Anne O'Brien - A Tapestry of Treason

Within a handful of minutes Joan returned with Dickon; he was dragging his feet, but at least he had been open to persuasion.

‘Constance.’ He looked wary. ‘What do you want? I was busy.’

It did not bode well. ‘Busy doing what?’

‘Whatever will allow me to keep out of the royal eye. Today might not be the day to advertise my connection with the families of York, Holland and Despenser.’

Succinct and accurate, he had had an ear to some closed doors.

‘We have a favour to ask,’ Joan said with an encouraging smile before I could hack at his lack of loyalty.

‘What’s that?’

Joan glanced at me.

‘I need an ear to the ground,’ I said. ‘An ear that is less obvious than mine. Go down to the Great Hall…’

‘They’ll hardly let me in!’

‘As I am aware, but you can merge with the hangers-on and question those who have knowledge. I want to know what’s happening. I want to know if John Hall has been questioned and if any of our family is in danger. If there is a threat to our lives or our freedom. I want to know if any one of our enemies dares to push for single combat. I want to know before Edward and Thomas are put under restraint.’

He opened his mouth, I presumed to refuse, but Joan stepped in, gripping his arm with both small hands.

‘My brother is in danger too, Dickon. Ask about the Duke of Surrey. And my uncle the Duke of Exeter. Will you do that for me?’

He looked unapologetically hostile as only a thwarted youth could. Then shrugged. ‘I’ll do it.’

‘I would also like for you to discover the King’s mood, as far as you can,’ I said.

Dickon grinned. ‘You mean will he throw us to the snarling dogs? I’ll do what I can, though I don’t see why we can’t just wait for the outcome.’ He caught the sharpness of my glance. ‘But I agree it might be best to know sooner rather than later. Are we planning a flight to the Welsh Marches if King Henry proves hostile?’ He paused, then grinned again. ‘I may need coin for bribes.’

At last Dickon’s eyes shone with the light of conspiracy.

‘I have none to hand,’ I said.

‘Then I won’t do it.’

But Joan discovered some in the purse at her belt and handed them over in a little clinking stream into his palm.

‘Thank you, Dickon,’ I said. ‘I will be very grateful.’

‘I’ll remind you of that.’ And when the greyhound, which had followed him into the room, showed a willingness to accompany him, he pushed it back. ‘Keep it: it might be the only bargaining tool that we have. The greyhound in exchange for Edward’s life.’

Which might have seemed horribly prescient.

‘Let us hope,’ I said as Dickon’s footsteps faded into the distance, ‘that it’s all like one of Henry’s subtleties at the end of the feast. All decorative wizardry and no substance, that collapses at the first breath of wind.’

Joan came to stand beside me at the window.

‘Nor should we forget that Richard is still under constraint. And his future so uncertain.’

No. We must not forget. It was easy to do so in this maelstrom of personal attack. While we awaited Dickon’s return I had visions of flight to one of our distant estates if Henry showed any leaning towards the ultimate punishment. Joan and I could make our escape, perhaps to the staunch walls of Conisbrough, before the royal guards reached us. Or, as Dickon had so flippantly suggested, to my estates in Glamorgan. How extreme this all sounded, fleeing for our lives. Meanwhile Joan returned to her sewing. Her wrists were thin and fragile, but she wielded her needle with energy, despite her professed hatred of it. The greyhound settled down at her feet since, for once, Joan was not accompanied by one of her grey cats. I remained at the window, watching the busy ravens, waiting for some sort of sign of good or ill fortune. Until Joan looked up at me, addressing me with an unsettling question.

‘Does your brother of Aumale ever consider his own closeness to the throne? Richard recognised the Duke of York as his heir, which would make Aumale next in line after his father. An excellent reason for Henry to rid himself of your brother.’

‘My thanks, Joan. You have just stoked my anxieties threefold. So it will matter not whether John Hall gives evidence against Edward. Henry will sign his death warrant.’ I bared my teeth against the awful prospect. ‘As long as he does not sign mine. You know that I’ll fight to the death to save us all from ignominy.’

When Joan at last abandoned her altar cloth, folding it, then placing her hands neatly on top, she tilted her chin and smiled at me, a sharp-toothed little smile.

‘I think I would not like you as my friend, Constance. But I would like you even less as my enemy.’

I bristled, on the defensive. ‘It is fortunate then that you are unlikely to have me as either.’

‘Who’s to say, in the future, you might even need me as a confidante?’

‘Why would I?’

‘You have no female friends, I think.’

No, I had not. A little silence fell between us, broken only by the hound twitching in its dreams and a soft fall of ash in the fireplace. I had never had female friends, nor had I felt the lack of them. Why would I need to bare my breast to another woman who would gossip and prove less than trustworthy? Better to keep my own counsel.

‘I have no need of them.’ I eyed her, resenting what could only be criticism. ‘Nor do I see you surrounded by a flock of admiring Court women.’

‘Ah, but I have sisters.’

Her smile was infuriatingly complacent, and I would have responded with even more astringency. But I did not.

‘Listen,’ she said.

I realised that every one of my senses had been held in tension. Throughout all our conversational meanderings I had been straining for the first intimation of Dickon’s return.

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