The Autumn Throne by Elizabeth Chadwick

behind his back and his head inclined towards hers. As always he wore a smile, but beneath that polished surface Alienor could sense his grief and turbulence.
    ‘I understand your pain.’ She touched his arm. ‘I wrote to you, but I do not know if you received my letter.’
    He drew a deep breath. ‘I do not know either, Mama. In truth I remember little about that time. He was in the world barely a moment. I saw him, my own flesh and blood, lying in the cradle, and then he was gone – his life snuffed out as easily as extinguishing a candle.’
    Alienor tightened her grip in compassion.
    ‘Perhaps God has decreed I should have everything and nothing,’ he said bitterly.
    ‘That is not true, never think that! There will be other children.’
    ‘So everyone tells me,’ he said. The dazzling smile was back on his face – the glittering façade. ‘Have you heard how well I am doing in the tourneys? Geoffrey must have told you.’
    ‘Yes, he did, but sons risking themselves in tourneys is not something a mother desires to hear about, even while she is proud of their skill.’
    ‘They are good for making alliances and friendships, and for recruiting likely men. They are fine places to display prowess and generosity.’
    ‘SoI hear.’ She gave him a censorious look. ‘I understand from others that no sooner does your father fill your purse than it is empty again – almost as if you are challenging him to an eating contest except with money.’
    His expression grew petulant. ‘Richard practises war in Poitou and you do not complain. He is always running out of money too and coming to Papa with his hand out. Do you approve of that? I am making my way by politics and diplomacy in a different way, that is all.’
    ‘I have a mother’s natural fear for her offspring,’ she soothed him. ‘I worry for both of you. I wish it was different.’
    ‘What else am I supposed to do when I have nothing to govern?’ he demanded. ‘My father uses me as a diplomat at the tourneys and at the French court. I am his representative in areas where he cannot make that kind of show – the sort he used to depend on Thomas Becket to provide until Becket abandoned him for God and then chose martyrdom. If I go to aid Richard, then it is Richard who commands the troops, not me. When I am at my father-in-law’s court I hear their whispers – that I have neither power nor influence beyond the smile on my face and my father’s money in my purse. They bow to me and then they smirk behind their hands. Nothing has changed, Mama, nothing, except for the worse.’ Tears filled his eyes. ‘Now they say I cannot even beget a living son.’
    Alienor winced, feeling sympathy for his pain, but she was also exasperated. ‘You should not listen to the back biting and gossip of courtiers. I can do nothing about your situation. Once I tried and I paid with my liberty. If you have smiles and money to your account, then I have nothing. Like me you must bide your time, but mind how you spend it.’
    His expression soured. ‘I have been hearing that ever since my coronation and that was nine years ago.’
    A headache began to throb at Alienor’s temples. ‘I have no remedy, Harry,’ she said wearily. ‘I wish I did.’
    Rounding a corner they came to an arbour. In the summer roses and honeysuckle would trellis around the seat but at themoment the lats were bare. Two young women decorated it now, surrounded by a gathering of eager young courtiers. There was a lot of giggling and laughter but it ceased abruptly as Harry and Alienor arrived, and everyone hurried to bow and curtsey.
    Alienor flicked her gaze over the group. Alais was there, Richard’s betrothed. The continued delay of the marriage was a source of deep friction between England and France. The girl was sixteen, slim and fair like her father with grey eyes and thin, fine features. She reminded Alienor of a mouse. The other young woman was petite and vibrant, with a cherub mouth, dimpled