A Dangerous Inheritance

‘The child is lost,’ she said sadly. ‘I am very sorry.’

He sat down and dropped his head in his hands. ‘Has God deserted me?’ He sounded bitter, defeated. ‘This is not the only trouble heaped upon me. Everything I’ve built up in these past days – the King’s trust and friendship, my standing at court, a good affinity here – all destroyed. By my wife!’ He was in an agony of anger and disbelief. ‘Tell me, was it a son?’

Kat suppressed the remembrance of the tiny dead infant she had hurriedly shrouded in a white cloth. She had sent Gwenllian to the chapel with it, to find a priest who could tell her where it should be buried. Poor mite, its unbaptised soul, unfreed from original sin, would now be in limbo for all eternity, if you believed what the clergy said. But despite that, she believed that God was all-loving and merciful, and took every lost child to His breast. She would pray for her grandchild, whatever the Church decreed.

‘Yes, it was a son,’ she said. William wept at that, slow, difficult tears that made his shoulders heave. ‘Straw upon straw has been laid upon me,’ he sobbed. Kat let him cry it out, not wishing to intrude on his grief. She guessed he would not welcome it.

‘What is to happen now?’ she asked, some time later.

‘I do not know.’ He sighed heavily. ‘I got back from hunting and found myself summoned before the King’s Council, who demanded to know if I knew anything about my wife being in league with adherents of the late usurper. I told them I knew nothing of it, and would not believe it. They said they had reason to suspect she was trying to gather information about the fate of the sons of King Edward, and that they doubted her motives. I told them that probably – misguidedly – she was merely seeking reassurance that her father, the usurper, had not had them murdered, for she could not bear to believe it. They were only half convinced, I am sure, but sufficiently to commit her to my custody, on pain of serious consequences if she meddles again. But we are to depart the court forthwith, and she is to remain in my charge at all times from henceforth. Great God, what has she been doing? They said she was arrested on her way to a meeting with the Earl of Lincoln. His loyalty is suspect, and no wonder, for he was Richard’s heir, and the King is divining some conspiracy between them.’

His voice rose, and Kate stirred in her sleep, as if she was having troubled dreams.

‘I do not believe for a moment that she has had any thought of plotting against the King,’ Kat said. ‘She needs to know the truth about her father.’

‘But the danger? Did the foolish girl not realise what the consequences might be? Did she not think that I might be implicated?’

‘I ca

‘She must forget him!’ William erupted. ‘It’s bad enough for me, being married to the usurper’s daughter. Now, I thank you for your care of her, but I would be alone.’

‘As you wish,’ Kat said, knowing better than to oppose him in this mood, and reluctantly departed.

The first thing Kate saw when she woke up was her husband’s bleak face, staring resentfully at her. Then she remembered why she was here, shut up in this room and lying in this bed feeling so empty and ill. She winced as she thought of the pain she had suffered. The cramps had ceased now, but if her body was recovering, her soul was still in torment.

She had been cruelly torn from John, and God knew what was happening to him now, for they had both been accused of treason. She had lost her child, and she knew she would grieve all her days for it. She was a prisoner in this lodging, with a dread fate no doubt hanging over her – what did they do to women who were condemned as traitors? Did they disembowel and quarter them as they did men, or did they commute the sentence to beheading if the victim was of noble birth? She recoiled, imagining the cold steel piercing her body, slicing, ripping … Finally – as if the rest was not enough – she had incurred her husband’s wrath, which was plain to see. It was a terrible reversal after the burgeoning happiness she had felt – was it only hours earlier? How long had she slept? She had lost track of time. She lay there staring up at the tester, wanting to die.

‘Are you awake?’ William growled.

‘Yes,’ she whispered.

‘My son was born dead,’ he accused her. ‘It was through yourfolly.’

She forced herself to speak. ‘Nay – it was through the brutality of those guards. And I suffered agonies. The pain was dreadful, and all for nothing.’ Tears filled her eyes. ‘I am so sorry, so very sorry. It was the shock. They were rough with me, and I was frightened. My lord, do you know what they have accused me of?’

‘They suspect some dabbling in treason,’ he told her, his voice stern and aggrieved, and recounted his interrogation by the Council.

‘You spoke truth,’ she said. ‘I wanted only to clear my father’s name.’

‘You’re a bloody fool, Kate! The King is a suspicious man. He had you marked from the first, if only because you are the usurper’s daughter. And what do you do? You seek out my lord of Lincoln, that was heir to the throne under your father, and is distrusted for obvious reasons. What did you do that for?’ William’s anger was rising.

‘Sir, I was hoping the Earl could tell me if my father had had the Princes moved to Sheriff Hutton,’ Kate confessed. ‘He had charge of the household there.’

William gaped at her. ‘What on earth made you think they were at Sheriff Hutton? They were slain in the Tower, I promise you, soon after the usurpation.’

‘And how do you know that?’ she cried. ‘What if my father had them moved from the Tower and taken to a secret place?’

‘It is common knowledge that they were murdered,’ he insisted.

‘But there is no proof! Even Henry Tudor knows that.’ She should not have revealed this, she knew, but she had to make her point.

William looked taken aback. ‘Whatever the truth, you should not have meddled in the matter. It was madness!’

‘What is to happen to me?’ she whispered, dreading the answer.

William spoke tersely. ‘You are committed to my charge and we are commanded to leave for Raglan as soon as you are well enough to travel. Once there, I will be responsible for your conduct. I hope you realise that you have ruined me and put an end to all my hopes and prospects here at court!’

‘I am very sorry,’ Kate said, and began weeping anew.

William ignored her distress. ‘There is another thing you must tell me. My lord of Lincoln told the King’s officers that your meeting with him was but a lovers’ tryst. How do you explain that, wife?’

Kate had to think quickly. ‘He is covering up for me, which is most chivalrous of him. I saw him at the stables and sent him a message asking him to meet with me,’ she lied. ‘He did not know the reason, I swear it.’

‘You did what? You deliberately embroiled a lord who was staunch in your father’s cause in your nonsensical quest?’

‘I was desperate to find out if the Princes had been in his charge,’ she explained, wondering how much angrier William would be if he knew that Queen Elizabeth had been embroiled also. She wondered if Kat Haute had learned anything of interest from the Queen. Well, she was unlikely to find out now, she thought dejectedly. William would be watching her like a hawk.

‘But why, not having any clue as to the reason you wished to see him, should the Earl have told the Council that it was a lovers’ tryst?’ William persisted, and Kate’s resistance collapsed. John was safe – her husband would not dare challenge him, under a cloud as he was; as for herself, matters could not get very much worse than they already were.

‘Because it was,’ she admitted. ‘He and I have loved each other secretly for a long time.’