Read Joanna Online

Authors: Roberta Gellis

Tags: #Romance, #Historical

Joanna (43 page)

BOOK: Joanna
2.07Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“I am not so improvident a traveler,” Lady Alinor replied, smiling. She noted how the lady’s eyes scanned her face, Ian’s, and the room. “But thank the queen and   tell her I am most sensible of her kindness.”

The lady turned to go and Ian made an idle comment to his wife about the subject matter of the tapestry, which drew a laugh from her and a light riposte about the uncleanness of his mind. The door, she noted, without turning her head, did not quite close. The click of the latch, quite apparent when Stephen left, did not occur. Lady Alinor smiled at her husband and continued to talk, mentioning after a few minutes that their son had been a little less active than usual on the last lap of their journey.

“You mean he sat quiet for more than five breaths?” Ian asked sardonically. “Have you not offered up thanks for the small mercies granted by heaven?”

Lady Alinor laughed. Simon was a devil incarnate. She had thought Adam an active, mischievous child, but Simon outdid him by far. He was not so large or strong as Adam at the same age, but he was more lithe, climbed like an ape, and was at least as curious.

“Well, it was restful,” she agreed, “but I will offer no thanks if it is a sign of illness. I think I had better go and take a look at him.”

She rose without haste, for she did not wish to catch the queen’s lady or perhaps one of the king’s servants listening at the door. The antechamber was empty when she crossed it. Nonetheless, she went into the small wall chamber opposite and looked carefully at her youngest son. There was no anxiety in her glance. Simon had been a little quieter than usualfor a short timebecause she had threatened to lift his hide with his father’s belt if he did not cease from tormenting everyone. He was the image of Ian with his eyes closed, for he had his father’s silky black curls and sensuous, sensitive mouth. He had inherited his mother’s eyes, however, and the bright hazel, with its glints of green and gold, gave a markedly devilish aspect to the dark beauty he had taken from Ian.

Forgetting for a moment why she had come, Alinor cast her eyes up to heaven. Adam was already in trouble with women. Robert of Leicester had written of his progress and   jestingly included a description of the determined pursuit of Alinor’s son by every nubile female in his household from maidservants to his wife’s gently born wards. “And he does not run away very fast either,” Leicester complained. “In fact, I am quite sure he has been caught several times.” Adam, Alinor thought, although a well set up young man, was not a patch on what Simon would be at his age. She could only thank God it would be his wife’s problem rather than hers and make a mental note to herself that they would need to look for a particularly gentle and complaisant girl. Even if Simon should happen to be of a faithful temperamentand Alinor doubted he would be because of his avid passion for new experienceshis wife would be sorely tried.

That was in the far future. Simon was, after all, only three years old. There were more immediate problems. After another affectionate glance at her son, Alinor recrossed the antechamber and closed the door to her bedchamber behind her firmly, but as softly as possible. She came directly to the bed after that, shed her bedgown, and got in beside her husband. Alinor hoped that they had disarmed whatever suspicion was felt about them. It was surprising to her that the queen rather than the king had set a spy, but unless someone was hidden under the bed, no one could now hear what was said. They looked at each other, both mouths opening at once. Alinor smiled.

“Tell me,” she urged, “it is the king who calls the tune.”

“Yes, but I wish I knew what tune it was. I have known him long, almost thirty years now, and I do not know this mood. Salisbury says John did not realize how much displeasure his behavior was causingthat what he did was meaningless to him and he did not believe, no matter how often he was told, that it had meaning to others. The news of the conspiracy shocked him into a recognition that he must change his ways.”

“Salisbury would say that.”

There was a short pause and then Ian said, “This time he may be right.”   ‘‘Are you asking me to believe that John’s character is altered?”

“No, but John is not stupid and never was. From the time he took the throne from Richard, one threat after another haunted him, and the loss of Normandy shook his power so that, had Arthur still lived, John believesand I do toothat he would no longer hold the throne. Then things began to mend. Scotland bowed to him, then Ireland, and then Wales. He had even, or so he believes, defied the Church successfully. With each increase of power, his arrogance also grew. None defied him, some because of fear; others, like Pembroke, because, although the king was morally wrong to suspect and punish an innocent man, he was nonetheless within his right in what he demanded.”

