Witchstruck by Victoria Lamb Page A

her eyes sparkling at this flattery. She allowed Alejandro to kiss her hand and, as Bedingfield and Blanche Parry entered the room, even addressed him in fluent Spanish, which I had heard she had learned as a child.
    Alejandro smiled at the princess with sudden, glowing warmth. He replied in the same language, only falling silent when Bedingfield interrupted, asking him irascibly to ‘Speak English!’ before adding to the princess, ‘You are fortunate, my lady, in your gift for foreign tongues. But alas, I have been instructed to hear all your conversations and so must request you to stick to plain English when you speak in front of me.’
    Alejandro bowed again to Elizabeth, and led me from the room, still doffing his cap with great courtesy.
    Outside the door, I stared up into his bronzed face. I was suddenly breathless, aware of how lucky I was to have escaped with my life today.
    ‘What did she say to you?’
    Infuriatingly, Alejandro shook his head, still smiling. ‘I will tell you one day. But not today. Come!’ He seized me by the hand and began leading me down the stairs.
    ‘Where are we going?’ I demanded.
    ‘I have been put in charge of your immortal soul,’ he told me firmly, ‘so we are going to take the Holy Sacrament. I shall wake Father Vasco from his siesta and he will hear your confession.’
    ‘But I don’t have anything to confess.’
    ‘Nothing?’
    ‘No,’ I insisted stubbornly, hanging back against the tug of his hand. ‘Nothing at all.’
    ‘
De verdad?
’ Alejandro stopped and looked back at me. ‘I find it hard to believe that, Meg Lytton. Especially when I was exploring the old palace early this morning and happened to find this.’ He felt beneath his jacket, and drew out my aunt’s black-handled dagger.
    I stared, speechless.
    ‘Your immortal soul . . .?’ he queried again.
    ‘Is perhaps a little bit in danger,’ I breathed, nodding. How had he found my aunt’s athame? I thought I had hidden it safely. There were footsteps below us on the stairs. My eyes met his. ‘Put that away. Would you see us both hanged?’
    He handed me the dagger. I drew up my heavy skirts, not caring what he might see, and hid the dagger in the top of my woollen stocking. By the time the guard passed us, I was respectable again, if a little red in the face.
    We went downstairs together to find Father Vasco. Considering what the princess had told me of his mission here, I was surprised that Alejandro had neither betrayed me nor used the dagger to blackmail me. After all, he could easily have threatened to take the dagger to Marcus Dent.
    What Alejandro might have demanded in return for his silence, I dared not consider. Though I couldn’t help but think that it would not have been a hardship to give in to
his
demands.
    I caught myself staring furtively at my unlikely saviour during Mass, perplexed by Alejandro’s unexpected help in avoiding the hangman’s noose. I had never found it too hard to understand people, to see almost at a glance what they wanted and why. Yet Alejandro was a riddle I could not solve. It seemed as if I had been mistaken in thinking him my enemy, but yet I must remain cautious.
    I was in the old palace herb garden a few days later, sent on an errand to gather fresh bay leaves for the cook, when Blanche Parry finally cornered me. She had been trying to get me alone all day and so far I had carefully avoided her. I did not know what she wanted, but I could see from her flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes that she was angry.
    ‘Not so fast. It’s time you and I had a talk,’ Blanche insisted as I tried to slip past, a muttered excuse on my lips about the cook waiting for me.
    I said nothing but waited, eyes downcast, herb basket cradled on my arm, to hear what I had done to offend her. There was never any point arguing with Blanche when she was in this mood.
    ‘You may have fooled the others, but you can’t fool me,’ Blanche said fiercely. ‘I know you for a