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

hand, knelt with him by the bed as Morgan' .. ° ^ the cross, rapidly intoning a brief prayer to God Eter-ma e , . , c blessings upon His servants, Llewelyn and Joanna, that nal, seeking Hi# 5 , ..,. . , , ., . ., .,, ' ht I 'n 8°°" accora m s divine love, and that their off-i_iVe-tease till the end of the ages. He then sprinkled holy spring might jj/*>.*,. r°, .je a discreet departure, water about, mr. , . , , , . ,,.,->*... as. started to help Joanna to her feet. Breik? Are youLlewelyn t(> r, ,a shaken laugh. "Hold me," she entreated. "Just holdJoanna gav . ,,. , . u -v /n i i ,«mme could not have been better. You 11 never know me close. Your v e u i- turfans to me, never . . .how much thjs r , , ... . ., ..T., jjed off her veil, began to loosen her hair. It was not aLlewelyn pf °,. . . ,^ j was jf?"good night for v , ,, . , /

554"Joanna?" Llewelyn propped himself up on his elbow "r not sleep?" ' an you"I was thinking of you, of our belated nuptial blessing i A know you as well as I thought I did, never suspected you had a rn°' streak." mantl<:"Just make sure no one else suspects," he warned. "There ar secrets to be shared only betwixt man and wife, and only in the d ^ only in bed."Joanna laughed softly. "Ah, Llewelyn, you do know how much love you?""I might have an inkling or two." Her hair was caught under h arm and he shifted so she could pull free. "But you were not thinking f me, breila. You were worrying about Elen.""Yes ... I was. How did you know?""Because," he admitted, "so was I."LUDLOW CASTLE, ENGLANDJuly 1223T1 HE Earl of Pembroke had been attending to his Irish estates since November of 1222. Early in the new year, Llewelyn took advantage of Pembroke's absence and struck at the Earl's alliesiin Shropshire, capturing castles from FulkFitz Warin and Baldwin de Hodnet. Hubert de Burgh persuaded the young King to mount a punitr>« expedition into Wales, and by March 7 they were assembling an army ^ Shrewsbury. But the Earl of Chester now interceded upon Llewe yn^behalf, persuaded Henry that Llewelyn's dispute with Pembroke co be settled by peaceful means. . ^^The Earl of Pembroke thought otherwise. Arriving back'nrdlgan Wales in mid-April, he laid successful siege to the castles of a' , and Carmarthen, which Llewelyn had held since the winter cal^ffyd

555rrny south After taking and burning the Norman town of Kid-1Gruffydd and his men clashed with Pembroke at Carmarthen , vVhat followed was a bloody day-long battle in which many men "I"/but neither side could gam the advantageAt this point Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, mter-. Henry was now in his sixteenth year, and although not of a^e I nature, he had his share of Angevin ambition But his dreams of uest centered upon the recovery of Normandy, not all-out war withCister's husband, and he was quite willing to heed Langton, to act as cemaker While Llewelyn was skeptical, he yielded to Henry's re-est agreed to attend a July council at the border castle of Ludlow.IN an upper chamber of the castle keep, Llewelyn was meeting with Henry, Stephen Langton, and Hubert de Burgh, while Joanna awaited tos return in the great hall Although Henry had welcomed them with genuine warmth, Joanna was not comfortable at Ludlow This was unfnendly territory, the great hall filled with hostile Marcher lords, men with extensive Welsh holdings, with very strong reasons for wishing Llewelyn illBut Joanna was not alone for long Within moments her young sonin-law approached, holding out a wine cup She smiled, touched that he should feel the need to look after her in Llewelyn's absence "Thank you, John Did I telloh, no1"John swung about, but could see no cause for alarm "What is amiss7""Across the hall Ralph de Mortimer and Thomas Corbet just walked up toGruffydd " Seeing that he did not comprehend, Joanna added impatiently, "Iknow Thomas Corbet He's up to no good, means to bait Gruffydd into a fight And believe me, it'll not take much!""You need not fret, I'll see to it," John assured her, but then he smiled "It seems the Bishop of Winchester has the same idea," he said, and they watched as Peter des Roches adroitly herded the malcontent 'archer lords safely away from Llewelyn's son lhank Heaven for Peter's sharp eye," Joanna sighed "My father ^ en )°ked thatPeter might not be as innocent as the dove, but he was h* y as guileful as the serpent1 John, tell me I could not help but notice ha7 C°rdlal Peter suddenly1S toward your Uncle Chester The Welsh ,f p Pr°verb The enemy of my enemy is my friend I was wondering e « might not be taking that to heart "re]Uct 6re Was surprise in the look that John gave Joanna, a startled and jf a wa reaPpraisal It had baffled him that Llewelyn would make use°man for delicate diplomatic maneuvenngs, that Joanna so often

556acted as his envoy to the English court. But her questions sh'Owed shrewd perception of political undercurrents, and suddenly T a presence here at Ludlow did not seem so inexplicable after all u9 S much, he wondered, did she cull from careless male speech? How °Wmany men would think to guard their tongues, to be wary of a} comelv woman?"Peter des Roches is not the only one with a sharp eye," h ceded. "You are quite right. Des Roches is a man quick to tend t h°