Lespada by Kathryn Le Veque

Author:Kathryn Le Veque [Veque, Kathryn Le]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Medieval
Published: 2010-01-12T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Tower of London

Henry the Third, King of England, was fairly tall man with reddish-gold hair and a droopy eyelid. He wasn’t feeble by any means, having been a warrior most of his life, and even in his advancing years managed to be tough and agile. Devereux was quivering so badly when Davyss introduced her to the king that she nearly fell over when she curtsied. But she managed to hold her balance, holding it further when she was introduced to Prince Edward, the king’s eldest son and heir to the throne. Edward was tall and lanky, a big man with a crown of blonde hair and a big booming voice.

Although the pair was polite, it was clear that their attention was on Davyss. Edward joked with him like a brother and Henry seemed almost eager to communicate with him. Although Devereux knew that Davyss was the king’s champion and had known that from the onset of their association, it was still difficult to believe. Davyss handled them both with cool respect.

A few minutes into their introductions, it was obvious that Henry and Edward had more important things to speak to Davyss of, and without the company of his wife. But Edward’s wife, Eleanor of Castile, unexpectedly joined them, belaying the opportunity to speak to Davyss alone. Eleanor was a very pregnant woman who, by all accounts, had a reputation of being aloof and disinterested in her husband’s English subjects. Born in Spain, she was rather frail-looking with dark hair and pale skin. Married to Prince Edward, a tall, blonde and intimidating man, they made an unusual-looking pair. She chatted amiably and delayed the war conference even longer, but Edward didn’t seem to mind.

From the onset, Devereux could see that Edward was very affectionate towards his wife, which caused Devereux to see the man in a completely different light. She had come into the meeting at the dark and foreboding Tower of London thinking on her hatred for what she had once called the tyrannical king, but the politeness of Henry and the devotion of Edward had swiftly caused her to rethink her opinion. Perhaps she had been ignorant as Lady Katharine had once accused her of being; perhaps there was more to Henry, Edward and Davyss than blood-thirsty men. She was starting to see it.

Davyss eventually left his wife in the company of Eleanor and her ladies, all Spanish women with dark Spanish eyes. They spoke in a language that Devereux did not understand, eyeing her suspiciously. She kept hearing the words puta inglesa but had no idea what they meant. She suspected, from the way they were looking at her, that it could not be good.

They had moved into small ladies’ solar on the fourth floor of the White Tower that was luxurious and pretty, but Devereux was uncomfortable with the women from the onset. They appeared haughty and arrogant, and made no attempt to speak with her in her own language. They whispered among themselves and pointed.

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.