The Forbidden Queen (61 page)

I heard this news with a kind of creeping terror. Beaufort or Plantagenet, sanctified bishop or noble duke—were either to be trusted when their own authority came into the balance? My little son had become a pawn in their deadly game. I buried my personal concerns deep as Young Henry’s freedom came under threat, and prayed for
Bedford’s calming influence on his brother and uncle. But Bedford was still in France and the rumours became more disturbing as the armed retinues of Gloucester and Beaufort confronted each other on London Bridge, Gloucester threatening to descend on us and remove my son from Eltham into his custody, by physical force if necessary.

We sat and quaked at every noise, guards doubled, listening for the clash and clamour of approaching mailed knights. And here in the midst of the political upheavals was Bishop Henry, come to Eltham, to tell me—to tell me what?

‘It is not good news, Katherine.’

As he entered the Great Hall and walked slowly across the worn paving slabs to where I waited for him, his doleful features confirmed my suspicions. Still suave, still impeccably dressed in clerical authority, Bishop Henry looked weary, as if he had indulged in a long battle of wits, and lost. I simply stood, unable to express my fears, my lips numb with anticipation of the worst.

But what was the worst Gloucester could do? I had swept aside the foolish thought that Edmund had mischievously planted, of being enclosed against my will in a convent. That could not be. It would not be! If it was mooted, I would simply return to the French court.

But if I returned to France, it would be without my son.

I willed myself to be sensible. It would not come to that. So what was it that gave Bishop Henry’s features
the aspect of a death’s head? And, even more pertinent, where was Edmund?

‘Tell me,’ I ordered sharply, I who rarely ordered anyone sharply.

Bishop Henry replied without subtlety, his face expressionless. ‘All is lost. My petition to the Commons on your behalf has been destroyed. Bedford has returned, and ordered a cessation of hostilities.’ He lifted a shoulder in rueful acceptance. ‘He is not best pleased. And in the aftermath Gloucester has taken pleasure in revenge on the Beaufort name. I am defeated.’ I waited. There was more to come. Bishop Henry folded his hands and pronounced: ‘There will be repercussions for you too.’

Ah, there it was. ‘So I will not be allowed to wed Edmund.’

It was difficult to form the words. A fist of pure, raw emotion tightened in my chest, so strong that I could barely breathe, yet I firmed my shoulders and kept a level gaze, even as the bishop’s eye slid from mine. I was right to fear the worst. His voice was rough as if he had argued himself into exhaustion.

‘There are difficulties, Katherine. Gloucester is preparing to tie your situation into knots. And for me too there has been a high price to pay. I have been forced to resign my position as Lord Chancellor.’ Even in my own pain I thought: how the years show on your face today. My heart was touched with compassion. I laid my hand softly on his sleeve, feeling the tension below the rich
damask as he added, ‘Gloucester is in the ascendant. It is a tragic outcome for you, I fear.’

He did not resist as I led him to my parlour, motioning for the damsels to depart. Once there, he sank wearily into my own chair with its carved back and arms, leaning back as if he needed its support, while I stuffed soft cushions behind him and sent for wine. And when we were alone I pulled up a low stool and prepared to listen to what had been done that was so tragic and that would have so great a bearing on my life.

‘Gloucester intends to persuade the Commons in the next session to implement a statute. They will most assuredly comply.’

‘And what is this statute?’

Bishop Henry drank deep. ‘No man will be allowed to wed a Queen Dowager without the consent of the King and his Council.’

‘Oh!’

I thought about this, studying my hands, my fingers interlocking. It did not seem so very bad. My remarriage had not exactly been forbidden. All I needed was permission.

‘Is that all?’ I asked, looking up into the bishop’s weary eyes. It was bad, but not beyond redemption.

‘Think about it, Katherine. Think about what he has done.’

And I did—and at last the simple statement spinning
in my brain came to rest. I think I laughed at the enormity of it.

‘Of course. The consent of the King.’ I felt the rise of hysteria in my chest. ‘And since my son is not of an age to give consent to anything…’ How cleverly it had been done, how callously. He had not needed to name me—he would not wish to be accused of being vindictive—neither did he have to forbid me, merely make it an impossibility. ‘Does Gloucester know what he was doing? Does he know that he will condemn me to widowhood?’

‘I have no doubt he does.’ Bishop Henry drained his cup, and refilled it. ‘You will have to wait for at least a decade until Henry reaches his majority.’

I could wed Edmund, but not for a whole ten years, even supposing Young Henry could be persuaded. It stretched like an eternity before me. I could not even imagine so long a wait, seeing only that my thirtieth year would be well gone, my hair faded to grey, my face become marked and lined with the passage of time.

And Edmund—would he not look elsewhere, for a younger bride? Despair closed in on me as I looked up at the bishop again to see him watching me. His face was so full of pity I could not bear it. How could I expect Edmund to wait ten years to win my hand? I could not expect any man to wait a whole decade.

I looked away to hide the tears that slid down my cheeks, even as my thoughts wove a new pattern, seeking
some way through Gloucester’s cunningly worked maze. I was not entirely forbidden to enter into marriage, was I?

‘What if I disobey?’ I asked, astonished at how my thoughts had leapt from acceptance to defiance. Would I dare to go against the will of Parliament? I did not think so, yet with Edmund by my side, what might I not dare to do? ‘Will I be punished if I wed without Young Henry’s consent?’

Bishop Henry put down his cup, the wine no longer of interest, and took my hands in his. ‘Who can tell? There is one more consequence of Gloucester’s revenge that you must know, Katherine. Arrangements have been made for you to live permanently in the Young King’s household. You will not be allowed to visit your dower properties or travel as you choose. You will go where the Young King goes. Do you understand?’

