Her Highness, the Traitor - By Susan Higginbotham Page 0,46

enthusiasm for this match with Somerset’s girl? They say it was chiefly the work of the countess and the Duchess of Somerset. Who, I see, has not lost a single pearl as the result of her husband’s ill fortune.”

“Katherine! I thought you and the Duchess of Somerset were friends.”

“Oh, we are, but there’s no denying that Anne Seymour likes her jewels. And look at her! Six months gone, I’d say. It looks as if that visit she paid to her husband on Christmas Day bore fruit.”

I stole a look at my daughters to see if they had caught any of the Duchess of Suffolk’s cheerfully malicious commentary, but Kate was talking to Katherine’s two sons, who were my younger half brothers. Mary was admiring the brightly dressed courtiers and the foreign dignitaries who had been invited to witness this bonding between the two old friends turned enemies turned friends again. Jane, too, was eying everyone’s clothing, but not in the way I might have hoped. “Peacocks,” she said dourly.

“Peacocks?” I looked around for the exotic birds.

“These ladies, Mother. Look at them! Why, some of them are even painted. The Countess of Warwick certainly was.”

“She could use the help,” said the Duchess of Suffolk with a smirk. “But I would hardly say she looked like the Whore of Babylon, my dear girl. A spot of color to the cheeks or to the lips is a harmless thing, especially for a celebration. You must amend your opinions, child, to accommodate us mere mortals, or you will never get on in the world.”

“That is what I tell her,” I said.

Jane thrust out her lower, unpainted lip in a gesture I alternatingly found endearing and irritating. “John Aylmer says that it is vulgar and ungodly.”

“I really wonder sometimes why we keep that man,” I said. “He finds everything vulgar and ungodly. I marvel how he puts up with us.”

“No doubt through the stipend your husband pays him,” said the Duchess of Suffolk. She winked at me.

“Master Aylmer was not speaking of Your Grace or my lady mother,” Jane said. “Nor was I.”

“Well, good,” said the duchess. “I should hate to displease you, my dear.”

It was a rare thing to have an adult ally in my skirmishes with Jane, especially one as clever as Katherine. I would have been content to go on some more in this vein, but the sound of trumpets announced the approach of the king’s barge.

Edward stepped out, smiling at the assembled company. He was ruddier than he had been the last time I had seen him, for the Earl of Warwick, believing his knightly upbringing had been neglected, had arranged his schedule to give him more time for outdoor pursuits. This put me in mind of King Henry, my late uncle, especially when the young king looked around and frowned. “Where is my lord Warwick?”

The Countess of Warwick stepped forward. “Your Majesty, I am to blame. He removed to Hatfield for the sweet air, and I begged him to remain there, as his health has been so uncertain.”

“We fear the Earl of Warwick has been exerting himself too much on our behalf. It is a pity that he must miss his son’s wedding.”

“I am pledged to tell him all about it.” The countess smiled. “Though it is true, Your Majesty, that he wants none of the details that we women savor, so it will be a quick telling.”

“Do give him our best wishes, my lady.”

“I will, Your Majesty.”

“We miss him,” said the king softly. He turned to the Duke of Somerset, who had been standing near his duchess, just far enough apart from the rest of the council to look a little awkward. Somerset and the king had dined together recently, Harry had told me, but it had been a rather stiff, formal affair. “Your Grace.”

Somerset’s face brightened. “My dear nephew, I am grateful you can honor my daughter’s wedding with your presence.”

The king nodded a little distantly, then turned back abruptly to the Countess of Warwick. “Perhaps we can send the earl our physician?”

Behind the king, the Duchess of Somerset opened her mouth, then shut it again as her husband sent her a glance.

***

“It’s been like that since January, my friends in high places tell me,” the Duchess of Suffolk said later in her chamber at Sheen, where the two of us had gone to freshen up after the ceremony. The Duchess of Somerset and the Countess of Warwick had joined each other in weeping sentimental tears over the