The Jewels of Warwick (30 page)

 

 

"What if he claims it and brings it back to court with him, leaving
you here?"

 

 

Amethyst laughed, putting her arm around her sister's shoulders. She
could feel Emerald shivering under her cloak. "I shall not give it
back, for he has a piece of my heart as well, and that he will never
give up!" she said as they headed for the winding descent.

 

 

 

Some days later, Amethyst was startled by a commotion in the
corridor.

 

 

"Amethyst! You were right!" Emerald's voice echoed through the
hallways and down the stairs to the great hall where she was
breakfasting with Sabine and some guests who'd arrived to share the
Christmas festivities. "He's here!"

 

 

Emerald burst into the great hall and breathlessly dragged Amethyst
out into the courtyard. "Come! Greet him at the gatehouse!" she
said, and they broke into a run, Amethyst catching up and leading
the way.

 

 

"No!" she shouted, halting suddenly.

 

 

Emerald nearly knocking her over as she ran into her.

 

 

"I mustn't let him think I've been waiting all this while for him!
Let me go to my chambers and have a servant bring him to me!"

 

 

As anxious as she was to see Henry again and throw her arms around
him, to feel his skin against hers and to gaze into those golden
eyes, she knew she couldn't behave in that way.

 

 

"He's come all this way, he can come another few hundred paces," she
declared and, taking her sister by the arm, strode back through the
courtyard to her apartments where she chose the most lavish gown
from her wardrobe and yanked at her head-dress, replacing it with
Henry's favorite ivory combs.

 

 

The castle was abuzz with excitement over the royal visit a
messenger had come on ahead to announce. Sabine ordered the servants
to rustle up a banquet for that evening to rival that of his first
stay. The floors were hastily swept and strewn with fresh rushes,
linens were washed and the elegant King's bedroom readied for his
stay.

 

 

Sweeping through the corridor towards the solar where he was resting
with his retinue, she was bursting with excitement, hoping she was
able to hide it all, just as she had in the very beginning.

 

 

He was sitting before the fire, sipping a tankard of ale. A few
minstrels were scattered about, his fool was in the corner talking
with the grooms, and a light chatter hummed through the air. The
room fell into a dead silence as she entered, filling the doorway
with her white satin skirts, her long billowing sleeves trimmed in
white rabbit fur, gleaming in a milky sea of pearls. The small
teardrop pearl he'd given her nestled between her breasts, and he
fixed his eyes directly on it.

 

 

She could feel her heart thumping with every step she took closer to
him.

 

 

Finally she stood before him and curtsied deeply. As she rose, he
turned to his retinue, and with a wave of his hand, they vanished as
if by magic.

 

 

"My lord, it is such a pleasure to welcome you back to Warwick
Castle."

 

 

She wanted so badly to hurl herself into his arms, to tumble with
him to the floor, to drink him in, to make up for all these wasted
months of yearning. But she stood rigidly waiting for him to speak.

 

 

"Why did you leave so abruptly, Amethyst?" His tone was flat, devoid
of all emotion.

 

 

"I got terribly frustrated and tired of waiting. This divorce was
taking forever, and I thought my leaving would prompt you to speed
up the process."

 

 

"You got tired of waiting! You! And what do you think I have been
going through, you selfish woman? Do you have any idea how this
matter has tormented me? Look at my eyes, look at my hair...I have
been applying the daftest of salves and ointments to my dome every
bloody night to prevent any further of this hideous thinning! And
you think you are frustrated!"

 

 

"But, my lord, I realize how I have missed you! I've made up my
mind. I want to marry you. I accept your marriage proposal. I do not
want to keep you waiting a moment longer. I do not care if you are
not yet divorced. I accept and I shall wait as long as I have to!"

 

 

He looked away and the orange citrines in his cap caught the fire's
glow. "I have put the preliminary steps of my break with Rome into
effect."

 

 

"Which means what?" she asked quietly, seating herself by his side
at his invitation.

 

 

"That I shall be free to marry in a few months' time," he said.

 

 

"That's grand, sire! We shall be married by spring!" she said,
clasping one of his beloved hands in both of her own and laying her
cheek to it.

 

 

"We cannot be married at all, Amethyst."

 

 

Her heart crashed on top of her stomach. She fought a rising
sickness. "Not marry? After all the times we have spoken of it? Why
ever not?" she managed to choke out.

 

 

His face reddened as he declared, "I must marry Anne."

 

 

"Anne? Anne who?" But in her heart, she already began to have a
sneaking suspicion she already knew…

 

 

"Anne Boleyn, of course. She believes she is with child."

 

 

She shook her head, and his gemstones flew from side to side in a
dazzling blur. "You bedded Nan Bullen?"

 

 

"You left me and–"

 

 

"You bedded that schemer and now, what, she says she is with child
after so short a time? No, Henry, can't you see, she is lying–"

 

 

"I have it on good authority from several sources that–"

 

 

"And even if it is true, why must you marry her?"

 

 

"I need a son and heir and–"

 

 

"After making me wait all this time, you are going to turn round and
marry her!"

 

 

"You ran away, you silly wench. What was I to do, live like a monk,
the way Catherine wants? The only reason I turned to her was because
you'd left, without so much as a word!"

 

 

"I thought you of all people would understand why I had to leave.
The court intrigue was tearing us apart."

 

 

"You tore us apart when you left," he said curtly. "What, did you
think I had nothing better to do than follow you like a lovesick
swain? I am master here, of my kingdom and all my subjects,
including you. You will therefore do as I command and accept this."

 

 

She looked as though she had been slapped, sitting back in her chair
as the tears rolled down her cheeks unheeded.

