Queen of Trial and Sorrow by Susan Appleyard Page A

through his hands.  Once the fire was banked for the night, the wine and water laid out, most of the candles doused and the attendants dismissed, we were able to come together as man and wife in the dark intimacy of the canopied bed.  A few precious minutes remained between our joining and falling asleep.
    Pounding the pillow under his head, he settled back against it with me nestled in the crook of his arm, my hair loose, as he liked it, and trapped between us. Having enjoyed a vigorous interlude, he was ready to sleep.  He was one of those fortunate people to whom sleep generally came easily; few things kept him from it.  One of those things was… well, me. 
    “Don’t go to sleep yet,” I said, giving him a nudge.
    “I’m not sleeping,” he protested sleepily.
    “I hardly ever see you and when I do all you want to do is make love and then go to sleep.”
    “That’s because you exhaust me with your physical demands.” He opened one eye to peer at me.  “If you want to talk to me you will have to petition the chamberlain for an audience like everyone – ”
    “What!”  
    “It was a joke, my love.”
    Fully awake now and realizing he would get no sleep until he had heard me out, he pulled himself up against the pillows and settled me against him.  “Alright.  You have my full attention.”
    Now that I had attained such an exalted position, I was determined to provide handsomely for my family.  As my mother often reminded me, it was my duty to ensure that my family was highly placed – both to protect them from enemies and to increase the base upon which the king’s own power rested.  When he came to the throne Edward had a very limited power base: virtually consisting of the Nevilles, who were his mother’s kin, and the Bourchiers, the family of his father’s sister, although both were very large families.  After his coronation he elevated a number of faithful knights to baronies: Hastings, Herbert, Stafford and Howard among them, men who owed all they had to him alone, thus increasing his own power base and at the same time – whether deliberately or not – providing a counterweight to the power of the Nevilles.  It is possible he saw my family in this light also.  It wasn’t quite a dynasty, but the foundation was in place, and once I gave my husband a son, the edifice would start to rise. 
    No one could blame me for using my new position to further the interests of my family.  Nothing was more natural. I had already obtained Edward’s undertaking that my father, Lord Rivers, should have an earldom and one of the great offices, preferably one presently held by Warwick who had far too many.  Also, while negotiating with Viscount Bourchier, the king’s own cousin, on behalf of my sister Anne, I had contracted with the Earl of Arundel for Margaret to wed his son and heir.  I did so, knowing full well that the Countess of Arundel was Warwick’s sister, but it was not his business after all.  It was for the boy’s parents to settle his future.  Now my focus was on my brother John.
    “I have been thinking that what John needs is an heiress.”
    “Oh?  And you have one in mind, no doubt.”
    “It was his idea, but I approve, of course.  Anything that advances my family goes to your greater good.”
    “Of course.  And who is the fortunate lady?”
    “The Dowager Duchess of Norfolk,” I said hesitantly.
    To me it was no more than a business transaction.  In pursuing noble spouses for my family, I was doing only what any man with a cow pasture or a mud and wattle hovel to his name would do: providing for my siblings with the intent of increasing the family’s wealth, prestige and influence.  Anyone who failed to do so would be disparaged for neglecting an important familial duty.  And no one heard the kinfolk of the noble bridegrooms screeching.  Each and every one was happy to be so closely connected to the royal house.  The only ones doing the screeching were those, like