Eltham Palace, Winter 1425 #3
‘I can’t stay,’ he says, rising up. ‘I have come only to assure you that you are safe. My brother Duke John is coming from France to remonstrate with Bishop Beaufort. My brother will make a binding agreement for the peace. Our uncle Beaufort will listen to my brother, as he should have listened to me without my having to show my strength. All I care about is the safety of your son, my nephew, my beloved brother’s child.
’ He gives a little smile. ‘I know he is great-nephew to the bishop, but the Beauforts are a bastard line – they don’t have the same sense of family as I do. ’
She nods. Her own brother is fighting to steal her son’s lands in France. She has no faith in family ties.
‘I don’t blame the bishop for ambition,’ Humphrey says generously, ‘but this is my beloved nephew. What was he thinking? I fear that he hoped to kidnap him and – who knows? – raise him as a Beaufort puppet? Keep him as a prisoner? Overthrow the legitimate line and put a bastard royal family in place? It’s too horrible to think. ’
He has frightened her again; she goes very white and shoots an anxious look at Owen.
‘No,Your Grace, the people would never allow such an act,’ Owen says quietly. He turns to the duke: ‘And we will always trust you to defend the little king. Your title is protector.’
‘It is, and I will,’ the duke says, pleased.
The queen murmurs her gratitude. Duke Humphrey kisses her hands; he pauses to make sure that he has everyone’s full attention. ‘As soon as my brother gets here and the bishop promises the king’s safety, I’m going to Alphen in the Netherlands,’ he announces.
‘You’re going to bring Jacqueline home?’ The queen claps her hands.
‘Better even than that! My lady Jacqueline Countess of Hainault has defeated Philip of Burgundy’s army in pitched battle!
Who would have thought it possible? One of the strongest armies in Christendom, and she has defeated him!
As soon as matters are safe here, I will reinforce her.
We will be side by side on the battlefield again, and this time we will win. ’
We all cry out, and the queen begs him to tell her more.
The duke is at his best in the centre of attention, laughing, explaining, repeating himself.
‘It’s true – she’s a marvel. No, she did not face Philip of Burgundy himself but all of his army, and she won the battle.
Parliament has ordered money and a muster of men to defend her, and I will lead them.
’ He looks across at me. ‘I know you’ll come with me to rejoin your lady, Mistress Cobham? ’
‘I will,’ I say. I curtsey to the queen and meet the veiled gaze of Owen ap Maredudd, standing behind the throne. ‘If Your Grace can spare me?’
‘Oh yes!’ she says easily. ‘Of course, go to dear Jacqueline. And you must take a letter from me, and gifts.’ She turns to Owen. ‘What would a lady need in the field of battle? Should we send her tents?’
He laughs. ‘I’ll take Mistress Cobham to the wardrobe to pick out what her lady will need. I don’t think she wants tents,’ he says.
I smile at him. I so long to be with him in his room beyond the royal wardrobe; for a moment, I think dizzyingly that we could go right now. We would seem to be obeying the queen, and I could be naked and in his arms in a few minutes.
‘I’ll come at once,’ I offer, with a curtsey to the queen. ‘I know just what my lady needs.’
‘I’ll come too,’ the duke volunteers, and the queen says: ‘We’ll all come – I should like to choose things for her.’
Owen ap Maredudd’s smile never wavers; but he shoots me a quick rueful look, and I know he is longing for me as I am for him.
WE CANNOT SNATCH even a single stolen moment together. The queen orders that her gifts from the royal wardrobe are loaded into carts at once, and I am to take them to Baynard’s Castle, stay there till the duke comes, and then go with him and the new force to the Netherlands.
I am packing my bags in my room while Owen is overseeing the loading of goods in the yard, so we cannot even whisper a promise to meet.
The queen honours me by coming to the steps of Eltham Palace to see me leave, and she presses a letter to her dear friend Jacqueline and a purse of gold coins into my hand.
I throw a despairing glance at Owen, who is standing behind her, and he gives me a hidden smiling wink. We cannot meet today, nor this week. But the little bow with his hand on his heart is as good as a spoken promise that he will get to London to see me before I set sail.
We will plan how to meet in future, and if we are lucky – and why should I not be lucky, with good cards drawn for me and a handsome man in love with me?
– my fortunes will rise with Jacqueline’s, just as his will grow with the king.
When I have earned enough for a dowry, I will come home and marry him.
The queen can make him an English citizen, and we can start our life as a married couple in royal service and earn the rest of our fortune together.
We have made no promises; we have sworn no oaths.
We do not need them: I know that I am the great love of his life and he is mine.