Lady of the English - By Elizabeth Chadwick Page 0,113

doing. Just for a moment, let everything be as it was before. I will send one of my women to prepare you a warm footbath. I refuse to let you play the warrior queen for this moment with me.” Matilda gave a strained smile. “As you wish, ‘Mother.’ I will not deny you.”

“Indeed not, for then you would gain a reputation for being contrary,” Adeliza said with a mischievous twinkle.

The curve of Matilda’s mouth grew less strained. “We couldn’t have that, could we?” she replied as she joined Adeliza at the hearth.

ttt

Will felt a pang of trepidation as he watched Robert’s troops and their supplies march into Arundel. This was not the baggage of a friendly visitor on a diplomatic mission, but the spearhead of an invasion. But what else had he expected—that they miss the opportunity and come with nothing?

Robert turned to him. “We are grateful for your succour,” he said. “It will not be forgotten. We will repay you in full measure when we are in a position to do so.” Will gripped his belt either side of the buckle. “I have taken you under my roof out of love for my wife and obligation to her kin. I do it so that negotiations may be opened to discuss a lasting peace. I am not your enemy, as I know some members of the court are, but my fealty is to Stephen. I guarantee your safety under my roof because of the kinship tie, but I must tell the king you are my guests. In truth, it is safe for neither of us if you remain here.”

Robert nodded curtly. “That is understood, but we are still indebted to you for this landing and for your hospitality. I will not abuse or outstay my welcome, be assured. Only let me rest here and organise my men and I will be on my way to Bristol as soon as I may.”

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A feeling of sweet relief ran through Will. “And the empress?”

“Let her stay for a few days more with your lady wife. She is under your protection, and since she is visiting her stepmother, the king has no legal grounds for objection, and it is no detriment to you. I know she has missed Adeliza’s company.” Will suppressed a grimace. He would have been greatly pleased to see the empress depart as soon as possible, and he was less sanguine than Robert about the damage her presence might to do. “So be it,” he said.

Having shown Robert to his quarters to refresh himself after the journey, Will returned to the courtyard. He felt like a grain caught between two millstones. He was Stephen’s vassal, but was giving houseroom to Stephen’s enemies, including the commander of Matilda’s troops. He knew he should be playing the host with Robert, and that Adeliza would be annoyed with him for shirking that duty, but he could not in good conscience be the welcoming host. He told the groom to saddle up his horse, and rode out to check the fields, the river, the roads, fixing them in his mind’s eye as they were, because it seemed to him that everything was going to change and that he was about to lose things that were very precious to him.

ttt

Two days later, at dawn, Robert left Arundel. A wet sea mist was rolling off the coast and cloaking the land. Watching the low grey clouds swallow him up as he rode out of the castle, Matilda thought that it was almost as if he had disappeared into another world.

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aid or at least promise moral support, but William D’Albini had made it clear that she was welcome as a domestic guest, nothing more.

“I cannot make Will change his mind,” Adeliza said as they sat before the brazier in Matilda’s chamber when Robert had gone. “He is sworn to Stephen and I am bound as his wife to obey him. I will do what I can for you, but Will has a sticking point beyond which he will not go, not even for me. I would not have you think I love Stephen. He has taken so many things