“Nothing is ever certain when dealing with royalty, you fool!” snapped Sir Jasper. “Remember that lest you lose your head one day by making such an error in judgment.”
“What will you do then, my lord?”
“What I planned to do in the first place, Seger. You will learn the truth of Lady Arabella Grey’s visit to the queen, and then you will tell me. Though I feel it in my bones that the wench has come to usurp my position, it is but idle speculation until proven otherwise. Come and let us bind up my wound. Then you will seek out the answers that I need to my many questions.”
“She cannot hope to prevail against you, my lord,” Seger said with certainty. “She is but a woman.”
“Do not be a bigger fool than you already are, Seger,” his master told him. “The church teaches us that even God could not prevail against a woman, for did Eve not disobey him? Women are dangerous creatures, and you must never forget that.”
“But God punished Eve, my lord.”
“Yet she survived, Seger, and so does her sex. They survive to drive men to madness, but I will not let Arabella Grey best me in this contest of wills. Greyfaire will be mine. There is no way I will let her win.”
Chapter Sixteen
Arabella Grey stood once more before her king. Two days had passed since she had last been at Sheen. She had been brought with much public display through the king’s antechamber, where a roomful of petitioners milled about, awaiting a chance to present their cases before the king or to one of his favorites who could gain his ear. There had been no other women in the throng. As she curtsied low, Arabella wondered if the king would notice that she was wearing the same gown she had worn the other day. They were alone, for the king had dismissed all his servants and advisors.
“Sir Jasper Keane has petitioned me once again to assign the keep at Greyfaire over to him,” the king began.
Arabella remained silent, instinctively knowing that Henry Tudor was not through. Still, her upper teeth worried her lower lip as she wondered what was to come.
“With the peace between Scotland and England, Greyfaire does not really hold the importance it once did. I have investigated the matter carefully, and I can see no reason to give the ancestral home of the Greys to Sir Jasper Keane. He must return to Northby, and those men now in his service who have been impressed from Greyfaire and wish to return home will be told that they may do so.”
Arabella fell to her knees, relief pouring through her. “Thank you, your grace,” she half sobbed.
The king pulled her to her feet. “Get up, madame, you have not heardallI have to say.” He drew her across the room and, after seating himself, indicated that she sit in a chair opposite. “Nothing, madame, is free in this life. Everything has its price, and I will not dissemble by pretending otherwise with you. I will return you your beloved Greyfaire, madame, but only on certain conditions.”
Her face was ablaze with joy.“Anything,Sire!” she told him.
“A poor choice of words, madame,” the king told her dryly. “You leave yourself nothing with which to bargain.”
“But I will do whatever I must to regain Greyfaire,” Arabella told him earnestly.
“Will you indeed?” Henry Tudor said, feeling almost sorry for Lady Grey, who was, he had finally decided, really quite innocent of the world for all her time at the Scots court. Still, that innocence could, and would, be useful to him. He fixed Arabella with a piercing look and said, “You are really a most beautiful woman, madame. There is something about you…something mysterious, and yet there is an artless ingenuousness that charms me. A freshness, a naiveté, for all your marriage and the fact that you are a mother. You are a most alluring little creature.”
Holy Mother, Arabella thought.He wants to lie with me!
Henry Tudor saw the look that quickly crossed her face and was quickly gone. His laughter was brief and harsh. “Put all thoughts of carnality from your mind, madame,” he reassured her. “What little passion flows through my veins I reserve for my queen.”
Arabella flushed, but wisely held her tongue.
“Charming,” the king noted, observing the blush, “and it is just that sort of charm that can be useful. I want you to go to France for me, madame.”
“France!”Such a request had been the furthest thing from her mind.
“France,” the king said.
“But why?” Arabella asked. She didn’t want to go to France. She wanted to go home to Greyfaire!
“Because I need eyes and ears in France, madame. The French would plot against me, and I must know before they even attempt their perfidy what it is that they would do.”
“But, how can I be of help in such an endeavor, your grace? I am a simple country woman. I have no knowledge of politics or court intrigues. Are the French not your friends, Sire? Did they not support your desire to be England’s king?”
“The French did indeed support me, madame, but they supported me because it suited their convenience to do so. As long as Duke Richard and Duke Henry fought over that fine, meaty bone called England, the English were well-occupied and could not cause the French difficulties elsewhere. Now, however, I am England’s king,and nowI sit firmly upon my throne. France is once again the enemy, although there is no outright war between us, nor do I expect one. I do, however, need to know if the French will continue to support me, or if they will conspire with my enemies to dethrone me, even as they did your late cousin Richard. I need eyes and ears at the French court. Eyes and ears who will be trusted because it is believed those eyes and ears are my enemy’s. This is no matter for diplomats who spend so much time couching their language in fine terms that no one can understand what it is they are saying. I want you to be my eyes and ears, madame.”
Arabella was astounded. “But I am not your majesty’s enemy,” she said. “What could I possibly learn in France that would help your grace?”
“Would you be my enemy if I refused to return Greyfaire to you, madame, and instead awarded it to Sir Jasper Keane?” he demanded.
