Conspiracy

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street,

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

Copyright © Stephanie Merritt 2016

Cover design by Holly Macdonald © HarperCollinsPublishers 2017

Cover illustrations © George Peters/Getty Images (crow); Mary Evans Picture Library (city). Lettering by Stephen Raw

Stephanie Merritt asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007481279

Ebook Edition © 2016 ISBN: 9780007481262

Version: 2017-05-10

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Map

Prologue

Part One

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Part Two

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Also by S. J. Parris

About the Publisher

Paris, November, 1585.

‘Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been nine years since my last confession.’

From beyond the latticework screen came a sharp inhalation through teeth, barely audible. For a long time, it seemed as if he would not speak. You could almost hear the echo bouncing through his skull: nine years?

‘And what has happened to keep you so far from God’s grace, my son?’

That slight nasal quality to his voice; it coloured everything he said with an unfortunate sneer, even on the rare occasions where none was intended.

‘Ah, Father – where to begin? I was caught reading forbidden books in the privy by my prior, I abandoned the Dominican order without permission to avoid the Inquisition, for which offence I was excommunicated by the last Pope; I have written and published books questioning the authority of the Holy Scriptures and the Church Fathers, I have publicly attacked Aristotle and defended the cosmology of Copernicus, I have been accused of heresy and necromancy—’ a swift pause to draw breath – ‘I have frequently sworn oaths and taken the Lord’s name in vain, I have envied my friends, lain with women, and brought about the death of more than one person – though, in my defence, those cases were complicated.’

‘Anything else?’ Openly sarcastic now.

‘Oh – yes. I have also borne false witness. Too many times to count.’ Including this confession.

A prickly silence unfolded. Inside the confessional, nothing but the familiar scent of old wood and incense, and the slow dance of dust motes, disturbed only by our breathing, his and mine, visible in the November chill. A distant door slammed, the sound ringing down the vaulted stone of the nave.

‘Will you give me penance?’

He made an impatient noise. ‘Penance? You could endow a cathedral and walk to Santiago on your knees for the rest of your natural life, it would barely scratch the surface. Besides—’ the wooden bench creaked as he shifted his weight – ‘haven’t you forgotten something, my son?’

‘I may have left out some of the detail,’ I conceded. ‘Otherwise we’d be here till Judgement Day.’

‘I meant, I have not yet heard you say, “For these and all the sins of my past life, I ask pardon of God.” Because, in your heart, you are not really contrite, are you? You are, it seems to me, quite proud of this catalogue of iniquity.’

‘Should we add the sin of pride, then, while I am here? Save me coming back?’

A further silence stretched taut across the minutes. His face was pressed close to the grille; I knew he was looking straight at me.

‘For the love of God, Bruno,’ he hissed, eventually. ‘What are you