The Traitor's Daughter by Barbara Kyle Page A

knew her so well! She took a step back from him and turned to the window. He’s right, she thought. Tell him the truth.
    She sat stiffly on the cushioned window seat. Erasmus jerked up his head. Kate raised a hand to stroke his fur, but he leapt to the floor as if he sensed danger and streaked away. Kate raised her eyes to Owen. “Something happened today. When I saw my father.”
    â€œSomething about the gunman?” She had told Owen as soon as he’d arrived that she had seen her father arrest the would-be assassin.
    â€œNo. Something Father said.”
    That surprised him. “You spoke?” She had said nothing about their conversation.
    â€œHe asked me to come home. To leave you and come home. I said I would not, of course, and I . . . well, I insulted him.” She scarcely knew how those harsh words to her father had come out of her mouth.
    Owen left the desk and came and sat beside her on the window seat. “It’s been hard for you, I know,” he said kindly. “The breach with him.”
    â€œIt’s worse than that. He gave me an ultimatum. He said that unless I left you he would disinherit me.”
    Owen scowled. “That’s plain cruel. He has no right.”
    â€œHe has the power.”
    â€œKate, we don’t need him. I’m going to make good, I promise you. Walsingham himself has all but guaranteed me the post of customs chief in Ipswich.”
    â€œYou don’t understand. I do need him. He’s my father and I need to know that one day, when this dark time is past, he will see that I’ve been on his side—the Queen’s side—all along. And that you have, too. I need him to know I did everything I possibly could.”
    â€œYou already are. You’re the best decrypting agent Matthew has.”
    â€œBah,” she said dismissively. “Much of it I could have done as a child.” She quoted the Bible: “The last will be first and the first will be last.”
    â€œPardon?”
    â€œ A is z and b is y, et cetera. Child’s play.”
    â€œCome, come, you crack far more intricate codes than that. Codes that have baffled the best.”
    â€œDon’t you see? I want to do more. ”
    â€œBut this? A double game is the most dangerous work there is.”
    â€œBut yields the most valuable intelligence. Without Mary’s letters that Griffith brought us we would never have known the extent of her scheming with King Philip. And with the exiles, those traitors from hell.”
    The vehemence of her last words took him aback. Kate always found it hard to control her bitterness about her mother.
    â€œKate, no one censures you for your mother’s sins. You do not have to atone.”
    She did not want to speak of her mother. Or to waste another thought on her. “I’ve told you my reason. When the day comes that I can tell my father the truth about us I want to have done everything I can for the Queen. For England. If I don’t . . . well, I may be telling him only as Spanish soldiers prod us all to the gallows.”
    Owen searched her eyes, a sad look in his. “Your mind is made up, isn’t it?”
    â€œYes. I’ve already taken the first step. I’ve written to Marie de Castelnau asking to come and see her baby.”
    He said with gloomy admiration, “Ah. That’s clever.”
    â€œMy love, don’t worry. I assure you, no one is better fit for this mission than I am.”
    He nodded, reluctantly agreeing. “Because you’re a woman.”
    â€œOf course.” It echoed what he had said about being a man, and she could not resist adding with a sly smile, “Besides, I may not manage to get inside.”
    He, too, heard his echo and smiled at her wit. Kate saw that he had accepted the plan, however unwillingly. Now that they were agreed, she felt a rush of excitement. In convincing Owen she had convinced herself. She could do this!
    He said,