I craned my neck to peer up at its many narrow arrow-slit windows. ‘It looks truly sinister,’ I said with conviction.

‘No need for you to worry, females are not allowed in the keep.’

‘Good. Where will I be living then?’

‘I have no idea. Wherever Lady Margaret is lodged I suppose. Lord Jasper had a big new window added to the Solar Tower so perhaps she is quartered there.’ We had rounded the keep into a more sheltered courtyard, where he pointed to another outside stair set against a plastered building. ‘That is the entrance.’

‘Good, for I am so cold now that I cannot feel my toes.’

‘I believe you are getting soft, sis,’ chided my brother. ‘I was told we will find Lord Jasper here.’

‘Did your informant happen to tell you if Lady Margaret was also here?’ I enquired sharply, sensing he was keeping something back.

Maredudd smiled slyly. ‘Yes, he did and she is.’

I could have strangled him. I was frozen, filthy from the road and saddle-sore, in no fit state to meet a countess on whom I wished to make a good impression. ‘I will need to visit a latrine before I meet her,’ I insisted.

‘Well I am sure Lord Jasper can supply one of those.’

I clenched my teeth and sighed. Lord Jasper might be able to supply one but would I have the nerve to ask him?

13

Jane

Pembroke Castle

A CHAMBERLAIN TOLD US to wait in the anteroom and entered the solar to announce our arrival. I only had time to remove my gloves before Jasper came out to meet us. I was shocked by his appearance. There were deep shadows under his eyes, his hair was unkempt and his jaw stippled with several days’ stubble. He looked as if he had not slept for weeks.

‘Jane! Thank God you are here.’ I thought he might be about to embrace me but then he checked himself and took my hands instead as I dropped him a curtsy. ‘It is so good to see you.’

He did not release my hands immediately when I rose and I was conscious that mine were rough from work but his felt just as worn and his doublet looked as if it had been slept in. He was far from the grandiose nobleman I feared he might have become. ‘I am very sorry about Lord Edmund’s death, my lord. It must have come as such a shock to you. I have been praying for his soul as you asked.’

‘Thank you, Jane. From what the priests tell us of purgatory I believe the dead need all the prayers the living can offer.’ He turned his attention to my brother. ‘And thank you for bringing her to Pembroke, Maredudd. Did your father need much persuading?’