Daughter of York by Anne Easter Smith Read Free Book Online

she watched a pair of swans glide along, regally ignoring a family of coots chugging upstream. The blue wing of a kingfisher flashed from a willow as it neatly dived and speared a fish. Then a gray heron lifted out of the rushes as effortlessly as down and obligingly flew across the scene, making her smile with pleasure. How she loved it here!
    Cecily had been instructed by Edward to leave Baynard’s and make royal Shene their own. He would join her there. Built by Henry the Fifth, it was not a fortress but an elegant palace with high, timbered roofs and intricate spires. Overlooking the river and flanked by orchards and herb gardens, it afforded the king a haven from the heat and sickness of London in the summertime. One of the royal hunting parks, teeming with deer and other game for the king’s pleasure, bordered the orchards.
    One early morning the royal barge, hastily redecorated with the white rose of York, had conveyed Cecily, Margaret, and their attendants up the river, past Westminster and the villages of Chelsea and Kew and to the great bend that hid the palace from view. As the oarsmen pulled the boat to starboard and the three-story, gleaming white structure shimmered through the light mist rising from the water, the women gasped with delight. Only in a fairy tale could a palace be so beautiful, Margaret thought, staring at the many octagonal and round towers capped with pepperpot domes and turrets, which were graced by ornamental weather-vanes and carvings.
    Once inside, she ran from room to room, admiring the fluted ceilings, carved columns and colorful, tiled floors. Servants, who had accompanied the household baggage overland on huge carts, carried in furniture, chests and wall hangings brought from Baynard’s. Cecily assigned Margaret the chamber overlooking the river where she now sat, and after a week she still had not tired of watching the wildlife teeming below her.
    Today, however, was special. Edward was coming. She had chosen to stay out of the way all morning while her mother commanded the preparations for a royal welcome. Not long after Prime, boats had begun to arrive filled with barrels and sacks, boxes of animal carcasses, fowl and fish of all kinds, fruits and spices, and great hogsheads of wine. Neverending relays of servants carried the food from the dock into the kitchens behind the palace.
    Now, later in the afternoon, Margaret heard music wafting softly on the wind. Ned must be coming, she thought, and checked her appearance in the polished silver mirror. She tucked a stray lock of hair under her short hennin, pulled her pointed sleeve cuffs over the backs of her hands and smoothed her gray mourning gown. Like her mother, who was known to outspend even Queen Margaret on her wardrobe, Margaret took great pains with her dress and made sure her seamstress kept her in the latest fashions. She lightly bit her lips to give them some color, checked that her eyebrows were exactly the right thinness and wished her cheeks weren’t so plump.
    The music was louder now; Margaret could distinguish viols, lutes and gemshorns. She heard voices, laughter and Ned booming, “Ho, there! Mother, Margaret, where are you?” Hurrying Ann and Jane along, shewent down to the great hall to greet the king. Cecily had told her to curtsey low, which she did, making a graceful picture as Edward strode in.
    “As is befitting my status, Lady Margaret,” he teased. “Nay, Meggie, rise and give your brother a kiss!” He gave her an appraising look as she stood back from their embrace. “That gown becomes you right well. You are all grown up, in truth! What do you think, friends? My little sister is growing into quite a beauty.” He whispered, “But I would halt the growing part, Meg, or I shall have to find you a giant for a husband.”
    Margaret was stunned by this reception. Her mother had instructed her that etiquette at a royal court was very different from the more informal way in their ducal household, and