The Lion of Justice (12 page)

‘I will wait.'

‘You must refuse the Earl of Surrey.'

‘As soon as I saw you I made up my mind to.'

‘And, before, you had decided to take him?'

‘No. Much as I hate a nun's life I knew there was something lacking. As soon as I saw you I knew what.'

‘You delight me. We shall be happy together. But we shall have to be careful.'

‘What must I do?'

‘First refuse William Warren.'

‘If I do, my aunt will try to force me to take the veil.'

‘My poor little captive Princess! You must refuse to take the veil.' His hands caressed her body under the rough serge. ‘To think they could condemn you to such a life. You were meant to be loved and love in return. You will be a ready pupil. Oh, I have such delights in store for you, my dearest love.'

She felt she would swoon with delight already. Just to hear him address her in such a manner was enough.

‘I must refuse Surrey and the veil. It will not be easy.'

‘Nothing that is worth while is ever easy. Hold off the Abbess. Tell her you are undecided. Tell her you need time to think.'

‘I have been saying that for years.'

‘Then you must perforce continue to do so.'

‘And in time . . .'

He brought his face close to hers so that his warm breath was on her cheek.

‘I shall be King of this realm 'ere long and then none shall gainsay me. I shall say the Princess Edith is to be my Queen and I'll put to hideous death any who attempts to say me nay.'

‘No one would ever dare.'

‘They never would. So, my love, you will tell them that you cannot take Surrey and feel it is possible that you will choose the religious life. And you will wait . . . but not long. Then I shall come and claim you.'

‘I will do it,' she cried. ‘I will keep myself free for you.'

‘And the waiting must not be long or I shall disguise myself as a wicked baron and take the Abbey; I shall carry off my Princess and begin to teach her how exciting love can be.'

Then he drew her to him and kissed her once more. He wound her plaits about her wrists and pulled them so that he hurt in a manner which excited her. He thrust a hand inside her rough shirt and caressed her body.

‘Oh, to divest you of these abominable garments,' he cried.

‘It shall come to pass. I have vowed it.'

He left her bewildered.

She could not speak to Mary or anyone.

Of only one thing was she certain. She would not marry the Earl of Surrey. She would not take the veil. She would wait for Prince Henry to become the King of England and claim her.

WHEN HENRY RODE
back from Wilton to Winchester he was feeling more than ever dissatisfied with his fate.

The Princess Edith was not uncomely; her innocence was amusing and she could give him some diversion which he could not find with his many mistresses. Moreover it was time he was married. He was thirty years of age and he wanted sons.

Edith had interested him; he had seen more beautiful women. Nesta, who was his favourite and the Princess of Wales, was one of the most fascinating women of the day; she had a sensuality to match his own and never failed to excite him. She had already borne him a child, and not only with her had he proved himself able to beget strong and healthy boys and girls. It was said that he had more bastards than any man in England.

He had four passions in his life: women, the hunt, a love of learning – and more than any of these he longed for the crown.

Having seen the Princess and realized that he must achieve his destiny soon, he was more restless than usual.

What bad fortune to be born a third son. And he might have been a fourth son, if Richard had not died in the forest when hunting. What hopes would he have had then? He must needs rejoice in Richard's death although he had been, as many had said, the best of the bunch. If only Rufus could have a similar accident in the hunting field!

Then he, Henry, would seize the crown without delay. Robert would no doubt claim it, but Robert had no hope. The English would not accept a Norman. He, Henry, had been born in England; he had been educated by Lanfranc at Canterbury; he was the natural heir. Moreover, Robert was a fool. All his life Robert had been a fool. First he had tried to pit his strength against that of the Conqueror. What hope had he had of succeeding there? Normandy had missed the strict rule of William I. And now, foolish Robert had put it in pawn to Rufus while he went on a Crusade. Men liked Robert; he was affable, generous – far too generous, for he
squandered his fortune on those who flattered him – he was extravagant in the extreme; Robert as a man might be charming, but as a ruler he was no good.

