Page 47 of Burying Venus
Behind the practised aloofness, Dermot saw a tremor of despair. He put his hand just below Aubrey’s thigh. ‘Come with me. If it is unsafe, you can’t stay either.’ Aubrey hadn’t yet shouted that his room was breached by a madman, which seemed promising enough.
Gasping and putting his hand over Dermot’s, Aubrey said, ‘My brother would not permit it. He says I am not to leave my room. I had tried the door a few times, I thought it to be locked.’
‘It was,’ Dermot said. He brought the keys out. ‘I took this from Robert’s quarters.’
‘You!’ Aubrey gasped, soft and mindful of the danger. His manners, even now, were pristine. ‘You are in grave peril. My brother is not a man to be trifled with. Should he discover you, and I pray he does not, he would send you to the scaffold.’
That was a pretty way of putting it, since Robert would’ve either burnt him alive or thrown him off the battlements. Perhaps he would’ve even found a way to test that hot lead, enterprising man that he was.
Heart surging in his chest, Dermot grasped Aubrey’s hand and held it tightly. He was not slapped, instead those delicate fingers curled around his own as if they were both porcelain. ‘I know this. But you can’t stay here, locked in your room. After the trial, gossip has been cruel. Robert can do whatever he likes to you without anyone protesting.’ He left it unsaid that any hope of securing a marriage or position was lost, owing to Aubrey’s supposed hysteria.
‘He is my brother,’ Aubrey said, though his voice was strained. ‘Were I to leave with you, surely we would be pursued. And were we caught, you, Dermot, would be in grave danger.’
His punishment would’ve been worse than mere execution. The likelier outcome was torture as well as Aubrey’s subsequent imprisonment and their separation.
‘You are right, of course. But I can’t leave knowing you’re at Robert’s mercy, the whole town thinking you’re a lunatic.’ Dermot winced as he spoke. He didn’t enjoy recounting such evils to Aubrey but, as a base man, he could not be expected to talk prettily. ‘Come now. Robert is indisposed. I didn’t notice any men coming up this way, and we can leave through the servants’ quarters. I know the youngest maid, the only one likely to be up at this hour, and she would not speak against us. We will go straightaway to my village.’
‘Is that not the first place they would look? I do not wish harm on your family. Please, think this through,’ Aubrey said.
‘We won’t stay long. I will tell my mother I have left service, and we’ll… well. I have some earnings from my time here, I do not waste it on drink. We can catch a ship together for the mainland. If you were to bring some object of value, perhaps that brooch you sometimes wear,’ Dermot said, embarrassed by the ease of his recollection, ‘we could catch any ship for the mainland and make some life for ourselves. Perhaps in a company of likeminded people.’ This was a foolish idea of his, for he knew there to be communities of men working the land. In such a place, there would be no lords.
Aubrey stuttered while Dermot sat trying not to tighten his grip on the boy’s hand.
‘Then… yes. Thank you, Dermot,’ Aubrey said.
Chapter Ten
After Aubrey readied his belongings and collected his trinkets in the dark, the two of them emerged from the bedchamber. Unable to wait outside amidst such danger, Dermot had dutifully stood while Aubrey undressed at the other side of the room, unable to watch but stirred by the sound of laces coming undone. Fine fragrance struck him; faint floral like a man would find in nature, totally unlike Thorne’s cloying scent.
‘Where do we go?’ Aubrey murmured, tucked into Dermot’s side.
Dermot wrapped his arm around the boy’s back. It was, despite the possibility of an execution looming, one of his life’s few joys.
‘Down,’ Dermot said, clutching Aubrey as they descended the servants’ staircase. ‘It is steep, careful not to fall.’ At Aubrey’s first gasp, he held him firmly, their forms pressed tightly against one another. He felt nothing but wonderment then, none of the evil lust that coiled around him with Maldred. Walking together, they mastered the steps well enough, though more than once he pulled Aubrey back to prevent a tumble.
‘Here,’ Dermot said, the two of them finally in the cold damp of the ground floor. ‘There is a passage out through the maids’ quarters, though we must be quiet. The women’s supervisor is a devil.’
Aubrey giggled, doubtless imagining some wicked crone.
As they advanced, Dermot hid behind stone corners, keen to ensure they weren’t discovered. Stephen would be in bed, he was sure, and their safety depended on whether Robert intended to let his whore stay the night. His heart lurched miserably at thethought; throughout his life, Will was the only person he’d called friend.
The dank musk growing stronger, Dermot hurried forward, careful that he stepped lightly on the ground. Mercifully he, unlike Robert, did not saunter about in high-heeled boots. The guardsmen must’ve been holed up somewhere playing cards. He observed no one patrolling the castle. Robert’s enemies still hadn’t materialised and were likely still readying their boats. That was another reason he’d been eager to get Aubrey out; soldiers drooled at the prospect of noble blood. And while Dermot would’ve enjoyed watching Robert and Tristan skewered on some sword, he could not abide the same fate befalling Aubrey.
Discerning yellow hair lit by candlelight at the end of the corridor, a silhouette so like Will’s that Dermot drew back in horror, he flinched as the figure faltered, causing the broom in their hands to collapse onto the ground.
‘Who goes there?’ Amy whispered. Back fixed against the wall, Dermot recognised her at once.
‘Peace,’ Dermot said. ‘It’s only me.’
‘Dear God!’ Amy said. She fell beside her broom, crouched against stone as she clutched the handle. ‘Stop your tricks, Dermot. Do you know the horrors these guardsmen have been inflicting on us? No, forgive me, of course you don’t.’
Flinching, for Dermot had no inkling of this, he said, ‘Please, just let us pass.’
Amy got to her feet and moved closer until she teetered on her heels, peering at them. ‘Who…?’
‘Say nothing about it. He is in danger here. I need to get him out,’ Dermot said.
Amy’s blue eyes, so like Will’s, watched him inquisitively. ‘I can’t believe it. Some feared Lord Aubrey dead after… well. It does not bear thinking on. But how can you get him out? Thecastle has never been so well guarded. All these awful men, skulking about.’