I do not respond to the invitation. ‘Surely your mother did not suggest this?’

‘No, she knows nothing of it, it is quite my own idea. Come, sit beside me.’

‘I cannot,’ I say, not moving. ‘The court of England does not like prophesying or casting horoscopes. They certainly won’t like the cards.’

‘The court of England will never know,’ she says. ‘It will be just you and me.’

I shake my head. ‘I dare not.’

She looks stubborn. ‘If I command it, you will have to. You are my lady in waiting, you have to do what I say.’

I hesitate. If William de la Pole, the Earl of Suffolk, hears that I have upset the princess, there will be serious trouble. ‘Of course, my only wish is to obey you, Your Grace. But what if you ask me to do something that your husband, our king, would not like? You must see that puts me in a difficult position. What am I to do then?’

‘Oh, then you must do as I ask,’ she says simply. ‘Because the king will never know, nobody will ever know. But I will have my way in this. I can insist. I do insist.’

I kneel and bow my head, privately cursing her for a spoiled child. ‘Your Grace, excuse me, I cannot.’

She pauses. ‘All right, then I won’t get married,’ she declares. ‘You can go out and tell them that you have refused to prepare me for my wedding, and so I will not marry. The wedding is off.’

I look up smiling, but she is perfectly serious.

‘I mean it,’ she says. ‘You show me the cards, or I won’t marry the king. I insist on seeing my future, I have to know that this is the right thing to do. I won’t go ahead without seeing what the future holds for me.’

‘I don’t have any cards,’ I say.

With a smile she lifts her pillow and puts a pack of beautifully coloured cards in my hand. ‘Do it,’ she says simply. ‘It is my order.’

I shuffle the pictures gently. I wonder what will happen if she draws a bad card. Is she such a stubborn fool as to call off the wedding? I run through the arcana in my mind and wonder if I can hide those that show bad prospects. ‘What if the cards are not good?’ I ask. ‘What happens then?’

She puts her hand on mine. ‘The wedding will go ahead, and I will never tell anyone that you drew the cards for me,’ she promises. ‘But I will know in advance that I am going into danger, and what sort of danger it is. I will know to be on my guard. I want to know what is ahead of me. If I am going to die in childbirth within the year, I want to know. If my father and my husband are going to go to war against each other, I want to know. If the English lords who seem to agree on nothing are going to tear each other apart: I want to know.’