I understood very well. I was a prisoner. Without bars, without lock and key, but still prisoner under my son’s jurisdiction.

‘It is intended to help you to withstand your carnal passions,’ he continued gently.

And I flinched at the judgement that was becoming engraved on my soul. The image of my mother, painted and bejewelled, casting lascivious glances over the young courtiers, rose before me. What a terrible disservice, all unwittingly, she had done me. I dragged a breath of stifling air into my lungs as I felt my face grow hot from the humiliation.

‘I regret what has been done,’ Bishop Henry continued, when I could not find the words to reply. ‘But it will not be so very bad, you know.’

And now the words spilled out, my voice broken. ‘No? I think it might be. It is to keep me under permanent surveillance.’

‘I’m afraid it is. Young Henry’s claim on the French throne rests entirely on you, and so your reputation must be purer than the pearls in the Virgin’s diadem.’

And at last I wept. For my trampled yearnings for a life with Edmund. For my soft incarceration in my son’s household so that I might never again do anything to cause ripples in English politics. I would be tied fast under Henry’s jurisdiction, anchored as irrevocably as mistletoe in the branch of an apple tree. My heart was broken, my spirit laid low.

‘Don’t weep. Katherine. You are still young.’

‘What use is that? If I am young, I have even more years to live as a prisoner, encased in a shell of lonely respectability. There is no escape for me, is there?’

Would Edmund wed me out of the love he bore me, would he risk wedding me without permission? That was the question to which I needed an answer. The one question I dared not ask. But indeed I did not need to, for Bishop Henry delved into the recesses of his sleeve and drew out a single sheet of a folded document, sealed with the Beaufort crest.

‘Edmund asked me to give you this, my dear. He will explain.’

I held it to my breast, tears bright in my eyes. I could see in the compassionate twist to Bishop Henry’s mouth that he expected it to be Edmund’s farewell to me and, with tears still threatening, I waited until he had tossed off the final dregs of his wine and made his departure—bound for Rome, he informed me, with a cardinal’s hat in his sights since his ambitions in England had been so rudely curtailed—before I broke the seal and read it. I would not expose my broken heart further to the self-serving bishop. But as soon as I was alone I ripped the letter open. Better to know the worst. The lines were simple, the letter short, sufficient for my slow reading.

‘Oh, Edmund!’

I cried out in my astonishment as I curled my hand around the enamelled brooch with the Beaufort escutcheon, the lively lion supporting the dominant portcullis, my talisman, that I pinned to my bodice every morning. I was his, loved and valued beyond all others. And here, in his own words, he had vowed to pursue our union. Had I not always known it? Edmund was bold enough, outrageous enough, confident enough with his Beaufort breeding and Plantagenet blood to take a stand against Gloucester and Parliament—against the whole world if need be—to claim the woman he loved. To claim me as his own.

He was Count of Mortain. Was he not in high favour?

As I crushed the letter in my hand it was as if he stood beside me. My mind was suddenly full of his laughter, my head echoing with his murmured words of love. My lips could still taste the quality of his desire as I pressed them to the parchment where his words of love flowed from his pen to me. My body ached for him. We would be together again at Westminster. We would stand side by side, my courage bolstered by Edmund’s love, and challenge the right of Parliament to keep us apart. If necessary we would defy Gloucester. Edmund would assuredly find some way for us to circumvent Gloucester’s cunning maze.

He loves me and he will not desert me
.

I held the words close in my heart, repeating them as if they were a nostrum, a witch’s spell to bind us together, against all the odds, as I ran up the stairs to the very top of the great Round Tower, to look out towards London. I could not wait until I saw him again.

‘Edmund!’

Young Henry, seeing a particular face that he recognised in the crowd, laughed aloud, before halting with an embarrassed little hunch of his shoulders beneath his new tunic. I placed a light hand on his arm, steering him forward, and smiled reassuringly when he looked nervously up at me.

‘You can see him later,’ I whispered.

With due formality, court etiquette as heavy on my
shoulders as my ermine-lined cloak, I walked at Young Henry’s side as the whole Court made its obeisance, straining for a view of the Young King. Another visit to Westminster, pre-empting the rapidly approaching moment when my son would be crowned King of England.

The days of his tantrums were over and he held himself with quaint dignity: face pale and still endearingly cherubic despite his growing limbs, fair hair brushed neatly beneath his cap, Henry smiled his pleasure, his eyes, round with astonishment, darting this way and that. Until they had come to rest on Edmund Beaufort, Count of Mortain.

‘Can I speak with him now?’ Young Henry whispered back. ‘I have something to tell him.’

‘Of course you have. But first you must greet your uncle of Gloucester,’ I replied.

I too must exert patience. The days, a mere handful, since I had read his letter, had seemed like years in their extent. How many times had I reread it, absorbing the hope that shone through the words. Only a few minutes now before Edmund and I stood face to face, blatantly declaring our love. I smiled, conscious of happiness coating me like the gold leaf on a holy icon. We would be together.

Henry nodded solemnly and walked on, leaving me in his wake where all I could do was will my mind and my body into a semblance of perfect composure. I had seen Edmund even before my son’s recognition, and I too could have cried out his name. My heart was beating so
erratically I could barely swallow, my hands damp with longing.

There he was, to my right, bowing elegantly. I turned my head in anticipation. But our eyes did not meet, even when he straightened to his full height and smiled at my son’s enthusiasm. Edmund Beaufort did not smile at me. My heart tripped in its normal rhythm, but I took myself to task. This was far too public for any passionate reunion. Of course we would not speak of love now. But soon, soon…