Wheel of Fate by Kate Sedley

Adela,’ Clemency reproved her sternly. ‘If he is at all reluctant, if his heart is not in it, then it would be far better if he took you and the children home tomorrow and left us to our fate.’
    All eyes were turned in my direction including the children’s, although they could have had no real idea of what was going on. But that didn’t prevent their gaze being as reproachful as their mother’s. As usual, my nearest and dearest were expecting the worst of me.
    And I don’t say they were wrong in that respect: every instinct urged me to get out of London while the going was good. But the relationship of Reynold Makepeace to the Godsloves, and the possibility that his death had not been accident, but murder, made a difference. Reynold had been a friend. If I could bring the villain who had arranged for him to be killed to book, then it was my duty to do so.
    â€˜Adela is right,’ I said, smiling at Clemency. ‘Of course I’ll stay for a while and do what I can to help.’
    I did not add that there would be a self-imposed time limit on this offer of assistance. Indeed, I doubted if that would be necessary. The constant presence of three vigorous children would eventually take its toll on a normally childless household; and whereas Nicholas had probably been on his best behaviour until now, Elizabeth’s presence would inevitably alter that. Apart, they might be quiet and docile; together, they could put a cavalry charge to shame.
    At my words, there were smiles from the women and even Oswald was unable to hide a satisfied twitch of the lips.
    â€˜Good,’ said Clemency. ‘So let’s talk about something else for a while. Oswald, what’s the news in the city this morning? Is there any word yet as to when the duke will arrive?’
    Her brother shook his head. ‘But there is a very strong rumour,’ he hastened on, forestalling his womenfolk’s groans of disappointment, ‘that the king and Earl Rivers will leave Ludlow tomorrow and rendezvous with His Grace of Gloucester some time next week, at Northampton.’
    He gave a self-satisfied smile, so I forbore to mention that this information tallied with what I had heard the Abbot of Reading tell Bishop Stillington, realizing that it would be impolitic to steal Oswald’s thunder. He was a man with a very high opinion of himself, I could tell. And who could blame him, sated as he was with a lifelong diet of adulation from his sisters and also, nowadays, from his housekeeper? I did, however, contribute the fact that I had seen Sir Richard Grey riding along the Strand in the midst of a great bevy of retainers.
    â€˜Oh, him!’ Oswald dismissed the queen’s younger first-marriage son with a shrug of his shoulders. ‘A troublemaker, that one. Indeed, all the Woodville faction are hell-bent on stirring the pot and making it boil. The lord chamberlain – or should I say the ex-lord chamberlain, for I doubt Hastings will continue in office under the new young king – is desperate for Gloucester’s arrival, even though it’s my impression that the two men have never liked one another above half. But their shared love and grief for Edward should draw them together. At least, that’s my opinion. For what it’s worth,’ he added with a self-conscious laugh as he waited for the expected reassurance.
    It came at once and in a chorus.
    â€˜You’re always right, my dear, you know that,’ proclaimed Clemency with a smile.
    â€˜I have never known your judgement to be at fault yet, Oswald,’ Celia confirmed.
    â€˜Master Godslove is a very clever man,’ Arbella Rokeswood said, addressing her words to me but keeping her eyes fixed on him and basking in the warmth of his approval.
    I tried to look impressed, but Adela, who knew me better than her cousins, told me later that she knew exactly what I was thinking. (‘You’d do as well to try and keep