I refused to let the tears rise, those for the deaths of both our fathers and the tears provoked by my dread that Jasper might soon follow them to the grave. It had not escaped me that he was now the only member of King Henry’s family still at large in the kingdom and surely a prime target for extermination by York. Despite Pembroke’s three portcullises being permanently lowered and a twenty-four-hour watch posted at all corners of the battlements, from now on I knew we would live in constant fear of an attack on the castle. However, I was also aware that I must for the sake of our children give serious thought to every future possibility.

* * *

As he recovered his strength and returned to his former vigour, Jasper became more than ever determined that his brother’s cause should not be considered lost. ‘There are still many supporters of the Lancastrian throne,’ he declared, ‘particularly in West Wales. It only needs one show of strength to bring them all flocking back to King Henry’s standard.’

Edward of York did not wait to be crowned before commissioning his faithful lieutenant in Wales, William Herbert of Raglan, to seize all Jasper’s lands and castles. A proclamation to this effect was even posted in the Pembroke Market Place, until Jasper sent a posse from the garrison to rip it down.

‘What man dared to post Yorkist propaganda under my nose!’ he stormed. ‘I am still lord of Pembroke. Let Herbert show himself powerful enough to take it from me!’

At the beginning of July, news came that the Duke of Exeter was preparing to embark from Flanders with an army of mercenaries, supplied as a result of Queen Marguerite’s personal plea to the Duke of Burgundy. They were expected to arrive before the end of the month at Harlech, a coastal castle on the shores of Tremadog Bay, north of Tŷ Cerrig, which still held for King Henry and which contained its own walled harbour. Jasper immediately began to muster a new force, in order to march north from Pembroke to rendezvous with them.

‘This is a risky venture, Jane,’ he confided, taking me in his arms. ‘Who knows when I may return this time, if at all.’ But I could not feel downcast or afraid because the face I so loved was restored, the red beard close-clipped, the cheeks filled out, the intense blue eyes smiling into mine, and he said, ‘We deserve a little peace before we are consumed by war, do we not?’

He suggested we spend a few days together at the house in Tenby. The Yorkists would not look for him there and we would be only a few miles away if Herbert made a move.