“Well, the queen said the same to Ellen. It would be a life of misery, and she is but young. She can start again, find love and peace.”
“But it is not the way of things. When a woman pledges herself to a man, it is her Christian duty to forgive him, to return to him and cherish him.”
“As the queen repeatedly does, but look at the heartache that brings her!”
“You think the queen should withdraw?”
Thomasin floundered, full of emotion. “Yes, no, I don’t know! I meant only to speak of my cousin.”
“Look,” said Brandon, “if her situation is truly untenable, then a life of religious retirement is her best option. If she were to go there for a while, a couple of years, it may then prompt him to seek a divorce himself. Otherwise, it can only happen if it is instigated by the man.”
“But he will not do so.”
“Then she must retire.”
“But why? That is so harsh a punishment, when she has done nothing wrong!”
“If she has left her husband and refused to return to him, then in the eyes of God, she has done wrong, Thomasin, you must understand that. She left him, did she not?”
Thomasin sighed. There was no assistance to be expected from the duke. Ellen’s case was looking hopeless.
“The only thing I can suggest is that she thinks this over, reconsiders her position and asks God for guidance.”
Thomasin bowed her head and retreated, disappointed.Why must the world inflict such harsh rules, she wondered in anger,so contrary to peace and happiness?
TWENTY-FOUR
The day was fading. Lately, each evening seemed to steal in a little earlier, with the winter season on the horizon. Thomasin and Nico sat in the flickering light of lanterns, playing cards in the queen’s main chamber. The air smelled of woodsmoke and the warming spices in the Venetian’s wine glass. Thomasin wasn’t drinking; her head was heavy and spinning with recent events.
“An ace!” Nico laughed, as he placed his card with a flourish. “I have been keeping that one back as a surprise.”
“A surprise indeed,” Thomasin replied, a little weary of the game, laying her nine of spades and seeing him sweep away the trick in victory.
“Thomasin, you seem a little distracted today. Either you are very kindly letting me win, or else your thoughts are elsewhere, I think.”
“I am sorry, forgive me, you are right.”
“What preys on your mind? Is there anything I can do?”
She thought about the missing letter to Anne Boleyn, vanished into thin air unread, about the chances of Ellen’s future happiness, growing fainter and fainter as it seemed, and her own sister, Cecilia, who had been missing these past few hours. No doubt she was caught up in her business with the king.
“It is just so many things, family things.”
“Nothing I have done to displease you, I hope?”
“Nothing of the kind,” she said, smiling. Nico was always a good companion, thoughtful and sensitive. “It’s only difficulties and complications for my family. Things that should be simple never seem to work out as they should.”
“I think you have a touch of melancholy tonight. You should drink some of this wine and let me speak to you of love.”
“Alas, it is love that makes me question things. Other people’s misfortunes in love.”
“Ah, that is sad indeed.” His eyes grew softer. “A broken heart is the greatest affliction of them all.”
She couldn’t stop the image of Rafe resurfacing, with his devilish good looks, the thrill of his hand on her skin, but she hurriedly pushed it back down.
“You have experienced that yourself?”
“Of course,” he said, shuffling the cards. “We all have, or will, at some point. When I was young, I loved a girl from Verona. Her name was Lidia, and she had eyes like the midnight sky, but her parents had betrothed her to another and would not hear my pleas. I think I cried for a week.”