 

 

Henry relented in his anger at the sight of her looking so crushed
and defeated and said in a low tone, "I do not love her. She is
merely a breeding mare, more than willing to give me an heir."

 

 

"But our love–"

 

 

"Was apparently not enough for you to have the patience to fight
for, nor any willingness to give me an heir yourself."

 

 

"I wanted no taint of bastardy for your son when I finally gave him
to you," she sobbed raggedly.

 

 

"But still, you left. My divorce is finally in sight. You know how
badly I need an heir, and yet you couldn't wait another few months.
No, you had to come running back to home and hearth, back to the
castle, expecting me to come back to you, begging on bended knee!

 

 

"A king does not beg! I have come to tell you I want you to return
to court. I am admitting what you so desperately want me to admit. I
want you back there with me. That is why I journeyed here. To bring
you back."

 

 

"To play second fiddle to the night crow? After you asked me to be
your wife and your queen? What kind of fool do you take me for?"

 

 

"I thought you loved me!"

 

 

"I thought you loved me. If you did you would treat Anne no
differently than her sister or any of your other mistresses. Provide
for her and the child in some quiet place out of the way and wait
for the divorce so that we can be well and truly wed and beget a
whole palace of sons together."

 

 

"Don't you think I want to?" he raged. "But if the child she bears
is a son–"

 

 

"If you love me, then it is worth the gamble, is it not?"

 

 

"Nay, I cannot do it. I must have an heir. I must marry Anne and try
to give legitimacy to the child's birth."

 

 

"And if it be a daughter, what then? You will not be able to divorce
her and all we have endured to be together in the eyes of the world
will be for naught."

 

 

"It will be a son. I have not walked through Hell to get a mere girl
child now. Anne will give me a son. She promised."

 

 

"I find it incredible what you are willing to believe for the sake
of a woman you claim you do not even love."

 

 

"What I do, I do for England," he snapped.

 

 

"Liar! All this is mere words and vain show," she hissed. "You no
longer love me! You have not come here to propose to me honorably
and ask me to be your wife once you are free, but a mere mistress
who will have to serve at court under your new wife as if I have no
feelings, no heart and soul that aches with wanting you, Henry. All
you desire is to use me and cast me aside. You just want me under
your thumb so you can keep me as a spare for when Nan gets too
swollen and ugly for you to bed!"

 

 

He stiffened, but did not deny the charge. "Amethyst, I am not going
to command or to beg. Would I have left court and the future mother
of my heir if I did not love you? How dare you refuse me! I shall
give you until tomorrow, when my retinue and I leave. If you have
not agreed to come back with me, then you have decided it is over
between us, not me, and I do not wish you to ever return to court
again!"

 

 

He dismissed her with the same wave of his arm befitting his
servants and she left, not in obedience to him, but because she no
longer wanted to see his face. The thought of him bedding that
scrawny little hawk sickened her. She certainly hadn't wasted any
time! Neither of them had.

 

 

Tears blinded her as she returned to her apartments and found
Emerald sitting on the bed waiting for her.

 

 

"Be gone, Emerald! I wish not to speak with anyone!"

 

 

"Did he ask you back just like you said?" she implored, handing
Amethyst a lacy cloth with which to wipe her tears.

 

 

"Aye, but he has gotten Nan Bullen with child and is going to marry
her!"

 

 

"Why...what is so bad about that? An heir would be a good thing,
would it not?"

 

 

She couldn't tell Emerald—until now no one knew about the King's
marriage proposal to her, and to tell anyone now would have been
unthinkable.

 

 

"He does not love her. He loves me!"

 

 

"Then go back to court, Amethyst! He can't love Nan Bullen if he
came all the way here to take you back."

 

 

Amethyst wiped her tears and regarded her sister's reasoning.
Staying absent from court would not spite anyone but herself. She
had to return, to reclaim his affections, to keep Anne at bay.

 

 

"Then do you think he will ask you to marry him instead of her?"
Emerald asked, her eyes glowing with excitement.

 

 

"Oh, I have never even thought of that, little sister!" she replied,
feeling her face turning a bright crimson. "Nay, why would the King
want to marry the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, a mere pretender
to the crown?"

 

 

"According to Topaz, Henry Tudor is the same thing."

 

 

"Aye, and according to Topaz, she is the rightful queen," Amethyst
said. But alas, she thought to herself, there can only be one queen
at a time. And now it appeared that it would not be her at all, as
they had both hoped and dreamed. Nay, if she did not play her cards
right, she was going to lose the man she loved to the ambitious Anne
Boleyn, and God only knew what kind of trouble the selfish minx
would stir up once she was queen.

 

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

 

 

Before her twenty-four hours were up, she gave King Henry his
answer. "I shall be returning to court with you, sire," she said
evenly, not betraying any of the tumultuous emotions course through
her.

 

 

"I shall be so glad to have you back, Amethyst," he said, taking her
hand, looking deeply into her eyes. "If only you'd waited. I told
you how I needed—"

 

 

"You need not explain, Sire."

 

 

No one dared interrupt the King in mid-sentence, but they were
beyond that. She was sure Anne wouldn't dare interrupt him.
Ever
.
"I feel no jealousy toward Anne. I understand that the royal line
needs to be continued. But...why her?"

 

 

He shrugged one shoulder. "In my desperation, I thought she would
make a good wife and queen. I did not look very far."

 

 

"Nay, I daresay you didn't. The end of the handle of Catherine's
hairbrush is certainly not far."

 

 

Henry sighed heavily. "This does not change a thing between us. My
feelings for you are as deep as ever. I so much wanted you to be my
queen. The first choice was yours, but you ran away like a
frightened doe. So please understand that I did what I had to do."