‘She will still be here for us,’ Aliza soothed. ‘We can still speak to her and tell her things, and we still have each other.’
‘She says she wants to be buried outside the church; did she tell you that?’ He blinked hard to empty his eyes.
‘Yes, she did,’ Aliza replied in a more subdued voice. ‘I would not wish it for her, but it is her choice.’
‘I know she will go to Jesus in Heaven,’ William said fiercely.
‘Yes, she will – for everything she had to endure in this life.’
‘She said she had written to our brother in England.’
‘Yes, she told me too. I think Mama has had this in mind for us for a long time. She has never forgotten that she was England’s queen, even if she had to leave. I am sure she mooted it to Henry when she met him in Pons.’
‘What do you think about going?’
‘Why not?’ she said brightly. ‘It will be an adventure and it will be interesting to see the land where she was a queen. We are Henry’s close kin and will be useful to him. He has lands here, and that makes us valuable for his rule of Gascony. His wife has all her relatives at court and in high positions, it is only right that our brother, as King, should have his.’ She gave him a meaningful look. ‘His family matters a great deal to him – and it should matter to us too.’
William returned to the guest house, his mind churning with all the changes being thrown at him, not least the knowledge that he was about to lose his mother. Another life in England. What would it be like?
Elias had returned from tending the horses and was breaking his fast on a loaf of warm bread and a hunk of cheese. He was a personable dark-haired youth, the same age as his master. His mother had been William’s wet nurse, and the boys had grown up together, although Elias’s status meant that he would remain a man at arms and body servant, rather than rising to knighthood.
‘I have saddled Jasper,’ he said. ‘I thought you would want to ride him.’
William gave him a grateful look. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Thank you.’
Elias served William with the bread and cheese and poured him a cup of buttermilk. William took the food out to his palfrey and ate and drank while adjusting the tack. Jasper had been a gift from his mother before she entered Fontevraud, together with harness and equipment. The sorrel gelding was William’s pride and joy. He was good-natured and responsive and also, for a palfrey, strong and tall. William could use him for light battle practice with his brothers and pretend Jasper was a warhorse.
Leaving his empty cup on a tree stump, he dusted crumbs from his hands and, setting his foot in the stirrup, swung into the saddle. He always thought better on horseback, or when in motion of any kind. He could be still if the occasion demanded, such as in a church or before his superiors at formal occasions, but that discipline had been hard-won.
For a while he absorbed himself in training with a pole the length and thickness of a lance but without an edge. He had begun learning to joust at fourteen and was becoming adept through daily practice. Turning the pole this way and that, manoeuvring, balancing, using his body to guide the horse. Everything smooth and controlled.
He wanted to prove his valour and manhood, but all the training in the world would not prepare him for the actual shock of a real tourney, and with every fibre of his being he wanted to engage with it and have it over and done – like losing his virginity, the memory of which still made him hot with embarrassment but had not dented his enthusiasm one whit. Once something had been accomplished for the first time, the second time became easier, and the third even better as anxiety diminished.
If they were called to England, then so be it. He would make his way at his half-brother’s court and become an Englishman, and make his mother proud.
*
Two days later his mother died, having taken the veil in her last hours, and become a nun of Fontevraud. She was buried as she had stipulated outside the precincts of the church to atone for her sins. Deeply saddened, William did not understand her decision, for she was more sinned against than sinning. He had seen the effigies of Henry’s grandparents and uncle, Queen Eleanor, King Henry II and King Richard, inside the abbey with all their richness, gilding and gold, and it seemed a terrible thing that his mother should not be graced with the same honour, even if she desired this burial outside the church. She had no more sins upon her than those lying in state before the choir.
His brother Guy put his hand on William’s shoulder. ‘It is an end and a beginning,’ he said. ‘I am sure our brother in England will soon summon us to his side.’ Guy was preparing to take the cross and embark on a military pilgrimage to the Holy Land where their ancestor had once been King of Jerusalem. William knew Guy was hoping their royal half-brother would fund his travel expenses.
Geoffrey joined them. The sun slanting into his eyes gilded their warm brown with tawny lights. ‘Let us hope so.’
William swallowed and looked at the mound of freshly turned soil covering the grave. A worm wriggled on the crumbly brown surface. This came to everyone. All the striving. All the hopes and fears and joys and sorrows, stoppered and silenced and turned to worms.
Aliza touched his arm. ‘We have each other. Come, Mama said we should live our lives to honour her and we must do it. That is the best gilding she could ever have.’
9
Windsor Castle, Spring 1247
Joanna lifted the ring of keys at her belt and approached the Queen’s jewel cupboard. She had been instructed to fetch Alienor’s favourite ruby brooch. Joanna had more keys to sort among these days for at almost seventeen years old she was a fully fledged damsel of the household, entrusted with many duties and responsibilities. She had girls herself these days to train, and was expected to go about her business without close supervision.
Joanna unlocked the jewel cupboard and picked up a coffer fashioned of marvellous blue and gold enamel panels depicting a summer scene of a lord and lady flying their hawks. Joanna stroked the little box because she loved it so much. Inside were numerous brooches fashioned mostly in gold, but also a few silver ones set with precious gems or engraved with inscriptions. The lozenge-shaped ruby brooch was one of many gifts from the King at the time of the Queen’s churching following the birth of their second son, Edmund, two years ago. Joanna carefully placed it on a small silk cushion, locked the coffer and returned to the Queen.
Alienor thanked her warmly and leaned forward so that Joanna could pin the ornament to her gown. ‘You know the exact place.’ She fondly patted Joanna’s cheek, and Joanna smiled, feeling proud and valued.
With a little time before the dinner horn sounded, she took the opportunity to read the letter that had arrived from Aliza with a messenger from the Limousin that morning. Aliza said that she and her half-brothers were making their final preparations to come to England, and would arrive before midsummer, joining the court at Woodstock. Joanna’s heart warmed at the thought of seeing her friend again and spending more time with her than the moments of a letter. As always, Aliza had included a gift with her note, this time some small enamelled robe decorations. Joanna touched the beautiful little embellishments and decided she would stitch them around the cuffs of her new blue court dress.
