B008257PJY EBOK by Sandra Worth Read Free Book Online Page A

he thought, watching little Edward chase butterflies at the water’s edge and Maggie read. They scarcely seemed brother and sister. In contrast to poor, dim Edward, Maggie was a normal, healthy little girl, contemplative and intelligent, with a love of books and rarely to be found without one, as now. He picked up a pebble and threw it into the pond. Ned’s hound, newly knighted Sir Tristan, went barking after it, while their old wolf-hound, Roland, now thirteen, who had belonged to Anne’s dead uncle John Neville, opened a sleepy eye to watch.
    “My lord father—” said Ned.
    “Aye, fair son?”
    “Why does Evil always vanquish Good?”
    Richard had a sudden vision of young Edward at the inn in Stony Stratford soon after King Edward’s death. He flinched. Ned was gazing at him with dark, thoughtful blue eyes. John’s eyes. The past was everywhere at once. “But it doesn’t, Ned. Whatever gave you that idea?”
    “King Arthur dies in the end.”
    “Aye, ’tis a sad tale. Yet it lifts our hearts. Even now, seven hundred years later, we still recount Arthur’s deeds of arms and remember his courage and his dream. So, in truth, he didn’t die, did he?”
    Ned was silent. Richard knew the idea was too insubstantial for his young mind to grasp.
    “Virtue always prevails, my son, and the world is proof of it. In Roman times, man was enslaved, the human condition one of greatest misery. Now, men are free. They have rights, laws to protect them. In another few hundred years, their lot may be even kinder. It shall not come about because evil prevails, but because good men made a difference. Whether they live or die as a result of their efforts is immaterial…” He picked up a stone and threw it into the pond. “See that ripple? A stone fell in and disappeared so that you might think it did no good. But if for a thousand years men sit on these banks and throw pebbles into the mere, one day, there will be no mere.”
    “One day there will be no evil?”
    “There will always be evil, for human nature does not change. But if enough of us are true to our conscience and seek to do good here on earth, our actions, which seem to count for little while we live, in the end can change the world. You are blessed, Ned. You’ll have the power to make a difference one day, for you will be king after me.”
    “Dear Papa, I’d rather die than live without you!”
    “Why, Ned, ’tis unnatural that a son die before the father. You will be king after me and do great works, and I shall look down from heaven and be proud.” Ned threw his arms around Richard’s neck and buried his dark head against his father’s shoulder. “Oh Papa… I love you so! I’d be afraid without you!”
    As his son’s soft arms clasped him tightly, Richard was flooded with warmth and fatherly love, but he also felt a certain fearful vulnerability. In this small, precious child dwelt his hopes and dreams, all joy, all meaning in life. Ned was their future, his and Anne’s. How he wished his cheeks were rosier, his lips redder, his eyes merrier! Richard slid his strong arms around his boy. It was for Ned, in large part, that he had taken the Crown. The world was filled with evil and danger, and Ned was so delicate…
     
    ~ * ~

Chapter 6
    “Then a long silence came upon the hall
    And Mordred thought, ‘The time is hard at hand.’”
     
    The time had come to leave York. Over the next week Richard placed little Edward and Maggie into Jack’s care and appointed him head of the Council of the North in his absence. Then he turned his attention to his own preparations for departure.
    St. Matthew’s Day dawned glorious and bright. Richard pushed back the bed curtains and went to the window. “What a fine morning!” he called out. “Listen to the lark, Anne. ’Tis unusual that he sings so fierce.”
    Anne stirred sleepily. “It’s not the lark,” she mumbled, “it’s the nightingale… Come to bed.”
    Richard returned, stood looking down at