“I know all this,” Alinor suggested tartly.

“But you have not added the events together. With the gathering of the army to invade Normandy, John seemed to reach a new peak in power. He was poised on the point of eating first Normandy and then France also. At this, so near the summit of his desires, he has been struck downnot completely, not deposed or killed or defeated utterly, but firmly smitten as by the chiding hand of the greatest Father of all.”

“Do
you
believe this is God’s work?” Alinor asked in a tentative, slightly awed voice.

“I do not set myself up as one who knows the unknowable,” Ian said slowly. “From what Salisbury has been able to determine, the rebellion was well knit, well planned, and kept remarkably secret for so wide-spread a conspiracy. He is not a religious man, not out of the ordinary, yet he credits the revelation of the conspiracy as miraculous.”

“Geoffrey thinks John knew beforeor rather that the way and time of arrival of the messengers was the king’s doing,” Alinor protested.

Ian smiled. “Geoffrey has keen eyes and keen ears for one so young and may well be right. I said John was not stupid. What could better convince his barons of his change of heart than to make them believe that God has warned him of the evil of his ways and he has accepted that angry warning with a whole heart?”

Alinor sighed with relief. “That sounds more reasonable to me. It is like John to wriggle his way out of a mess of his making by claiming that God helps him.”

“I am not sure God did not,” Ian said soberly. He shrugged at his wife’s startled expression. “My love, I have told you over and over what our state should be if John would be deposed or be killed. I do not love the king. I doubt that even the infinite love and compassion of Jesus and Mary would be sufficient to embrace John as he is. However, I do believe that the people of this land are beloved of God, the Son, and the Mother. Would the Holy Ohes abandon us all to chaos, to unending war and blood and death, only because they disapproved the actions of one man? I know the priests tell us it is not for us to question or understand the ways of God, why, for instance, pure babes die and evil men live and flourishbut this matter is so very”

“Yet the people have been sore punished by the interdict for the king’s fault,” Alinor interrupted rebelliously.

Ian touched her hair gently. “No man or woman is sinless,” he said softly. “God knows we all deserve a whipping, and the interdict is a light lashbut that is no matter. I do not ask you to believe in a miracle if you do not wish. What is important is that I think
John
believes it. Setting aside the time of arrival of the messengers, which John may well have arranged, he is convinced that God intervened to protect him.”

“He would be.” Alinor snorted lightly with contempt. “And doubtless next he will convince himself that God’s help was owing to the modesty and perfection of his past behavior.

Ian grinned at her, but shook his head. “There you are wrong. I think John has learned a sharp lesson. Unfortunately, I do not know whether it is the right lessontime alone will tell thatbut there are already some excellent results. John has sent a message inviting Stephen Langton and all the exiled bishops to return. He will restore their property and promises restitution of what was confiscated as soon as he can find the means.”

“What?” Alinor exclaimed, with widening eyes and rising color. “You call that an excellent result? You know the king will bleed us to make peace with the Church.”

“Not so,” Ian said firmly. “Langton and the pope’s emissary Pandulf are not such great fools as to expect John to squeeze his barons when they are already threatening revolt.”

“I do not know what Langton and Pandulf are,” Alinor snapped, “but
you
are a fool if you believe the Church will take less than its dueeven if we all starve. God may love us. I will believe you if you say it, but the Church loves its gold.”

“The Church is governed by men, some wise and some foolish. I tell you that Langton and Pandulf are wise men. I do not deny they will, in the end, see that everything taken from the Church is restored. I believe, however, that they will do it in such a way that the country is not overturned.”

Alinor did not look much better pleased. “Fast or slow, she muttered, “the blood will be drawn from us. The king took it and the king spent it, but
we
will repay it.”

“Be reasonable, Alinor,” Ian responded sharply, “in an ordinary way we would have paid double what the wars in Ireland and Wales cost. You know the purpose to which John put what he extracted from the Church. He is many things, but no spendthrift.”

Alinor tossed her head irritably. She hated to concede anything at all in the king’s favor, but she could not argue against what Ian said and so held her tongue. Ian smiled at her affectionately.

“What you will be glad to hear,” he continued, “is that what will eventually be squeezed from us to pay the Church will not be without any return. John has agreedno, I say that as if he was unwilling, and I do not think he is. John has urged, even eagerly, that the bishops, headed by the archbishop of Canterbury, mediate between him and the rebels, discover what has caused so great a discontent in them, and suggest a peace agreement.”