He had inherited none of his father's attributes except his quick temper. Henry smiled to remember how he and Rufus when they were boys had thrown dirty water down from a balcony on to Robert and his friends, and how Robert had been so incensed that he was ready to kill them and might well have done so if their father had not intervened. If he had harmed them he would never have forgiven himself. That was Robert's nature. He acted without thinking and then had to suffer remorse. He was unlike either of his brothers – most of all Henry.

Henry was too clever not to know himself, and that he was the most fitted to rule of all his brothers. His father had sensed that, for on his deathbed he had shown a certain satisfaction in the belief that in the end both England and Normandy would come to Henry. He knew that Henry, cool and calculating, with a scholar's understanding and a lawyer's astuteness, would hold together the family's possessions with greater skill than either of his elder brothers.

But the waiting was long. Rufus was in good health. It was true that when he was enraged his face grew scarlet and the veins knotted at his temples, and Henry had seen men drop dead when thus affected. But hot temper was no sure sign that death was imminent. Rufus merely had their father's temper, and his avariciousness, his skill – or some of it – in battle, his courage and determination to hold on to what he had. But he lacked the Conqueror's love of detail, his meticulous attention to the seemingly small matters which were in fact the foundations on which his rule was built; he lacked the passion for good rule and for justice.

All his sons, except perhaps one, thought Henry, lacked the essential qualities which had built William the Conqueror's domain and made him the greatest man of the age.

And now was the time for Henry to take over – now while Robert was in the Holy Land and Normandy was in pawn; now while the English were dissatisfied with Rufus; now while Anselm had been dismissed and was fulminating about the manner in which the King of England lived; while the
names Sodom and Gomorrah were mentioned and the court of the English King was likened to those cities.

Yes, now was the time for Henry to take over the realm, but between him and the throne stood Rufus.

He thought a little of the virginal Princess to whom he had talked of marriage. She was in love with him already. She would be submissive. He liked a little spirit in his women: on the other hand variety was always enticing, and marriage would be a new adventure.

He would ride now over the border to Wales and visit Nesta; he had need of her company; he would like to see their son too. He would talk to her of the country's growing dissatisfaction with Rufus. They might be able to plan together. But Nesta was a wise woman; she would know that if he married it might be necessary to terminate their relationship. Although he could continue with his casual sexual encounters he could scarcely live as openly as he had been doing with Nesta. As yet, though, he need not consider that but could give himself up to the satisfaction of Nesta's bed and counsel.

There was always a welcome for Henry at the castle of Rhys ap Tewdur. Rhys, who was King of Deheubarth, was glad to be on such good terms with the brother of the English King. He felt this gave him an added protection, for his little realm was in constant danger of attack.

Henry was the lover of his daughter, the voluptuous Nesta, and Henry was going to be King of England in due course. Rufus, by his very nature would, as certainly as Edward the Confessor, beget no children. So in due course it seemed likely that Henry would be King.

Henry rode into the courtyard, where he was received with deference by the grooms, and very soon the news of his arrival was spread throughout the castle. Rhys came down to welcome him, and it was not long before Nesta arrived.

He stared at her with pleasure. She was a goodly sight. No matter what she wore she was beautiful in an entirely sexual manner. There was about Nesta an eternal air of promise. No matter how intimate a man became with her – and he could be very intimate indeed – there was always about Nesta a suggestion of as yet unexplored experiences, of sensations
not yet probed. Moreover, each lover was made to feel that there had never been and never could be any like him. This was the secret of her great fascination. No man could look on Nesta and not feel flattered by her.

Rhys said, ‘This is a happy day.' And Henry had seized Nesta in a hungry embrace which indicated that he wished an early retirement to the bedchamber.

Nesta smiled in her lazy manner, implying that she was not averse to such a suggestion, and under the admiring gaze of Rhys and Gwladys her mother, who was a pale shadow of her daughter, they retired at once to Nesta's chamber.

