Here Be Dragons - 1 by Sharon Penman (best inspirational books txt) 📕

you lost your wits? Jesus God, my husband would kill you if he knew!""Are you going to tell him?"To her fury, he did not sound particularly impressed. But as much as she wanted to tell him yes, she was going to Llewelyn, common sense prevailed."No," she said, as coldly as she could. "No, I'd not do that to Elen, would not stain her wedding day with blood."Her words sounded hollow to her, even a little pompous. Will apparently thought so, too, for he laughed. He was above her now; the way below was clear, and she turned away, started down the stairs. He stopped laughing, for the first time called her by her name. She ignored him, lifted her skirts and plunged around the final bend in the stairwell, into the light. He caught up with her at the bottom of the stairs, reached for her arm, saying, "Joanna, wait."She jerked away. "Do not touch me," she spat. "Not ever again, do you understand?"Some of the guests had overflowed from the hall, several couples seeking privacy in the empty chapel. They turned toward the stairwell at sound of voices, and Will faded back into the shadows. Joanna stood there alone for a moment, leaning against the wall. And then she scrubbed the back of her hand vigorously across her mouth, stepped out into the torchlit chapel. Will watched from the stairwell as she reentered the hall.THE bedding revels were not as raucous as they might have been, due in large measure to Llewelyn's presence in the bedchamber. Even the most obstreperous of wedding guests tended to be somewhat circumspect, to curb their cruder jests in the hearing of the bride's father. But Joanna still found the experience exceedingly painful. The sight of her daughter naked in bed with an unwanted stranger tore at her heart. She no longer Cared at that moment about the cogent, convincing arguments that °uld be made in favor of this marriage, not when she looked at Elen's ace. Elen had lost her air of defiance; she clutched the sheet against her reasts, looking unbearably young to Joanna, utterly vulnerable. When

550she leaned over the bed to kiss her daughter, Elen clung to her, for the first time since agreeing to the marriage."It will be all right, darling," Joanna whispered, but there was nothing more she could do. She and Llewelyn had made this bed, and now it was for Elen to lie in it.The wedding party trooped back toward the great hall under a cloudless, star-studded sky. Traces of the first snowfall still lay unmelted upon the bailey ground, and some of the younger men began to pelt one another with snowballs, to chase the women, who fled into the hall, shrieking with laughter. Joanna was enveloped in a fur-lined mantle of Lincoln wool, but she could not stop shivering, not even after reaching the huge center hearth. She was soon joined by others, found herself in the midst of a boisterous, bawdy argument as to who felt the greater lust, men or women.Joanna was in no mood for ribald jests, for jokes about bitches in heat and rutting stags, and she turned away, pushed toward the edge of the crowd, only to stop abruptly at sight of Will. She spun about, but not in time; she knew he'd seen her blush. She brought her hand up to her cheek, felt the heat burning her face and throat. She could still taste Will's kiss. It was a disconcertingly intense memory, even though she was sure she knew whyshe had never been kissed before by any man but Llewelyn. Damn you, Gwilym Ddu, she thought, fighting the urge to cry the words aloud. Damn your arrogance and your audacity and your mocking grey eyes, damn you, damn you!"There you are, Joanna." Llewelyn was smiling at her. "What are you doing so far from the hearth?" Catching her hand, he shoved his way through the crowd, into the coveted inner circle. There was some grumbling, which stilled as men recognized him, grudgingly gave way. Joanna followed reluctantly in his wake.She'd seen very little of him all night. Where had he been when she truly needed him? If he'd been more attentive, Will would not have dared to follow her into the stairwell. Llewelyn knew how she felt about the de Braoses. Why in God's name could he not have found other husbands for his daughters? Why could he not have put her needs first, just once?The sexual argument was still going strong. Hubert de Burgh had claimed center stage, was insisting that it was not open to dispute/ women were more lustful because they were imperfect. As the imperrec always yearned for union with the perfect, it only stood to reason tna woman's desire was greater. Undaunted when the women in the au ence hissed good-naturedly, he said complacently, "You cannot de y what is set down in Scriptures. 'All wickedness is but little to the wi edness of a woman,' Ecclesiasticus. The noted theologian Tertullia11P

551,t even plainer Woman, he said, is the gate of the Devil, the first deserter of Divine Law, responsible for the loss of Eden "Joanna had never liked de Burgh But never had he seemed so odious to her as he did now In truth, he looked like a sleek, well-fed cat, insufferably well-pleased with himself The braggart And who in the vorld was Tertulhan7"But the final word ought to go to the great Aristotle He proved conclusively through his writings that the female state is one of deformity, albeit a common one When the man's seed is perfect, it produces a male child, when flawed or imperfect, a female You might even say," he quipped, "that the female is merely a misbegotten male1"Joanna had not meant to speak out But with that, the same imp that had once beguiled her into defying Maude de Braose again took possession of her tongue"I do hope, my lord, that you will at least grant us