile to Elizabeth and asked, “Are you asking me to decipher your brother’s stars more fully?”
“Can you tell me if he’s still in danger?”
Minuette held her breath, for there was an almost tangible tension between Elizabeth and John Dee, as though each was attempting to divine the other’s thoughts. It was the unspoken conversation of two people who have known each other for years.
Dee broke the connection first. “Your brother will always be in danger, Your Highness. He is a young king in a divided land and he will never be free of enemies. The stars do not speak of an immediate physical danger, if that is what you seek to know. But there are plots within plots swirling around him. I do not think you have unraveled them fully just yet.”
“I don’t suppose you care to tell me what I will find when all is unraveled?”
“No.” Leaving open the question of whether he was capable of doing so, Minuette realized wryly. Though the topic had wandered rather far afield from Alyce, she held her tongue. She wouldget Alyce’s star chart; Elizabeth could ask whatever else she desired.
“Any suggestions on where to
Elizabeth’s permission to Minuette was conditional on her own presence at the meeting. So when Dr. Dee arrived at Richmond, Minuette stood back and waited while Elizabeth greeted their guest.
“Dr. Dee,” Elizabeth said, “thank you for coming to see us.”
“Of course, Your Highness. It is I who am flattered by your invitation.”
Minuette was impressed with his confidence; if Dee was at allconcerned about why he’d been summoned to a private audience with royalty, he didn’t show it. He just stood there looking from Elizabeth to Minuette with an inscrutable expression on that somewhat ageless face. As though he knew plenty of things that he did not care to express.
Elizabeth waved him to a chair. “Please,” she said, then indicated that Minuette should begin.
“Dr. Dee,” Minuette said, “we’re wondering what you might be able to tell us about a political plot.”
“Is that not a matter for an intelligencer?”
“The trouble with intelligencers is that they all interpret information according to who is paying them. We are looking rather for the truth.”
“The truth …” Dee smiled and looked all at once every bit the young man he was. “That is a rare commodity. What particular truth are you seeking?”
“A young woman who served the late Queen Anne died quite suddenly two years ago at court. She was with child at the time, and embroiled in a plot to discredit the king. We want to know the truth of her death. I was wondering if you could chart her stars. Perhaps the heavens might point the way to those who used her.”
Dee looked intrigued. “To chart the stars of the dead is not a usual practice. But if you can tell me what I need to know of her birth, then yes, I can give you a chart. Whether it will be useful …” He shrugged.
“More to the point,” Elizabeth intervened sharply, “I am interested in knowing who used this woman and plotted against my brother.”
“Was that not the late Duke of Norfolk, Your Highness? He was being held in the Tower at the time of his death.”
“The evidence against the duke is, shall we say, less thancompelling. Clearly Norfolk had motive, Catholic devotee that he was, but I would not condemn a man or his family based solely on motive.”
“That is wise, Your Highness. We all have motives that are less than pure. But we do not all act on them.”
Why did Minuette feel that he was speaking straight to her? What exactly had he seen in her stars at Christmas? she wondered anew. Did John Dee know she was in love with Dominic? Did he know the lies she was telling to William and Elizabeth? She had told herself the secrecy was for William’s own good …
We all have motives that are less than pure.
But John Dee wasn’t even looking at her; he gave a thin, enigmatic smile to Elizabeth and asked, “Are you asking me to decipher your brother’s stars more fully?”
“Can you tell me if he’s still in danger?”
Minuette held her breath, for there was an almost tangible tension between Elizabeth and John Dee, as though each was attempting to divine the other’s thoughts. It was the unspoken conversation of two people who have known each other for years.
Dee broke the connection first. “Your brother will always be in danger, Your Highness. He is a young king in a divided land and he will never be free of enemies. The stars do not speak of an immediate physical danger, if that is what you seek to know. But there are plots within plots swirling around him. I do not think you have unraveled them fully just yet.”
“I don’t suppose you care to tell me what I will find when all is unraveled?”
“No.” Leaving open the question of whether he was capable of doing so, Minuette realized wryly. Though the topic had wandered rather far afield from Alyce, she held her tongue. She wouldget Alyce’s star chart; Elizabeth could ask whatever else she desired.
“Any suggestions on where to
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