Temporarily satisfied, Henry lay on the bed and watched Nesta indolently lolling beside him, her magnificent hair seductively arranged to half-conceal her body.

She smiled at him, taking in his attractions, and if the greatest of these was perhaps the crown which could one day adorn his luxuriant black locks he was comely enough; a good and practised lover, she had long decided, and one of her best.

‘What brings you to Deheubarth?' she asked him idly.

‘What a question. Have I not told you with considerable eloquence?'

‘There are women in England.'

‘But Nesta is in Wales.'

She was satisfied with the reply for she knew that although he took women wherever he fancied them, and he fancied frequently, he could never have had such a mistress as she was.

‘I notice, though,' she said, ‘that you are thoughtful. You brood. What schemes are in your head?'

‘The usual thoughts are there,' he said. ‘My brother lives too long.'

‘He has strange habits.'

‘Ranulf Flambard is still his shadow. He dotes on the fellow. The people hate Flambard as much as they hate Rufus.'

‘You think that they would like Henry and his favourite Nesta better?'

‘You are a thousand times more beautiful than Flambard, and the people understand a mistress. They like not Rufus's way of life.'

‘They fear him, though.'

‘As subjects should fear their kings. My father taught them and us that.'

‘And so my Henry grows impatient, but impatience alone will not solve his problems.'

Henry spread his hands helplessly. ‘What can I do but wait?'

She laughed at him. ‘Waiting was never a trick of yours.'

‘In love, nay.'

‘They say waiting too long quenches desire.'

‘I have waited long for the crown, and my desire for it grows each day.'

‘And if it came to you what of me?'

‘You would come to Winchester or Westminster to be with me constantly.'

‘They would expect you to marry.'

He looked at her covertly. ‘Rufus has not.'

‘Nay, and look at him! His brother is ready to murder him for the crown. His son if he had one might have waited in a decorous manner.'

‘My ancestors favoured their children by their mistresses. My father himself was a bastard.'

‘But you and your brother were born in respectable wedlock, and I doubt not the Conqueror's example will be followed in this matter as in everything else.'

‘If I were King I should follow my father's rules only where it seemed wise to do so.'

‘What of our little Robert?'

‘How is the boy?'

‘Eager for a glimpse of his father.'

‘Then I must needs make much of him.'

‘There is time after you have made much of his mother.'

‘Why, Nesta,' he said, ‘you grow more desirable every time I see you.'

‘My fascination is not the only thing that grows.' She patted her body. ‘Soon your seed will be grown so big it will be apparent to all who behold me.'

‘Mine!'

‘Whose else? I reckon I am four months with child. Which means it happened during your last visit. That is a long time to stay away from me, Henry.'

‘It is far too long.'

‘Doubtless you have had other excitements in the meantime.'

‘Nothing to compare with these I share with you.'

‘And, if our child is another boy, he may well wear the crown after you . . . but Robert, of course, would come before him. I trust you would not put any other little bastard you have got on some light woman before our sons.'

‘Do you believe that?'

‘Not if I were there to make sure of their rights.'

‘You will be there . . . beside me. Have no fear.'

And he was thinking of the innocent young Princess whom he would marry if he had the crown. They would have children and the sons they would have would come before Nesta's. He remembered the pure adoration the Princess had been too candid to hide and he wondered how he would explain to her his situation with Nesta and the life he had led. She would be horrified, poor innocent girl; but he had said he would teach her what life was, and he could no more suppress his desires than Rufus could his.

There would be complications when he became King: Nesta would be one of them, for although he talked glibly of keeping her with him and legitimizing her sons that they might inherit the throne after him, he knew this would not be. The Norman dukes who had done this in the past had not been head of a well-ordered country such as the Conqueror had made England. But he would deal with these matters when they came and Nesta would never fret too much over one lover, for there would always be others waiting to take his place.