A Lily on the Heath 4 (40 page)
“Oh, aye, all is very well,” she told him, holding back a giggle. He looked so very fierce. “So I do not believe you are in need of that….”
He paused and looked from her to the broadsword he held and back again. He frowned. “When you send to me with such urgency, what do you expect me to think?” He shoved the blade into its sheath and unbuckled the weapon from his waist, placing it on a trunk. “Well? You interrupted my training for what purpose?”
“A letter from Maris.”
He looked at her sharply. “And….?”
Judith could not hold back a smile. “She is very careful, of course, not to say anything outright—”
“She is coming to midwife for you?” he asked.
Judith rolled her eyes. “I am not even rounding in the belly yet, and you are worried. Aye, she will be here. But that is not what news she sent.”
“You might not be rounding in the belly, but I am seeing rounding elsewhere, mistress wife,” he said, his eyes settling on her breasts. When she huffed a little, he sighed and said, “Do you mean to tell me or shall I continue to guess?”
She smiled. “’Tis news from court. Eleanor gave birth to a boy, John—”
“Aye, we have already heard that news—”
“Indeed…but not this choice gossip. The queen meant to go into her confinement at Woodstock, but at the last moment traveled on to Beaumont Place. Word is she did not wish to be in the same residence as Mistress Rosamund Clifford.”
Mal grumbled impatiently, “Judith, if you do not come to the point very soon, I shall strap on my sword and go back to my men. Even Rike is making progress today, and I—”
“Rosamund Clifford is the king’s new leman. Maris claims he is quite besotted with her, and the queen is beyond livid. The gossips say his obsession with Rosamund is beyond anything they have witnessed, and that even Eleanor has naught to say about it. The woman is taking precedence even over his wife.”
During her speech, Malcolm’s expression eased into one of interest and satisfaction. “And so Lady Maris believes any ill will the queen might still harbor toward you—or me—is now turned upon Mistress Clifford? I do hope the woman does not have a husband,” he added ruefully.
“Nay, she does not. And aside from that, Eleanor is leaving for Aquitaine now that she has delivered herself of Prince John. Betwixt the unrest there, the tension between Canterbury and the king, not to mention the fair Rosamund, the queen has other matters on her mind. Both Maris and Dirick believe the viper has been confined to her nest and will not come out for a long while—if ever.”
“And so we can draw in a breath of relief ourselves, is that the news?” he said, now eyeing her speculatively. “I cannot imagine a more happy announcement.”
“Indeed. I am so relieved…I believe I could be reduced to tears,” Judith said, spinning away from him as she tossed a hot, meaningful look over her shoulder.
“Is that so? Well, never shall it be said I cannot bring my wife to weep if I desire it,” Mal said, lunging toward her.
She allowed him to catch her this time, fairly climbing into his arms to smack a joyful kiss on his lips. “You are safe, my love. And though I hurt for the queen—for no one should be subject to such pain and disrespect—I cannot be sad that her attention is directed elsewhere. The woman might have all the wealth and power in Christendom, but she is ill-used and—”
“Aye,” he said, but his tone was distracted and he already had his hands full of her bountiful breasts. “Now if you will cease speaking about the woman who tried to murder me, I shall see about directing
your
attention elsewhere.”
“But what about your training?” she teased. “The men will be waiting your return.”
“They can wait. I still have not forgiven Nevril for causing such upheaval with my wife,” he said.
And then she could no longer respond, for he covered her lips with his and they collapsed onto the massive, pillow-covered, becurtained bed he now called his own.
~*~*~
~*~
A Note from the Author
_____
Although Judith and Malcolm’s story is, of course, a work of fiction, there are several elements that are true to the history of King Henry II and his wife Eleanor.
I’ve always found Eleanor of Aquitaine—wife to two kings and mother to two more—to be a most fascinating historical figure. She is my hero, not only because of her attachment to so many powerful royals, but also because of her own legacy in a world ruled by men. She went on Crusade, leading her own army of women, managed her own vast lands in Aquitaine and Poitiers, bore ten children, and lived to nearly eighty—while acting as Regent for her son, Richard the Lionheart.
It’s a well-known fact that her husband Henry had many mistresses over the years, and although they might have begun their relationship as a love match—for they met long before she divorced from Louis, and clearly had an attraction to each other—their marriage obviously ended unhappily. Although the first obvious and lasting rift between them came when Henry fell in love with Rosamund Clifford, who became his final and most long-lasting mistress, it widened over the years after the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury.
But the schism between Eleanor and Henry was irreparably cast when she joined with their sons Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey in a rebellion against the king—an event which she foreshadows to Judith in
A Lily on the Heath
. Henry reacted to his wife’s perfidy by imprisoning her from 1174 (after the failed rebellion) until his death in 1189, when Richard took the throne.
Also foreshadowed herein is the strain between the Plantagenets and the clergy, which grew uglier during the late 1160s and reached its breaking point after the death of Thomas Becket in 1170. It is well known that the murder of the archbishop occurred because two of Henry’s men-at-arms heard him raving about the man, and when he said, “Will no one rid me of this curse?” the knights took his words to heart and assassinated Becket.
Malcolm considers the possibility of such an event when he considers whether the king might have been ranting about Malcolm himself, and thus caused the attack on himself and Judith after they left Clarendon.
Mal and Judith’s story ends in late 1167, when Eleanor cloisters herself at Beaumont Place to deliver the future King John (instead of at Woodstock, where her rival was in residence). By this time, Rosamund Clifford has publicly overtaken Henry’s affections—and by most accounts, it was a truly loving relationship—and one can assume that any reconciliation between the king and queen was unlikely.
Colleen Gleason, January 2013
Thank you for reading
A Lily on the Heath
. I hope you enjoyed Mal and Judith’s story. If you did, please help other readers find this book…
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Check out the other books in
The Medieval Herb Garden
series:
______
Lavender Vows
The story of Dirick’s brother Bernard of Derkland and the woman he loves, Lady Joanna Swerthmore. We also meet Maris of Langumont for the first time when her father tries to match-make her with Bernard.
______
A Whisper of Rosemary
The wilfull Maris of Langumont has no desire to marry…especially a simple knight named Dirick of Derkland.
______
Sanctuary of Roses
Madelyne de Belgrume has been hiding in an abbey for ten years to escape her brutal father…but when Lord Gavin Mal Verne recognizes her as the daughter of his nemesis, Madelyne’s sanctuary is destroyed.
~*~
Colleen Gleason
is the international best-selling author of the Gardella Vampire Chronicles, a historical urban fantasy series about a female vampire hunter who lives during the time of Jane Austen. Her first novel,
The Rest Falls Away
, was released to acclaim in 2007.