“I do not believe it,” Alinor said flatly. After as minute an examination of her husband’s face as she could make in the dim light of the night candle, she sighed. “I see that you believe it. Ian, Ian, your soft heart will be our destruction. Such a yielding is against the king’s whole nature. I do not mean that I disbelieve he urged this mediation. He can say anything”

“It is more than saying, Alinor. John has already sent out letters proposing this.” Then Ian shrugged. “I am not so soft-headed as you think. What the end of this will be I cannot guess. I do not believe the king has changed his nature, but he has certainly changed his methods, and that is a good thing in itself. It means that for this timethe autumn and winter anywaythere will be no war, at least not among the barons of England.”

Stubbornly, Alinor shook her head. “He lies.”

“Perhaps about his purpose, not about what he will do at this time,” Ian insisted. “His long purpose may still be to reduce all of us in the realm to a condition in which we can do nothing but obey. I believe, however, that he now knows his end cannot be achieved by his single power and the fear this induces. He needs allies, strong allies, and he believes God Himself has pointed out the ally he must choose.”

Now Alinor nodded vigorously in agreement. “Of course. Now I see. Submissionfor which
we
will paywill bring a multitude of goods. Rebellion will again become an offense against the Church as well as against the king. Philip of France will no longer have an excuse to launch a ‘holy war,’ which he has been threatening to do for” Her voice checked. “I wonder if that could be the reason,” she murmured.

“The reason for what?”

“For a most curious proposalwell, more than a proposal. It was near a command. Isabella insists that Joanna and Geoffrey be married at court and proposes to supply the wedding feast and all other matters for the celebration.”   Ian did not look surprised, which rather confirmed Alinor’s notion that the queen was motivated by more than a sudden and abnormal spurt of generosity, although Alinor knew Isabella liked her.

“The king mentioned the wedding also,” Ian said. “He repeated what Salisbury had writtenand what Geoffrey confirmed, scarcely waiting to greet methat Geoffrey was most eager to marry as quickly as possible.” Ian looked consideringly at Alinor. “He also suggested that the wedding be at court, but there was no command about it. His manner was so fair that I scarcely knew the man. He said frankly and openly that politically the marriage would do him much good, that it would serve the double purpose of reaffirming my bond to him and displaying his reconciliation with the Church. Still, he said he would not press me to it, that he knew it would give little pleasure to us and to the children to be put upon show at such a time. He hoped’’

“Geoffrey, Salisbury, Isabella, the king” Alinor interrupted, “but I have not heard one word from Joanna. In fact, I have not had a letter from her in longer than usual.”

“That is not unreasonable,” Ian soothed. “Geoffrey said he wrote that we were being summoned home. There would be little sense in sending messengers to follow us when she expected we would soon be at Roselynde.”

“But we are not at Roselynde,” Alinor pointed out with a worried frown. “We were near as nothing waylaid as we came off ship and summoned here with the greatest urgencyfor what? What has happened to Joanna that everyone except she is clamoring for an immediate wedding? Ian”

The muscles of her husband’s body tensed, as if he would leap out of bed, but then he relaxed. “Alinor, for God’s sake, think whom you are including together! Could Geoffrey and Isabella possibly have the same reason for desiring an immediate marriage? You spoke to Geoffrey as well as I. Can you believe Geoffrey would be party to anything that would hurt Joanna?”

For a few minutes, Alinor continued to look worried, and   then began to sputter. “I can think of something which, from the same cause but for different reasons, would make both urge a hasty marriage.

“What cause?”

“If Joanna is with child and Isabella came to know of it, she would enjoy the shame that came upon Geoffrey when Joanna proved no maid.”

BOOK: Joanna
2.07Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

We Come to Our Senses by Odie Lindsey
Fade by Viola Grace
Superpowers by Alex Cliff
Creepy and Maud by Dianne Touchell
Evil to the Max by Jasmine Haynes
Total Abandon by Alice Gaines
The Telling by Alexandra Sirowy
Daughter of Lir by Judith Tarr
The Dead Pull Hitter by Alison Gordon
The School for Brides by Cheryl Ann Smith