Pour The Dark Wine by Lake Deryn

Author:Lake, Deryn [Lake, Deryn]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2015-03-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

It was an odd sunset, angry looking. Over the horizon lay a band of pale green, then above that strips of burnished gold rising to a furious crimson, over which scudded a battalion of dark clouds. The evening air was cool, a sharp wind tearing at the trees, a spray of threatening rain in every gust. It was not like summer at all in fact, even though it was August a certain autumnal look had already come to the trees.

The valley, in which the castle of Snape stood in acres of parkland, seemed to trap the light thrown by the dying sun. So much so that Katherine Parr, walking for once on her own, found that the blissful interlude when she had time for herself was coming to rather an unnerving end, as the place turned the colour of hell. Without meaning to she quickened her steps, heading for home before it grew suddenly dark or started to rain. Then, just as abruptly stood still, listening.

In the eerie glow nothing stirred and the birds that usually sang at sundown were silent. It seemed as if all living creatures were waiting for something, herself included. Katherine felt an unreasonable panic stir within and fought it down with great strength of mind.

‘There is nothing to be afraid of,’ she said aloud. ‘Now walk back calmly and don’t be foolish.’

But with every step she took she found herself glancing about nervously until finally she started to run. And it was dishevelled and panting that she hurriedly crossed the bridge over the moat and entered her husband’s mansion.

Snape Hall had been built some two hundred years before but improved on by every generation that lived there so that now it was a cross between a castle and a house. As if for reassurance, Katherine let her eyes wander over the great hall’s panels of carved black oak and the many tapestries that hung there. A spread eagle, worked in gold, its head surmounted by a purple crown, caught her attention.

That is myself, she thought. Two women in one, facing both directions simultaneously. God strengthen me to overcome my weaknesses.

But no rush of divine comfort answered and almost impatiently Katherine went to the fireplace and poured herself a cup of wine from a decanter that stood on a nearby table.

‘I drink to sacrifice,’ she said bitterly, ‘as taught me by one who knew.’ Katherine raised her glass. ‘To you, my good mother, who renounced your life for your children.’

She sat down, staring into the flames, thinking of Dame Maud Parr who, though only just twenty-two at the time of her widowhood, had refused to remarry, devoting herself entirely to her young family and their education — a fact of which all three of them, William, Katherine and Anne, had been reminded almost daily.

‘And what fun we had!’ said her daughter now. ‘Latin, Greek, devotional writings. Plenty of needlework, and then the greatest joy of all — the marriage bargains.’

Even before Katherine’s twelfth birthday, Dame Maud had started negotiations with Lord Dacre for an alliance with his young grandson.

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