The Shadow Queen: The Sunday Times bestselling book – a must read for Summer 2018. Anne O'Brien
of the thunderbolt Thomas was about to hurl into our midst.
‘It is in my mind that my proposition would be of mutual benefit.’
Will now managed to look wary. He might have persuaded himself that Thomas had abandoned his pursuit of me, but the underlying suspicion would take a long time to die completely.
‘Of mutual benefit?’
‘So I think. Now that you are Earl of Salisbury. We both have soldiering in our sights, but there is none on offer.’
‘Well that’s true. I’m hoping the King sees a need for a new campaign in France…’
And they were suddenly brothers in arms, discussing warfare. I would leave them to it, and drifted away to where Isabella, clad in a sumptuous array of verdant satin, had come to ride with her father. I had not stepped twenty paces when, behind me, my quick hearing picked up the fact that the merits of this sword against that one, this helm or that one, had been abandoned.
‘… my services,’ I heard Thomas say. ‘It is my understanding that you have need.’
I could not believe what I was hearing. Ignoring Isabella, I marched back again, to hear Will admit: ‘Yes I do. I’ve only just been speaking of it with Joan…’
‘I could remedy the problem.’
I saw Will’s face brighten. ‘Do I understand, Sir Thomas, that you will offer me the use of your wide experience?’
‘Yes. I know you’ll see the value of it, for both of us.’
Will was looking as if a weight had been taken from his shoulders. Within seconds I was standing beside him.
‘As I am aware, you have no talents in this field, Sir Thomas,’ I said.
Which Thomas acknowledged, and promptly rejected, his reply addressed uncompromisingly to Will.
‘If I can organise a campaign and lead men into battle, my lord, I can supervise the running of the Salisbury estates. I can negotiate with your council. I am in need of an income. You need a steward. I would see it as an honour to serve you, and your family.’
It was quite a declaration, and all of it probably true, but it filled me with a cold dread, even as I admired his gall in seizing the opportunity. And no one looking at Thomas would ever believe that this was anything but a genuine offer; I had not known he was so skilled at dissembling. But was he dissembling? Nothing would persuade me that this would be good policy. Nor did Will seem to think so, regarding me as if I were guilty in inviting Thomas to make the offer. I lifted my shoulder in a little shrug. I had no wish to live in such a household, maintaining a semblance of seemly co-existence. But first I would wait to see what Will would say.
‘As my wife says, you have no experience of stewardship.’
A smile curved Thomas’s mouth. ‘Campaigning gives a man many arrows for his bow.’
A statement I recognised. So this was what he had been planning. I fixed Thomas with a stare that would leave him in no doubt of my displeasure.
‘It might work.’ Will rubbed his thumb along the edge of his jaw, an action I recognised when his decision making was compromised, as he avoided my gaze. No, it certainly would not work. I took a breath to suggest that Will should take time to think about this, and consider other alternatives – any alternative – when a hand came down heavily on Will’s shoulder and a fourth voice entered the fray.
‘An excellent choice, I would say.’
None of us, intent on this negotiation, had heard the King approach. Edward was positively jovial.
‘It will give you a helping hand, lad. And you, Thomas, some experience for when your ambitions lead you into land ownership, when you have sufficient prize-money at your disposal. You’ll need something to leave to your heirs other than a worn suit of armour and a bundle of weapons.’
By the Virgin! Edward did not know what he was doing.
‘We have not considered other stewards yet, sir,’ I said.
‘Why bother? This can be done in a handshake – and then we can all blow the cobwebs away with a good run after the hounds. If it’s a matter of money, Will, I’ll arrange a grant until your own resources become free for your own use. There!’ He clapped his hand down once again on Will’s shoulder. ‘All signed and sealed, and you have your new steward.’
The King beamed and moved away, the hounds following in a wave of brindled flesh, leaving Thomas and Will to shake hands, well pleased with the deal.
As the King had said, we had a new steward.
Will was light with relief. ‘We must talk further about this, Sir Thomas. Are you going, Joan?’
Why would I stay? To listen to these two men set up a household containing the three of us? I would if I thought for one moment that either would listen to a word I said. Will would see the offer as manna from heaven as long as Thomas did not demand too much in payment. As for Thomas’s motives – I could not discern them. And the King, all unwittingly, had put his blessing on the whole procedure.
I smiled with an air of sweet acceptance that challenged my control, and left them to the discussion of terms.
I had no intention of allowing a ménage à trois of this strange nature to develop without my hand on the reins, my pride balking at such an outrageous situation. The fact that there were no adverse comments regarding our new household was an irrelevance. If anyone should discover the truth of our marital difficulties, we would all be cast into the mire. I would fight tooth and nail to prevent it.
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