Queen Hereafter (16 page)

Her head spun with the names of servants, the needs of the household, the contents of storage rooms, niches, cupboards, and chests. All would be hers to supervise with one exception, De Lauder explained. The king’s treasure room, a small locked chamber tucked behind the king’s bedchamber—where she and her husband shared a bed—was accessed by a hidden stair. Only Malcolm had the keys to the great iron lock on the door and the locked chests within.

Throughout, she told herself that she must learn to be a perfect queen and wife. Somehow she must become the heart and soul of
all the king’s homes. What was expected of her was challenging enough, but to be a foreign queen new to her husband’s kingdom was more than daunting.

“The king will take you on progress to visit his other households, no doubt,” De Lauder said when she paused with him in the corridor outside the great hall. Moments earlier, Dame Agnes had left them with a tight and uncertain smile. The woman had long supervised Dunfermline, but Margaret sensed that Agnes did not have great faith in the new young queen, especially one raised outside of Scotland. Dismayed, Margaret knew that she would have to prove herself to many at Dunfermline, even those who should support her most closely. And what the king himself thought of her potential as queen, she could not guess.

Now she turned her attention to De Lauder; he was the king’s valued friend and advisor, and so she desperately needed his approval, even his friendship.

“My husband has not mentioned going on progress, or moving households. He may wish me to stay here in Dunfermline. The previous queen, I believe, did not go about much.”

“Queen Ingebjorg rarely visited Dunfermline,” he replied. “She preferred to live at Kincardine, and kept to herself.” He studied her for a moment. “She was a gentle lady and a lovely one, true. She was more captive than queen.”

“What do you mean?” Margaret asked. “Please, Robert, I must know the truth,” she added. “Few have mentioned more than her existence, though we heard rumors before we came to Scotland—awful accusations, and I do not want to believe—” She stopped.

“That Malcolm did away with her? Of course it is not so,” he replied impatiently. “She fell ill after the birth of their second son, and he moved her to a hospital in a religious house near the border at Melrose. Her northern kin had no access to her there—and so they say the king was unkind to her, and those rumors have traveled far. She lived almost two years in that place, and died peacefully. She never really acted as Scotland’s queen.”

“Saints bless her for her suffering,” Margaret murmured. “Thank you for your truthfulness. What of her two sons, the princes? They must be young.”

“Nine and five, I think. They are fostered elsewhere. The king visits them occasionally.”

“Will he bring them here, now that he … has married again?”

“That is for the king to decide.” He inclined his head curtly, indicating that he did not wish to discuss it further.

She nodded. “Sir, I appreciate your advice and help. I will do my best to understand my new responsibilities.”

He smiled. “My lady, I think you will bring to this court what King Malcolm needs most.”

“A wife?” she asked. “A family someday?”

“More. Scotland’s king should behave, and be perceived, in keeping with his rank,” he said. “Less the roaring warlord and more the worldly king. It is imperative if Scotland is to flourish in the wider world. But who will teach him what he needs to know? You, my lady. You will.”

“Sir Robert, you have been an excellent influence on the king yourself. And he had an excellent and princely education.” She did not want to agree outright that the king lacked manners, even if it was so.

“His education was not as good as one might think—more warring than studying, I gather. And in most matters, he does as he pleases without much regard to what is proper.” He shook his head. “Many wait to see what will become of Britain now, with William in the south and Malcolm in the north. The Scottish king must be seen by others as powerful, but also wise and sophisticated, if his country is to gain support from the countries that trade in Scottish harbors.”

“I see,” Margaret said. “England is already suffering lost trade and exchanges, and will suffer worse if Scotland’s king submits to tyranny.”

“
Exactement, ma reine
,” he said. “William must weigh carefully before coming up here.”

“But with the support of Rome and Mother Church,” she said thoughtfully, “Scotland can flourish spiritually and earn favor, too. Some practices would have to change for that to happen.”

“A great ambition for a new bride,” he said. “But perhaps necessary. Indeed, you may be the very helpmeet that King Malcolm needs. You are exemplary in many ways, my lady, and you will be a good influence on the king. Scotland, too.”

Margaret looked at him, surprised. “Thank you, sir—but I cannot meet such high expectations.”

“
Certainement
, you can and you must,
ma reine
,” he said quietly. “I believe it is your very nature to have a good effect on those around you. I think the king sees this, too. He seems the barbarian to some, but he knows just what Scotland needs.”

“I value your advice, Sir Robert.” Her thoughts whirled. “Thank you.”

“
Ma reine
.” He bowed his head and walked away.

Alone in the corridor, Margaret sighed with dismay. Truly, she did not know how to be a queen in a place like Scotland. She had been trained to run a royal household—but far more than that was needed here.

De Lauder was right. Malcolm Canmore was a sharp-witted king and a tough warrior, but he needed tutoring in proper manners—and even more, he needed to be perceived as a worthy and civilized king. That, along with a Roman-centered faith, would gain him much respect—and that support could even help save Scotland from the Norman threat.

To be sure, she thought, De Lauder had greater faith in her training and example than she did herself. But if she could influence rough-edged Malcolm Canmore for the better, let alone his rowdy court and his backward country, she would do well to try.

And she would have to begin somewhere. Pushing aside the curtain that draped the doorway, she entered the great hall. The floor rushes would have to go, for a start, she decided, and the floor planking scrubbed. Then all the tables should be scraped raw and scrubbed clean.

