Chapter 26 #2
Edward attended the tourney for a single day before taking to his bed, exhausted from the effort expended.
Jeanette, Richard and her other sons deputised in his place for the rest of the event.
Each day, Alice Perrers arrived robed in different fantastical gowns and sat at the King’s side, always wearing the Queen’s brooch and other personal items that had belonged to Philippa.
Jeanette thought her own face would crack if she had to find one more smile or bland remark.
Since Edward was absent, she had to sit with the couple and endure Alice’s proximity.
‘It is a pity that my son cannot attend these celebrations,’ the King remarked peevishly.
‘Be assured he would attend if he was able, sire,’ Jeanette replied. ‘I know he wished to be here, for he has not spoken to you in a while, and he misses that contact.’
‘So he says,’ the King muttered. ‘He should have made a better effort then.’
‘He speaks truly. Have you ever known him not to be straightforward with you?’
He grunted, and his eyes narrowed. ‘On occasion. When he married you, for example, and you betrothed yourselves in secret because you knew I would disapprove. What am I to think?’
Beyond him, she saw a smile curl Alice’s lips at her lover’s retort. She was dressed all in green today and bedecked in emeralds.
Jeanette swallowed her irritation. ‘I am sorry for that, but everyone makes errors of judgement in their lives. Edward truly does desire to speak with you. He is a man of honour and integrity, and he would value your company.’
‘Perhaps I would not value his.’
Jeanette heard the querulous note in his voice.
An old man striking out from a false sense of grievance.
‘I do not believe that, sire,’ she said quietly.
‘I was raised at your court, and I saw the love between you. Even if times have changed, surely that love is a rock that still stands its ground?’
The King said nothing but extended one hand to Alice, who took and patted it as though comforting him, saying without words that it didn’t matter.
‘For your grandson’s sake,’ Jeanette continued, ‘and for the future of the dynasty.’
The King regarded Richard, who was watching the preparations on the jousting field with interest. ‘I shall think on what you have said, but if my son truly desired my company, he would make a greater effort. I shall send him my physicians and hope he improves. His malady, such as it is, has cost us too much already.’
Jeanette almost ground her teeth that he should be blaming Edward, and by association herself, for the fact of his illness. ‘I am certain he does not wish to be so desperately ill, sire,’ she said.
The old man cleared his throat in a disapproving way that sounded like a growl, and turned to Richard.
‘See, my boy. What think you of these fine rings Mistress Perrers has given to me?’ He showed his grandson a heavy gold ring in the shape of a sunburst, and another set with a large, square-cut topaz stone.
‘They are very big,’ Richard said. ‘I like the sun and the jewel.’
‘Mistress Perrers comes from a long line of goldsmiths,’ the King said.
‘She knows everything about gold and jewels.’ He spoke like a proud and happy child, and Jeanette almost winced because he didn’t see the irony in his words.
Alice did indeed know about gold and jewels – and about property and acquiring power by duping it out of an ageing man whose faculties were fading.
‘I never take them off,’ he added to Richard, ‘and I shall never give them away.’ He turned again fondly to Alice, and she took his hand and raised it to her lips to kiss the gold.
Jeanette shaped her expression to bland indifference, even though her rage and revulsion burned so fiercely inside her she felt sick. Alice watched her with speculation like a cat waiting at a mousehole.
By the time Jeanette and Richard returned to Kennington, it was after dusk.
Richard was pale and fractious with exhaustion, and she sent him away with Mundina to eat and be put to bed.
She had her ladies remove her headdress and heavy ceremonial robes and, clad in a light undergown, went to see Edward.
He was sitting up in bed, propped upon bolsters and pillows with various documents spread around him.
‘You have been hard at work,’ she said, greeting him with a kiss.
Her heart turned at how thin he was, his cheekbones like blades.
Remembering his father’s remarks, she felt a fresh burst of anger.
The thought of returning to the tournament tomorrow and watching Alice hand out prizes to the participants made her want to spit.
‘Parliament meets in early May,’ he said. ‘God willing, I shall be able to attend, but if not then matters must be prepared. My father will be asking for taxes to finance the conflict with the French and will need to have concessions in place.’
‘Yes, I know,’ she said, ‘but you look tired, and it is dark. Leave that for now and we will eat together.’
He capitulated with a weary nod and summoned a clerk to remove the documents and lock them in a deep oak chest.
Jeanette joined him on the bed, and they shared a meal of roast chicken and white bread while she told him about the tourney, and about Alice Perrers dealing out the prizes and the fuss his father had made of the rings she had given him.
She mentioned, too, his father’s wish to have him present at the tourney.
‘He is going to send you another physician.’
‘I doubt physicians will be of any use to me,’ he replied. ‘They have helped in the past, but the tincture is no longer as effective as it was. But one moment at a time. I shall speak to my father at the Garter feast in a few weeks’ time. Tell him I shall attend, come hell or high water.’
She noticed he had barely eaten anything, although he had drunk two cups of wine that had filled his face with false colour.
‘Just rest,’ she said, ‘and gather your strength.’ At least the Garter ceremony at Windsor was only for knights of the order, and although Alice might be at the palace, she would be absent from the ceremony.
Most of the lords who were Garter knights were not her allies.
She brushed crumbs from the coverlet and gave the dogs the remnants of their supper to pick over before rejoining him on the bed until he fell asleep.
She lay wakeful for a long time, protecting him with her love as she watched each shallow breath drawing in and out, in and out, listening for the next, and the next.