Eleanor was utterly still, heedless of the turmoil swirling around her. Her kinsmen and her vassals had watched in disbelief, and now they were turning to her, dismayed and angry.
“Eleanor!” Raoul was so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. “What in hellfire just happened?” He’d been outraged that St Gilles would be swearing homage to a man who was Duke of Aquitaine only by marriage, while ignoring the woman who was Duchess of Aquitaine by blood right and the anointing of the Almighty. He’d consoled himself that St Gilles would be accepting Richard as his liege lord, but he’d never expected that homage would be done to Hal, too. There was no legal basis for it: Hal had been crowned as King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou. He had no claim to Aquitaine, no claim to Toulouse-until now.
“Christ on the Cross,” he sputtered. “What sort of double-dealing was that?” He already had his answer, though, sure that Eleanor’s hellspawn husband was seeking to add Toulouse to his own domains, to make it part of his Angevin empire. Glaring at his niece, he found himself wondering how much she’d known. But he dismissed that suspicion as soon as it surfaced, for all the color had drained from her face; even her lips were white.
“Eleanor?” he said again, alarmed by her pallor and her continuing silence. Eleanor ignored him, ignored them all, never taking her eyes from the dais, from the husband who had betrayed her yet again.
Henry stared at his wife in exasperation. “It never occurred to me that you would object. It is but a formality, after all, and I thought it would please Hal.”
“And did you spare even a thought as to how Richard would react?”
“For the love of Christ, woman, sometimes you act as if Richard is the only child of your womb and the rest are foundlings!”
“I am not speaking as Richard’s mother, but as Duchess of Aquitaine. Did you not see the reaction of my barons in the hall? You rekindled all of their suspicions, all of their mistrust in one grand gesture, Harry, and for what? If it is indeed an empty honor, as you allege, then why should Hal be pleased by it? And if it is not, better you tell me now if you have designs upon Toulouse. I have a right to know!”
Henry shook his head in disgust. “I am beginning to wish I’d never heard of Toulouse! No, I do not harbor any great scheme to annex it. Not that I expect your ranting, rebel lords to believe me. Aquitaine is one large lunatic asylum, and you clearly have been spending too much time there, Eleanor, or you would not have needed to ask me such an insulting question.”
“I would not have needed to ask you any questions at all if only you’d told me what you had in mind.”
“More fool I, but I thought you’d want St Gilles to do homage to Hal as well as Richard-to honor both your sons.”
More fool you. But the words never left her lips, for she knew now that the time for talking was done.
Lent was always the season of dread for cooks; not only was meat banned from every table, but so were eggs, milk, butter, and cheese. The cooks of the Viscount of Limoges had shown considerable ingenuity, though, offering up a seafood feast that pleased even the demanding palates of his royal and highborn guests. Only Henry took no enjoyment from the meal meant to celebrate the betrothal of his youngest son and the Count of Maurienne’s daughter.
In truth, Henry had never displayed much interest in food, eating and drinking sparingly even in those months when the menu was not so restricted. But on this last Sunday in February, it was Henry’s sour mood that was spoiling the revelries for him. His eyes swept the high table, coming to rest morosely upon the Count of Toulouse. He was beginning to think the man was accursed. For certes, he’d brought naught but trouble to Limoges.
Taking a swallow of wine without really tasting it, Henry tallied up the grievances he could lay at the count’s door. Richard had provoked a public quarrel with Hal over that ill-fated act of homage, and so now Hal was out of sorts, too. But instead of finding fault with Richard, Hal had concluded that his father was to blame for the botched affair. Henry was beginning to think that his eldest also held him accountable for the Great Flood and the Expulsion from Eden. In this at least, Hal and Richard were united, for Henry hadn’t gotten a civil word from his second son since the ceremony. It would seem, Henry thought, that Richard had inherited his share of the Angevin temper. The sad truth was that he did not know Richard well at all. He was Eleanor’s, had always been Eleanor’s.
