Solomon's Crown by Natasha Siegel

Author:Natasha Siegel [Siegel, Natasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2023-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

“Philip?” Isabella murmured. “It is late.”

I pushed the covers up and crawled into the bed beside her. “Pardon,” I said. “Go back to sleep.”

“I haven’t seen you all day.”

“I spoke with Geoffrey.”

She shuffled upwards, to sit against the headboard. She rubbed sleep from her eyes. “What did he say?”

“Many things. He…well…”

She waited, patiently, as I constructed sentences. I had spent the entirety of the day looking at papers, armies, accounts, and letters; designing a conflict I did not want to fight; trying to excise my guilt. Now it felt as if I had unlearnt speech.

Eventually—in a tone halting with shame—I managed to explain. Once I finished, Isabella was frowning. “I thought I liked Geoffrey,” she said, “but he seems cruel. To betray Richard—to expect you to do so…”

“Geoffrey does not care for others,” I agreed. “But I do not think he would be cruel for the sake of it.”

“Does that make it better?”

“I think so.”

“Hm.” Isabella fell silent, thinking. “So, you will help him, then?”

“Yes.”

“But—”

“I must, Isabella,” I snapped. She flinched, shifting back on the mattress. Pulling the blankets up, as if to shield herself, she murmured, “Pardon.”

An awkward silence fell. I sighed and pushed my hair away from my face. It fell back in front of my eyes. “Shall I fetch you a ribbon?” she asked meekly.

“No. We ought to sleep.”

I extinguished the candle. We both lay down in the bed, pulling our separate sheets over ourselves. Isabella turned onto her stomach, and her side. She shifted to face me, then away again. There was quiet for a few minutes, before she flipped onto her back, and she sniffed defiantly.

I sighed. “I did not mean to upset you.”

“Perhaps you should not shout at me, then.”

“I know. Pardon.”

Her hand stretched to squeeze my arm. “Do you feel ashamed? About Richard?”

“What should I feel ashamed of?” I asked. “It is only half a betrayal, really. He ought to be expecting such a thing. And I do not need his approval.”

“But you want it?”

I did not answer.

“Richard is nice,” she continued. “Funny. He carved me a snake.”

“What?”

“I saw him this evening, in the gardens. He was with his friend, Sir Bergerac. I was with my ladies. We went for a walk. Richard found a stick, and he used his knife to make it all wobbly, and then he said it was a snake. It did not look like a snake. We all laughed over it.”

“Was he at supper?” I asked.

“Yes, we went together. But you weren’t, and neither was Geoffrey,” Isabella said. “And Richard said that was a relief, because he was avoiding both of you. But still, he spent the whole evening talking about you.”

“What did he say?” I asked, despite myself.

She replied, “He asked me if you had seemed sad last night, and I said I did not know. Then he asked if you had seemed happy, and I said I did not know. Then he said that he also found it difficult to tell if you were happy or sad.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.