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Contents (61)
  1. The Lady of the Rivers
  2. CASTLE OF BEAUREVOIR, NEAR ARRAS, FRANCE,
  3. ROUEN, FRANCE,
  4. CASTLE OF ST POL, ARTOIS,
  5. PARIS, FRANCE,
  6. CASTLE OF CALAIS, FRANCE,
  7. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  8. PENSHURST,
  9. PARIS, FRANCE,
  10. GISORS, FRANCE,
  11. ROUEN, FRANCE,
  12. ENGLAND,
  13. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  14. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  15. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  16. LONDON,
  17. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  18. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  19. NANCY, FRANCE,
  20. TITCHFIELD ABBEY, HAMPSHIRE,
  21. LONDON,
  22. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  23. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  24. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  25. LONDON,
  26. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  27. PLYMOUTH,
  28. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  29. LONDON,
  30. THE WEST OF ENGLAND,
  31. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  32. PALACE OF PLACENTIA, GREENWICH, LONDON,
  33. THE TOWER OF LONDON,
  34. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  35. CLARENDON PALACE, WILTSHIRE,
  36. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  37. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  38. WINDSOR CASTLE,
  39. WINDSOR CASTLE,
  40. THE PALACE OF PLACENTIA, GREENWICH, LONDON,
  41. HERTFORD CASTLE,
  42. GROBY HALL, LEICESTERSHIRE,
  43. HERTFORD CASTLE,
  44. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  45. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  46. KENILWORTH CASTLE, WARWICKSHIRE,
  47. ROCHESTER CASTLE, KENT,
  48. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  49. WESTMINSTER PALACE, LONDON,
  50. ON CAMPAIGN,
  51. SANDWICH, KENT, AND CALAIS,
  52. COVENTRY,
  53. NORTHAMPTON,
  54. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  55. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  56. ON THE MARCH,
  57. ST ALBANS,
  58. YORK,
  59. GRAFTON, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE,
  60. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  61. BIBLIOGRAPHY

I hold him in my arms in bed that night and in the cool morning I find I am filled with unease. ‘You will just ride out with the king to show his standard? You won’t go into Kent, Richard?’

‘I hope that nobody will be going into Kent,’ he says grimly.

He finishes his breakfast and I trail out into the stable yard after him, pursuing my fears. ‘But if there is some kind of guard put together to punish the people of Kent, you won’t join it?’

‘Burning thatch? Spit-roasting a poor man’s cow?’ he asks. ‘I have seen it done in France and I never thought it a way to win loyalty. The Duke of Bedford himself said to me that the way to win a man’s heart was to treat him fairly and make him safe. That will be my advice, if anyone asks me. But if anyone orders me out in the king’s name, I will have to go.’

‘I will follow you as soon as you send for me.’ I try to sound confident, but my voice is thin and anxious.

‘I will be waiting for you,’ he vows, suddenly warm, as he realises I am afraid. ‘You take care of yourself and the baby that you are carrying. I will be waiting for you. I will always be there waiting for you. Remember I have promised you – you will never look for me in vain.’

* * *

I tidy the house and command the servants to prepare them for my departure. I hear gossip that the king and queen have gone back to London and that the king himself has ridden out against the people of Kent. Then a message comes from Richard, written in his own hand.

Beloved,

I am sorry to trouble you. The king has been persuaded by the queen not to march into Kent himself, but he has ordered me to pursue the outlaws at the head of his guard and I am doing so. Trust me that I will be safe and come home to you when this is over. Your Richard.

I put the scrap of paper inside my gown, against my heart, and I go to the stable. ‘Saddle up,’ I say to the household guard. ‘And tell them to get my mare ready for a journey. We are going back to London.’

LONDON,

SUMMER 1450

All the way I ride with a heavy heart. I have such a strong sense that Richard is in danger, that he is outnumbered, that the thickly forested county of Kent will hide ambushes, traps, armies of the people who will take him, as they took William de la Pole, and behead him without clergy, with a rusty sword.

We take the London road in silence, but as we pass through the vegetable gardens and little dairy farms, the captain of my guard orders the men to close up, and starts to look around him, as if he fears we are unsafe.