Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

"Were you really William?" she asked slowly. "Or did you just choose him?"

Was there a hint of a smile behind his eyes? Sam was feeling in his pocket. He produced a cassette and, moving across to the stereo, he inserted it into the player. The soft strains of the flute cut across the muted wail of a police siren on the screen in the corner.

"We do not choose our destinies, Joanna. They are given to us, " he said. He folded his arms. "It's time to take you back. You shake your head. Poor Jo. You are already halfway there. You hear the music? You cannot resist the music, Jo. It takes you into the past. It takes you back to John. It takes you back to the king who has ordered you to be shackled like a common criminal and brought before him on your knees.... "

Chapter 38

John was sitting by the fire in one of the side chambers above the hall when the prisoners, still ragged and damp from the sea and the rain, were brought before him.

He turned in his chair without comment as the three women and Will, reunited at last, stood before him and their guards fell back. Matilda raised her head and looked the king full in the eye for a moment, then proudly, without lowering her head, she knelt before him. The others followed suit, and she could hear, with a sudden snap of irritation, that Mattie had begun to sniff again. No one spoke.

The king held his hands out to the fire and began to rub them slowly together, not taking his eyes from Matilda's face. "So, " he said at last. "We meet again. "

She was the first, eventually, to look away, dropping her gaze to the border of his mantle, which brushed gently in the rushes around his chair. He stood up so abruptly she had to force herself to remain still and not flinch backward as he came to stand above her. He was so close she could smell the oil of lavender in his hair. The room was silent save for the rattle of rain against the window screens and the occasional hiss as drops fell into the glowing embers on the hearth.

She thought for a moment he was going to touch her, but he moved away again, walking over to the table that had been drawn up against the far wall of the room. It was laden with parchments and books and held the king's pens and ink. He picked up a letter and unfolded it slowly as he turned back to the prisoners who remained kneeling by the fire. His face was hard.

"Prince Llewelyn has, it appears, thought fit to join your husband, my lady, in making trouble for me in Wales. " His voice was icy. "That is unfortunate. " He strode back to the fire, the letter still in his hand. "Unfortunate for you, that is, if your husband persists in his rebellion when he knows that I hold hostages. "

Matilda clenched her fists together nervously, very conscious of the iron fetters that encircled her wrists. She swallowed. "Will you give me the chance to raise the money to pay my husband's debts, sire?" Her voice came out huskily and too quiet. She wasn't sure if he had even heard her. Mattie and Will, side by side, were completely silent.

"Your Grace, " she tried again, a little louder. "Before we fled from Hay I was able to put by a little money and some jewelry. I am sure with the help of our friends and my other sons we could raise some of the money we owe. If Your Grace would accept that as a start and—"

Her voice trailed away as he turned from the fire at last and looked down at her.

"It is no longer only a matter of money, Lady Matilda. "

"I will persuade William to give himself up to you. And on his behalf I can surrender all the de Braose lands.... " She could not keep the note of pleading from her voice and, though she despised herself for it, the anguish in her tone was real.

"Your lands, my lady, are no longer yours to surrender, " he said sharply. He looked from Margaret to Will and Mat-tie behind her suddenly. "It appears that Ireland has become a nest of traitors. The lands of the Lacys are all confiscated too, your husband's, Lady Margaret, and those of his brother. It is as well for them, perhaps, that they seem to have escaped, for if either of them show themselves again, their lives might well be forfeit. " He spoke quietly. Margaret shrank behind her mother as the king's cold eyes fixed on her for a moment. Then he threw the letter down on his chair, talking half to himself, half to them. "I shall subdue Ireland. Every man here shall acknowledge me as king or I shall know the reason why. And when I return to Wales, make no mistake, I shall reduce that country—and its princes too—to ashes if I must.... Guards!" He raised his voice for the first time. Their escort sprang forward and the king eyed them critically. "Take the prisoners away, " he ordered.

Matilda began to rise to her feet, awkward and stiff after kneeling for so long. To her surprise he stepped forward and held out his hand to help her. But his face was grim. "I shall consider your offer of money, Lady Matilda, but I feel that nothing short of the full amount of forty thousand will do now. And that may not be enough. Meanwhile you and your family will remain my prisoners. We leave Carrickfergus tomorrow, and you will travel with us back to Dublin. "

The king sent for Matilda only after they had been encamped for several days at Dublin. She was