Chapter Ten
One week later
Westminster Palace, London
“Daniel de Lohr sent me a missive, Torran,” Henry said as the knight stood in front of him. “He has explained what happened and assured me that the House of de Lohr stands behind me. But what you are telling me is something completely different.”
Torran was caught off guard by the news that the Earl of Canterbury had sent a message to the king that had reached him before the Guard of Six made it back to London after leaving Canterbury a week ago.
It was true that it had been very slow travel with de Garr, who wasn’t much improved from his beating even after a week, but to know that de Lohr had sent a messenger to make it to Henry before the Six did was something of a shock to Torran.
It was also a very shrewd move by the earl.
Already, he could see that Henry wasn’t pleased by anything that was happening.
“Your Grace,” he said, exhausted and impatient.
“I do not know what the Earl of Canterbury told you, but the truth is this – his son, Chad, was informed of your intention to take the de Shera woman from Newington Priory and pledge her in marriage to me. Chad and his men made it to Newington before we arrived and spirited the girl off to Canterbury Castle. We followed them to Canterbury and when we arrived, the earl was informed of your orders and he told me that he had no intention of relinquishing the girl. Then, he drugged us with some kind of… of sleeping potion while allowing his son to escape Canterbury. Fortunately, we awoke just as Chad was leaving and tried to prevent him from escaping with the de Shera woman, but we were overwhelmed by Canterbury knights.”
Henry of Winchester, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, was clearly displeased with the news. Tall, with fair hair, a receding hairline, and one droopy eyelid so common to the Plantagenet line, he pondered what his trusted knight told him. He pondered it with irritation.
“And you did not follow Chad?” he asked.
De Serreaux shook his head. “Nay, Your Grace.”
“Why not?”
“Because the earl kept us locked up for the rest of the day until Chad was well away from Canterbury, Your Grace,” he said. “After that, there was no point in trying to follow him and the earl would not tell us where he had gone. That is why we returned to London to inform you of the situation.”
Henry simply stared at de Serreaux, his frustration building.
Finally, he turned away from the man and wandered over to one of the two massive hearths in the room.
It was an audience chamber of sorts, more informal, and the place where Henry had done most of his planning and scheming since his return from Evesham.
The walls were paneled with wood carvings, exquisitely crafty by Savoyard artisans engaged by Henry’s wife, Eleanor.
Scratching his ear, Henry stood next to the fire, watching the flames dance.
“Why is nothing ever easy?” he sighed, heavily. “Do you know what I hear, de Serreaux? I hear not only incompetence, but betrayal.”
De Serreaux was prepared for the lashing he was about to receive, but the mention of betrayal was unexpected. “We did not betray you, Your Grace,” he said. “Your guard has never, at any time, betrayed you.”
Henry shook his head. “I did not mean you,” he said. “I meant you as the incompetent. The betrayal, it seems, comes from those I believed close to me.”
De Serreaux didn’t like being called incompetent.
He wasn’t, in fact. He was very competent.
But he’d walked into a no-win situation with Canterbury and he knew that Henry wouldn’t see it that way.
Because of the insult, he didn’t ask Henry what he’d meant by the betrayal statement.
He simply waited for the king to continue talking.
“Did you hear me?” Henry said. “I fear that men who have fought for me may not, in fact, be completely loyal to me. That is an unfortunate thing.”
De Serreaux responded neutrally. “Indeed, Your Grace.”
Henry looked pointedly at him. “Aye, indeed. How did Chad de Lohr know of my plans for the de Shera woman?” he asked.
Then, he pointed an angry finger at Torran.
“I will tell you how he knew – when I spoke of those plans, I was surrounded by men I believed to be loyal to me but there was one man in attendance who has a relationship to the de Sheras. Bose de Moray, as much as I love the man, is related to Tiberius de Shera. Bose’s daughter married de Shera.
It would be natural for Bose to feel some loyalty to the House of de Shera even though he fought flawlessly for me.
He always has. The man is beyond reproach, but in this case, it is clear that he thwarted my plans for the de Shera woman. He should not have done that.”
