Chapter Two #2
Jareth looked over at William de Valence, one of Henry’s chief advisors.
He was French, as many of Henry’s advisors were, but he was likable enough.
He genuinely seemed to have the king’s, and the country’s, best interests at heart.
As he exchanged a nod with William, Thor, who had been standing well behind Jareth during the conversation, came to stand alongside him.
“Your Grace, may I offer to accompany Jareth on his journey to Bristol?” he said. “I suspect he may need guidance and assistance, and I am certain you do not wish to send the entire Six with him.”
Jareth thought that was a good idea, but Henry shook his head.
“Nay,” he said. “He may take the Six. As I said, I have no plans to go anywhere or do anything for the next month or so, but I would prefer that my Lord Protector remain by my side. Jareth, take the Six with you. It will give them an adventure to stave off the boredom, as you call it. But I will expect you to return as soon as you can.”
Jareth dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Aye, Your Grace.”
He eyed Thor as he turned to leave, as if to acknowledge the man’s disappointment in not being able to travel with him to Bristol. Thor remained behind, indeed disappointed, as Jareth quit the chamber and shut the door behind him. When he was gone, Henry let out a hiss.
“I did not want to say this in front of him, but I fear he is in for a shock when he arrives in Bristol,” he said.
Thor looked at him. “Why, Your Grace?” he asked.
It was de Valence who spoke. “Very true, Your Grace,” he said.
Thor was looking between them now. “What is he facing when he arrives in Bristol?” he said.
William and Henry looked at each other again until Henry gestured toward the man, inviting him to answer Thor’s question. As Henry returned to his sweet wine, William spoke.
“Do you know much of Bristol, de Reyne?” he asked.
Thor shook his head. “I’ve only been there once,” he said. “It seemed a nice enough town. Why?”
“Were you told anything about it?”
“Like what?”
That told William what he needed to know because to those who knew much about Bristol, there was one thing that stood out to them. Surely Thor would have said so had he known.
But he hadn’t.
William proceeded.
“My wife has property near Bristol,” he said.
“Some of her family still lives there. Part of my role, as an advisor to the king, is to keep my ear to the ground for information on the nobles who infest England, especially when it is within lands or areas where my family lives. I must know of the people who pay my taxes.”
Thor knew he was speaking as a Frenchman who had been greatly opposed by Henry’s warlords.
“My father is the Earl of Ashington, so I know about people who pay taxes and the character of English nobles,” he said, more or less warning de Valence that he was not on the man’s side should he speak ill of the English people.
“What have you heard of Chester de Long?”
An amused expression drifted across William’s face. “Simply that Chester is a man of many enterprises,” he said. “The merchant business is only the beginning. That is not where he makes the bulk of his money.”
Thor frowned. “Then where does he make it?”
William couldn’t keep the smile off his face.
“From a place called Aphrodite’s Feast,” he said.
“That is the true moneymaking establishment in Bristol. It is an enormous place, an old Roman temple converted into a luxurious home. Truthfully, it could put the finest palaces to shame. I have been there before, taken by my wife’s father.
He is a regular patron of the place that the locals call, simply, The Feast.”
“What is it?” Thor asked. “An inn?”
“A myltenhus.”
Thor stared at him as he realized what the man was saying. “A what?” he said, aghast. “A bordel?”
William nodded. “Where women sell their bodies to men for money.”
That had Thor’s mouth popping open in surprise. “And Jareth has inherited it?”
William shrugged. “If he has inherited all of Chester de Long’s businesses, then he has, indeed, inherited it,” he said.
“I am not entirely sure I have ever heard of any man inheriting something like that, to be truthful. But it must make money the likes of which no other business in England ever has. Thousands of pounds, mayhap on a daily basis. Jareth will not only be rich—he will possess more wealth than God himself.”
“Money I could very much use,” Henry said softly.
Both Thor and William looked at him. Money was in desperate need by the king and everyone knew it, so now it made some sense as to why Henry seemed so incensed that Jareth didn’t want his inheritance.
Jareth had what Henry needed.
“Surely de Long paid taxes, Your Grace,” William said. “I know he contributed a good deal to Edward’s crusade.”
Henry drew in a long, thoughtful breath. “He did,” he said. “But so did others. De Long was not unique in that sense. But his wealth is obscene. No one man should be allowed to hoard such an amount.”
Thor could see that he was stewing about it, but Thor was stewing about the fact that Jareth had no idea what he was walking into.
“Should you not tell Jareth what you know, Your Grace?” he said.
“About the bordel, I mean. That is not exactly an inheritance a man can be proud of. Shouldn’t he know? ”
Henry wasn’t as concerned for Jareth as he should have been. He took another sip of his wine. “Why?” he said. “He is going to find out when he arrives. What is the point of telling him now? It will simply make him more reluctant to accept the inheritance than he is already.”
“Aye, Your Grace.”
“And you will not tell him what you know,” Henry said. “It is none of your affair, anyway.”
“Nay, Your Grace.”
Lost in thought, Henry considered his wine before continuing. “Thor, I am to have an audience with the Bishop of Ely tomorrow,” he said. “You are aware of this?”
It was a change of subject that Thor wasn’t ready for, because he didn’t consider the conversation about Jareth and the bordel finished, but Henry clearly did. Thor nodded to the question.
“I am, Your Grace.”
“I want to meet with him alone,” Henry said.
“I want you to discover whom he is traveling with and whom he intends to bring with him to Westminster. You know the man is here to plead on behalf of some Norfolk warlords who sided with de Montfort those years ago, men who have continued to refuse to support me. You will discover everyone he is bringing because I would not be surprised if some of those warlords come disguised as the bishop’s guards. ”
“Fear not, Your Grace,” Thor said. “No one but the bishop shall make it to the hall.”
“Go, then,” Henry said. “And remember what I told you.”
“Your Grace?”
“Not a word of the strumpet house to Jareth.”
Thor nodded, his features expressionless, before quitting the chamber. That left William with Henry, just the two of them.
And that was the way Henry wanted it.
“It is going to eat away at de Reyne, not being able to tell Jareth what you told him,” Henry said. “But I am withholding the information for a reason.”
“Reason, Your Grace?” William said curiously.
Henry nodded, taking another drink of his wine. Just the dregs were left now, and he swirled them around in his cup, watching them float about.
“If Jareth is shocked enough at his inheritance and refuses to accept it, where do you think it will go after that?” he said.
William shrugged. “To his brother? His father?”
“To me,” Henry said, looking at him. “Unclaimed property will revert to the Crown.”
William understood completely now. “And so will the money it generates.”
Henry nodded slowly. “Exactly,” he said.
“Therefore, let Jareth go to Bristol. Let him see what his uncle has left him—a den of debauchery that no pious knight would want to take responsibility for. But I have no such qualms, considering the income it could bring me, so let him discover this for himself. And when he returns to London and tells me he’ll not accept the inheritance, I will most graciously relieve him of this heinous enterprise. And he’ll thank me for it.”
It was the general consensus that between Henry and his eldest son, Edward, Edward was the more conniving and ambitious of the two. But William de Valence knew better.
In moments like this, Henry was the master.
In more ways than one.