Succession by Livi Michael Read Free Book Online Page A

no money. It was said that he had pawned the crown jewels for his wedding.
    ‘How much?’ she asked, meaning the annuity.
    ‘Four thousand marks.’
    She closed her eyes briefly. He was grateful there was no outburst. He did not mention that Somerset would be given twenty thousand pounds a year. In all probability, neither of them would see either amount.
    ‘So generous,’ she said. ‘Or is that what you have to pay him?’
    There was a gleam of humour in the duke’s eyes, but he did not respond.
    ‘When?’ she said.
    ‘As soon as may be arranged.’
    ‘I imagine,’ she said, ‘that will take some time.’
    The duke merely said that it was Ireland, not the North Pole.
    ‘Did he not think to send you to the North Pole? That was remiss of him.’
    The duke said that he would be sure to remind the king, next time. But the duchess was pacing the room, frowning.
    ‘Or to one of the circles of hell,’ she said.
    The duke said that he would not compare Ireland to hell.
    ‘Your uncle might have,’ she said, and the duke said nothing. His uncle, his uncle’s father and his father before him had all died in Ireland. It was partly to retrieve the lands left to him there that he had agreed to go.
    A gift of land in Ireland is a gift of blood
, it was said.
    ‘I will not be sailing in winter, at any rate,’ he said. ‘It will take me until spring at least to muster some men. And the ships. It will be summer before I can sail.’
    The duchess stopped behind his chair and put one hand on the back of it, near his shoulder.
    ‘
We
,’ she said. ‘Before
we
sail.’
    The duke turned to look at her; there was the beginning of a smile in his eyes. The Rose of Raby they called her, after the castle in which she was born. As she was growing up, everyone petted her because she was so pretty; she had the kind of prettiness that even now led people to think she must be sweet.
    They did not think it twice.
    ‘You believe that you can subdue the Irish?’ he asked.
    ‘I will not be left behind,’ she said.
    The duke’s smile broadened. She did not like to travel, but she accompanied him everywhere. Three of their children had been born in Normandy. Now she leaned forward so that her face was almost – not quite – touching his, and spoke softly.
    ‘You did not think that you were leaving me behind?’
    ‘
We
will sail,’ he corrected himself, looking up at her. And, almost imperceptibly, the look changed between them: hers softened; his became more intent.

12
     

The New Duke of Somerset
     
     
And in the year 1448 on the day of St George, the earl [of Somerset] was made Duke of Somerset and about Pentecost the Earl of Suffolk was made Duke of Suffolk.
    John Benet’s Chronicle
     
     
    The queen had asked to see him in private.
    There was nothing unusual in this, given the recent crisis. These days, the new Duke of Somerset was almost permanently in the company of the queen. The king had finally ordered the governor of Maine and Anjou to evacuate those territories, but he had refused, saying that he did not think the letters were valid. There had been scenes of rejoicing in Maine, and riots in London, where the king’s unpopularity was such that his council had decided to send him around the country. The king himself had suggested that he should go to France, but they did not trust him there. All the preparations had been made for him to tour the north of England, but then he had suffered a reactive melancholy. His face was sunken, his eyes haunted. He had taken to spending even more hours in his chapel, or playing with a staff, to one end of which a bird had been tethered. He was mesmerized, apparently, by its struggling upwards dance.
    The Duke of Somerset had been made Lieutenant of France, but he had not sailed yet, because of the difficulty with that country and because the queen needed him. The king had not yet set off on his tour, no agreement could be reached with the French and the queen was in