“And the table linens must be bleached until they are as white as snow,” she told Dame Agnes once she had given the new orders. The woman lifted her eyebrows in astonishment. “Send word into town, as well, to the merchants there. We will need several ells of linen, bleached and hemmed. At every meal, the tables are to be set with the very best. Dishes of pewter and gold, silver spoons, glass goblets, and serving dishes, too—”

“And where are we to get all
that
? Begging pardon, Lady,” Dame Agnes said hastily.

“From my dower chests,” Margaret replied. “We will purchase the rest from merchant ships.”

“And how will we pay for all of it?” the woman went on. “If I may ask.”

“I have some coin of my own, to do with as I will,” Margaret replied. “Dunfermline is a king’s hall, not a garrison, and from now on it must look like one. Have the pieces on the wall taken down as well,” she said, pointing upward.

“Lady, I do not know what the king will say to that. Those swords and shields belonged to his father and grandfather and others.”

“And I vow they still have dirt and blood on them. Let them be cleaned, then, and stored. The more handsome pieces, perhaps, could be hung on the wall near the doorway. In my dower boxes are some very fine embroidered tapestries that once hung in the courts of Hungary and England. They should be aired and pegged up on the walls. And those shabby door curtains should be replaced with good oaken doors.” She gestured as she spoke, feeling relief in taking some decisive action.

“My husband will find a carpenter for the task, and he will see to some of the rest as well. We will do whatever you wish, Lady.” Now Dame Agnes looked excited, her eyes bright, cheeks flushed. “I will have the walls whitewashed before the tapestries are hung. And the floors should be scrubbed with apple vinegar and lightly oiled before fresh rushes are laid down.”

“Good! Then we must consider the other rooms, beginning with the king’s bedchamber. And I shall need a solar, where my ladies and I can gather during the day.”

“There is much work to be done, I suppose,” Dame Agnes said. “But well worth it if Dunfermline is to be a suitable king’s residence, as you say. I have suggested changes before, but the king was never agreeable to it.”

“He will have to agree to it, if it is done before he returns,” she replied, and Agnes smiled suddenly. “I wonder,” Margaret mused, looking up, “if we might find an artist to decorate the walls and ceiling rafters.”

“Ah! I have heard that the finest palaces in England have such decorations,” Agnes said.

“So they do,” Margaret replied. “And we will have the same here in Scotland.”

E
va and her escort followed the king’s housecarls through the bailey of Dunfermline tower, aware of the curious gazes of warriors, servants, and nobles, Saxon and Scottish alike. As they climbed the steps to the royal tower, Eva turned toward Ruari beside her.

“Surely enough Highlanders come to Dunfermline that we are no novelty,” she said in Gaelic.

“Hah! Moray visitors to Malcolm’s tower are rare,” he replied wryly.

The men led them to a small anteroom fitted like a chapel, with a cloth-draped table that held a cross and golden vessels. Eva wondered if they would be expected to pray, for piety was the reputation of the queen’s household, but she soon realized the room had a double function, for a servant brought them ale in cups and merely asked them to
wait. After that, a knight came to see them, introducing himself as Robert De Lauder.

“The king has gone hunting for the day,” he said. “I will tell the queen of your arrival.”

“That one,” Ruari murmured when the man left, “is a Norman in the king’s court.” He was clearly not pleased.

Yet Eva sighed with relief, for she had dreaded meeting Malcolm Canmore, her host, captor and murderer of her kinsmen. She was weary besides, as were the others in her party. They had traveled for weeks, crossing the mountains that separated Moray from the provinces south of its boundaries, not because of distance—the journey could be made in a few days when need arose—but because they had stopped at the homes of a few thanes and chieftains, as well as the mormaers of Buchan and the Mearns. While Ruari discussed with the men matters to do with Moray and Scotland—
rebellion
was never said aloud, but it suffused the air at times—Eva had played and sang in return for hospitality. Finally her escort, including the king’s housecarls, rode to the sea to board a longship that carried them along the coast and into a wide firth, where they resumed on horseback and rode until they came to the fortress of Dunfermline.

She closed her eyes, wishing she could escape now with her escort following her all the way back to Moray. Instead, the servant came to bring them to the king’s great hall.

Walking into the larger room, Eva turned to see her companions pausing to surrender their weapons—dirks and good broadswords—into the keeping of two royal guards. Confiscation was custom in every household, especially the king’s own. Ruari lifted a brow, and after a moment, Eva took the dirk sheathed at her own belt and gave it up to the guard, who blinked in surprise.

She turned. The room was long and spacious, and nearly deserted. A servant or two moved about carrying benches from one side of the room to the other; two housecarls sat at a table, heads bent over a board game, and a group of women were clustered on cushioned
benches beneath a sunny window, absorbed in sewing and chatting. A wooden dais held two fine, carved chairs, but they were empty.

The queen was not there, Eva thought, as she stepped forward with Ruari when the servant beckoned. She looked about, curious to see the king’s house. Her home at Elgin fortress was finer than most—her grandmother had been a queen, after all—but Dunfermline tower, though of modest size, was very well appointed, freshly painted and polished, altogether a prosperous household. Elgin seemed plain by comparison.

Underfoot, thick rushes carpeted the planked floor, and the timbered ceiling overhead was painted with bright designs. Oak tables gleamed, carved chairs and benches were fitted with red and blue pillows, brass candlesticks sparkled, and the jugs and cups set out for wine were of silver and even gold. Embroidered panels draped the whitewashed walls, and a tall iron basket anchored in the middle of the floor glowed with peat bricks and licking flames. Maidservants were spreading white cloths over tables, and two leggy gray wolfhounds approached the visitors, though a servant hastened them toward the door. One of the hounds came to Eva, and she reached out to pat its head, thankful for the eager, panting welcome.