As for his queen, he had no illusions that they’d made peace. They were operating under a truce at present, no more than that. Her public pose notwithstanding, he knew she was still aggrieved, for reasons that made no sense whatsoever. He could almost believe there was something in the water or air of Aquitaine that caused people to act so moon-mad. It was just as well that he’d be going into Brittany in a few days whilst she returned to Poitiers. Some time apart would give both their tempers time to cool.
The thought of Brittany diverted his attention to his third son. Mayhap he ought to take Geoffrey with him. It might be good to pass some time with the lad in the lands he’d one day rule. He did not know Geoffrey all that well, either, and he’d never meant it to be that way. He had wanted the same easy rapport with his sons that he’d enjoyed with his own father. Despite his best intentions, though, his children had been relegated to the outer edges of his life, unable to compete with the myriad duties and demands of kingship. But he’d remained confident that there would be time to make amends for those lost, early years, to forge a bond with his sons that could never be broken. He did not understand why it was now proving so difficult.
Fidgeting restlessly in his seat, he shifted so he could see his youngest son. John had been permitted to sit at the high table next to his future father-in-law. He was a solemn child, the only one of their brood with Eleanor’s coloring, a stranger not only to Henry but to his family, for John had passed the first years of his life with the nuns at Fontevrault Abbey. Henry thought he looked ill at ease, doubtless overwhelmed by all the unaccustomed attention. There was something about this forlorn little boy that touched Henry’s heart, and he was glad he’d been able to arrange such a promising future for the lad. Too often a younger son was shunted aside, valued more cheaply than his older brothers.
Henry’s gaze flicked from John, roaming the hall until he located William Marshal at one of the lower tables. The young knight was surely the ultimate example of the sorry fate that could befall a spare son. Will had been offered up by his father as a hostage, a pledge of John Marshal’s good faith. Marshal, a man of no scruples whatsoever, had promptly broken his oath, and when warned by King Stephen that his small son would pay the price for his treachery, his response had been so cold-blooded, so pitiless that it had soon passed into legend. Go ahead and hang Will, he’d told Stephen. He had the hammer and anvil with which to make other and better sons. Will’s life had been spared only because Stephen could not bring himself to hang a five-year-old child.
It was a story Henry had never forgotten; he was not easily shocked, but that had shocked him profoundly. Once he’d chosen Will as one of Hal’s household knights, he’d wondered occasionally how Will had dealt with a memory like that, wondered if his ambition and steely sense of purpose could be rooted in that sad history. Turning his gaze back to John, he watched the child play with the food on his trencher and felt a surge of pride that he could provide so well for all his sons, thankful that Johnny would prosper in a world so often cruel to unwanted children.
Once the meal was finished, servants began to clear away the trestle tables so there would be room for the entertainment Viscount Aimar had arranged: performances by troubadours, tumblers, and, he promised, an amazing act involving a dancing bear. Seats were positioned on the dais for all the royal guests, Count Humbert, and the Count of Toulouse. Henry stopped a nurse from ushering John off to bed, swooping the boy up onto his lap. “There you go, lad, the best seat in the hall,” he said fondly, and John, regarding him gravely with Eleanor’s enigmatic eyes, perched on the arm of his chair like a bird about to take flight. The little boy seemed more comfortable once Joanna joined them, for she’d often been with him at Fontevrault, and she was so outgoing and confident that Henry thought she could coax a turtle from its shell. Smiling into her upturned, laughing face, he wondered why sons could not be as easy to please as daughters.
“My lord king?” Count Humbert had risen from his chair. Seeing that he wanted to talk, Henry rose, too, allowing Joanna and John to share his seat. The count made amiable, polite conversation for several moments before raising the one issue still to be settled between them. “We have agreed that your son and my daughter will inherit Maurienne and Savoy when I die. But we have not yet discussed what young John will bring to the marriage. What lands do you mean to confer upon him prior to the wedding?”
Henry had anticipated this demand, knowing that he’d have to offer something of value since the marriage contract was weighted so heavily in his favor. “Of course,” he said affably. “It is my intention to endow John with three castles: Chinon, Loudun, and Mirebeau.”
The count had spent time poring over maps of Henry’s domains, so he was familiar both with the castles and
