Masters of Time by Sarah Woodbury

Author:Sarah Woodbury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, young adult, wales, middle ages, teen, time travel, alternate history, historical fantasy, medieval, prince of wales
Publisher: Sarah Woodbury

Chapter Eighteen

16 June 1293

Gwenllian

It had been the worst two days of Gwenllian’s life. With nothing to do but mind the boys, she’d been bored silly, and alternating constantly between grief and anger. For the last hour she’d sat in the window seat of the king’s quarters with Arthur, while Lili and Carew talked quietly to one another. Built as they were into the curtain wall, the king’s apartments were the only ones at Westminster that directly overlooked the Thames, which flowed underneath the walls from south to north as it passed the castle on its way east to the sea.

As it was June, the glass had been removed from the windows, and the wooden shutters were open to let in warm air to heat the cold stones of the castle. Here on the western edge of the city, there was a pleasant breeze, and as it cooled her face, one of her blonde strands that had come loose from its clip lifted off her forehead. Gwenllian had hidden behind these curtains before, though not very often, since it was Lili and Dafydd’s bedroom—and really, who wanted to be caught in here by mistake? When she’d last tried it, Gwenllian heard a bit of news about the King of Scotland not known to the general court, but then Dafydd and Lili had gone all gooey (another favorite twenty-firster word), and Gwenllian had fled the instant they’d left the room.

Since they were supposed to be quiet during Alexander’s nap, Arthur sat across from her in the waist-high and three-foot deep window seat, playing with a wooden horse, while she stared down at the water as it flowed passed Westminster. Her heart felt as sluggish as the Thames, and each of the days they’d been cooped up in here had seemed to last a week.

A knock came at the door, and then it opened before Lili or Carew even gave permission. Clare and Geoffrey de Geneville stood on the threshold. Clare had come each day to ease his mind as to how they were faring, or so he said.

Gwenllian wanted nothing to do with him, and though she wanted to turn her face away, she didn’t. He was a like a wild boar, and the last thing you wanted to do with a predator was turn away.

Geoffrey was speaking to Clare as they entered. “Of course, my lord. What is it that you intend to do?”

“I must speak to Parliament,” Clare said. “We are facing an imminent crisis that I fear cannot be averted.”

Lili was on her feet in an instant. “What crisis is that, Gilbert?”

“As I told you before, I have word that France is preparing an invasion force to take advantage of our disarray,” Clare said. “It will launch within days, if not hours.”

“Have you sent word to the other barons of Dafydd’s death, Gilbert?” Lili said. “Lord Callum and Lord Bohun, for example?”

“I have sent my men. This isn’t something they should hear over the radio.” Clare waggled his head back and forth as if he didn’t want to say more but then decided he had to.

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