The Queen's Pawn by Christy English Page B

and Mathilde were reluctant to leave me, but when the young man’s horse leaped over an obstacle on the tiltyard, even they were drawn away, as flies to honey
    My spy met me as I stopped beneath a myrtle tree. The river flowed nearby, and I could smell clean water on the air. For a moment, I almost wished that I were free, and a young girl once more, that I might go and sit beside that river, and leave the work of the kingdom to another. Of course, this fancy was nonsense, and I dismissed it as soon as it entered my mind. Still, it was not only Alais’ youth I envied, nor just my son’s love for her. Alais was sweet and unspoiled enough to enjoy a day by the river, with no thought for anything else. I had never been.
    My spy, the lady Clarissa, bowed to me beneath the myrtle tree and smiled as if she had come to discuss the young man on the war-horse. We pretended to watch him from where we stood. I bowed my head as if looking at the flower in my hand while she made her report.
    “Your Majesty, I bring great news.”
    “Indeed. Don’t keep me waiting.”
    Clarissa had just returned from Normandy with her husband, where she waited on my eldest son’s wife. I took in the girl’s blond curls and winsome smile, and thought once more how deceiving perceptions are. Though she seemed a pious, empty-headed girl, she and I knew otherwise.
    She was a spy for me, and one of Henry the Younger’s lovers. How many other masks she wore I did not know, for I did not ask. She served me well, which was all that concerned us.
    “Your son has joined with the King of France in an alliance”
    My heart leaped for once at the thought of Louis, as it had not since the first year of our aborted marriage. I had sent a letter by my favorite priest to Louis over a year before, broaching the subject of my eldest son. In that letter, I said nothing specific, only that I feared for young Henry’s soul, and prayed each day that he might be led by a good man to find strength in the Church.
    Louis loved to hear lies from me, even now that he never saw my face. I had no doubt that he kept the letter I wrote to him, and wore it close to his heart, beneath his hair shirt. He had loved me when I was his wife, no matter how I humiliated him. He loved me still. I was not above using his love for me to shore up my power in Normandy
    “It is nothing formal,” Clarissa said, laughing when Angeline noticed we had stepped aside. Clarissa twirled for me, as if to show off the dress my son had bought for her, a deep blue silk that cost as much as three hectares of land, and brought out the blue of her eyes.
    I applauded her, as if we were only at some foolish game, but kept my applause quiet, so that Angeline and her sister would not draw near, bringing the others with them. As it was, we had little time, and I knew it.
    Clarissa moved closer to me, taking the flower from my hand with a curtsy. “King Louis has begun sending young Henry prayer books, with political strategy in the bindings.”
    I laughed a little at that, and rolled my eyes. Henry the Younger would do better to take his politics from me.
    “There is talk that the Lord Henry might spend a week with the king in Rouen, so that they may speak of the Church, and its place in the life of a ruler”
    “And my husband knows nothing of this?”
    “Not yet. Not unless he has spies as good as I am.”
    Clarissa smiled, and her eyes gleamed with the intelligence I hired her for. Of course, Henry’s spy network was just as good as mine, but as one of the pieces on my chessboard, Clarissa had no way of knowing this.
    However, Clarissa had a good grasp of political strategy, and she knew as well as I did that any alliance between Louis and my son set a wedge between Henry and his heir, while enhancing my power. Henry had always had his namesake’s loyalty, but once Louis had our eldest’s ear, I would ask him to speak well of me. Before many months, if all went well, I would have power in Normandy