yet knighted.
“Henry,” she said as she came towards him, and the word held pride, censure, and affection all at once.
“My lady mother.” He knelt to her and bowed his head.
The copper-gold tangle of his hair filled her with a surge of tenderness. She stooped to give him a formal kiss of peace, then drew him to his feet and embraced him with joy. She knew she should be furious, but that was not the emotion uppermost.
Taking his arm she led him to the embrasure so she could see him properly. “You are almost a man.” Henry’s chest expanded. “I am a man,” he replied with a 455
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spark of indignation that he should be thought anything else.
“And I am here to fight for my kingdom.”
“So I am told.”
He eyed her through his thick sandy lashes. “I would have taken Purton and Cricklade if I had had the resources. With the right men and money, I could make a big difference.”
“Men and money.” She gave a bitter laugh. “So could I, so could your uncle Robert, but we struggle for every penny.
What does your father say about this?” His complexion darkened. “He refused to give me aid and said I was not to go, so I raised everything myself.”
“So you disobeyed him? Do you not have responsibilities in Normandy and Anjou?”
“They do not need help as England does,” he said tersely.
“My father will understand when I tell him.” She raised her brows at that. She suspected Geoffrey would be less than sanguine. “And Cricklade and Purton are your notion of helping?”
He bunched his fists. “If I had been properly equipped, I could have taken them easily.”
The conversation had gone round in a circle. She was elated to see him but he could not stay, and in truth what he had done was rash and dangerous. “If the only money you have is that which you raised yourself, how are you going to pay your men?”
“I have brought them to you so you can use them under my command.” He set his shoulders defensively. “I did not need the marshal’s safe conduct here.”
“He seems to think you owe him horses and equipment.” His eyes flashed with anger and irritation. “I want to help.
Doesn’t anyone understand?”
Matilda drew herself up. “You bring a rag-tag band of mercenaries here and make two abortive attempts to take a couple of small castles? How amused Stephen must be to hear 456
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of this. I cannot afford to pay for your men, or to set you up here, because you will have to be protected and given the means to live, and I do not have those means. You are creating difficulties for all of us. When you went back to Normandy, it was to finish your education and training and to be kept safe until the time was right.”
“I did not think I would have a kingdom left to claim by then,” he retorted. “I had to do something. By the time I am old enough by years of reckoning, it will be too late. I am old enough now.” Matilda reined in her anger and, sighing, went to sit down on a window seat. “I am glad to see you,” she said, rubbing her forehead, “even if I am angry too. You fill my heart with joy, but you cannot stay; you must see that. I have no money to pay for your men, and whether you think you are old enough or not, you are not ready.”
He gave her a long look and it jolted her to see the temper in his eyes; but beyond that temper lay a shrewd and determined mind. He might not have the maturity of experience yet, he might have made mistakes in his eagerness and impatience, but he was right. He was no child. “If I do return to Normandy,” he said, “that would be expensive as well.” She rubbed her brow “How much?”
“I owe each man a shilling a day for following me, and their provender and expenses. We’d have to hire the ships to take us back too.”
She made the calculations in her head. It was far more than she could afford without compromising her own people; it would be a huge drain on her resources and a total waste. “I cannot afford that kind of sum,” she said.
He set his jaw. “My uncle Robert could.”
“And he would have to take money out of another pot to do so.