De Serreaux lifted his eyebrows, questioningly. “De Moray is more loyal to you than almost anyone else, Your Grace,” he said. “He would not betray you.”
Henry scratched his ear again. “Not when it came to my life or crown, he would not,” he agreed. “I have trusted my life to Bose many times over. But when it comes to the House of de Shera, his loyalties are torn.”
De Serreaux wasn’t sure what to say to that. “But you sent the man to negotiate a surrender with the Lords of Thunder, Your Grace,” he said. “You must have trusted him enough to do that.”
Henry sighed heavily yet again. He was feeling his age this night, unhappy with the way things were changing.
Men had changed during his captivity with Simon de Montfort; the whole world had changed.
De Moray and de Lohr had changed. Nay, he was not a happy man. He had returned to a world in turmoil.
“The Lords of Thunder will not surrender,” he said. “They will never support me. It goes against the natural order of things for them to support me. Bose can no more convince them to side with me than I can convince the sun to give way to the moon.”
“Then why did you send him, Your Grace?”
Henry shrugged; it was a very good question.
“Mayhap I still hold out hope,” he said, less anger in his tone.
“If anyone can sway the Lords of Thunder, Bose can. And I very badly want Gallus and Maximus and Tiberius under my wing. They are great knights and noble men, and I respect them. But the only person who could have told Chad de Lohr about my plans for the de Shera girl is, in fact, Bose de Moray. In that move, he has shown me that his loyalties are in question. Whether or not he convinces the Lords of Thunder to swear fealty to me is no longer the issue. Bose has proven to me that he cannot be trusted. Blood, as they say, is the strongest bond of all and he is linked, by blood, to the House of de Shera.”
De Serreaux didn’t have much more to say to that, fearful that any more discussion might make it seem as if he were defending de Moray if, in fact, it was really Bose who had told Chad about Henry’s plans for Alessandria de Shera.
“What would you have me do, Your Grace?” he asked. “Will you have me seek Chad de Lohr and discover where he has taken the girl?”
Henry shook his head. “Nay,” he replied.
“Logic dictates that he would only take her one of two places – either to Isenhall Castle or to The Paladin. I cannot imagine he would take her anywhere else. Why would he? She belongs with her kin. If I were Chad, that is where I would take her. It makes the most sense.”
De Serreaux mulled over the situation for a moment. “Why not ask the Earl of Canterbury?” he said. “Surely the man would not refuse to tell you.”
Henry shrugged, turning away from the fire that was spitting sparks out into the room.
“I do not wish to push the House of de Lohr too much,” he said.
“If I push them too hard, it is possible they will side with de Shera as well. They are all related, you know – the House of de Lohr and the House of de Shera. I cannot risk that Canterbury would grow annoyed with my demands and throw his support behind de Shera. If he does, then Curtis de Lohr will, too, and I cannot lose Worcester. It would be devastating.”
It was a surprising position to take; at least, de Serreaux thought so. “And Chad?” he asked. “He is the one who abducted the girl and refused to turn her over. Will you punish him?”
Henry shook his head, thinking on the brilliant young knight who had saved his life at Evesham.
“Silversword,” he muttered. Then, he chuckled, an ironic sound.
“I will not punish him. In this instance, he is absolved from my wrath for were it not for him, I would have met my death on the field at Evesham. For now, Chad is untouchable. I do not believe the man is disloyal to me for it would be a strange man who would save my life and then overtly disobey my orders. But I do think he believed he was doing what he felt was right in order to be loyal to his family. In that instance, Chad has much the same confusion over loyalty to me that Bose has. These men are both tied up with the House of de Shera.”
“Then what would you have me do, Your Grace?” de Serreaux asked again. “Tell me and I shall do it.”
Henry’s gaze lingered on the man; de Serreaux was one of his finest men, of that there was no doubt.
But he didn’t have a massive army behind him like some of Henry’s other supporters did.
Right now, Henry needed an army for what he planned to do.
He had been planning this move since receiving Canterbury’s missive.
He strolled, leisurely, towards de Serreaux.