‘So it’s to be a vow of chastity, is it? To live as a nun, without the cloister.’ Philippa slapped her hand down on her lap. ‘In God’s name, Kate, you are still young enough to have your own life. Will you flounder in misery because one man had turned his back on you?’

‘I am not floundering.’

‘I say you are. There is no reason why you should not visit friends. Even go to Court. The King has always had a high regard for you, and with the prospect of a new young wife, he would welcome you. And yet you shut yourself away here as if you have nothing to look forward to but death.’

I stared at the pair of them, rejecting their advice out of hand. The young King might welcome me to his new court with his beautiful young wife, Anne of Bohemia, but the Duke of Lancaster would also be there. And so would Constanza.

‘No, I will not go to Court. And it is not true—I have not shut myself away. I have merely taken up my duties to Kettlethorpe and Coleby for my son. I am content. I will not visit friends. I will not go to Court, even if King Richard invites me. I will not remarry. We will just have to survive here together, three abandoned females, without a man to add disruption to our lives.’

My smile had long since vanished.

Philippa, equally with no hope of a reconciliation with her much-travelled husband, cast her stitching onto the floor. ‘I can think of a better way of life.’

So could I, but I would not admit it. ‘Then if that is so you must return to the Duchess,’ was all I would say. In my present mood, I wished that she would, whilst I lived like the nun the Duke had made me.




Chapter Fifteen

I was right not to go. I could not have smiled on him.

Duchess Constanza was seen frequently at his side, enjoying their restored relationship. Arrangements were being made for a new campaign to conquer Castile.

The Duke and Duchess of Lancaster had been truly blessed, but in the harvest it was I who was stripped bare of all my bloom.

I took all the jewellery the Duke had given me over the years, every single piece of it, and dropped it into the bottom of a coffer in which I kept garments I no longer wore. I turned two little brooches over in my hand, remembering when he had pinned them to my bodice, less than a year before. A little gold heart set with a diamond. A clasp with two hands interlocked around a ruby. I added them to the hoard in my coffer and turned the key, but not before placing the coral and gold rosary there.

I would never wear them again.

In a week at the beginning of February, when it was possible to travel the roads again because of a hard frost that froze the mire into something passable, a courier beat his way to my door, bright with Lancastrian livery.

‘Now what? Does he plan to win my good graces with ale and venison this week? I swear he will not do it.’

I had no patience with anyone in those dark days after the new year. I took the package with bad grace.

We had been apart a matter of weeks, but to my mind I was living in the depths of a black well. Every day was a struggle to remain calmly courteous to those amongst whom I lived. I accomplished it, because it behoved me to be courteous, by encasing my emotions in cold apathy, like a suit of armour that would let nothing come close and hurt me. I repelled all friendly overtures. I refused to ride the new mare despite her confiding manner and satin hide. The sable-lined cloak I consigned to the coffer along with the jewels. I was a femme sole and would espouse my title as Lady of Kettlethorpe as I had never done in the past.

I carried the packet into the nursery, picking up the baby from the floor as I sat. Thomas was a year old now and sturdy of limb. I hugged his solid little body, my eye on the document. It was very official, surprisingly so. I thought it might be some form of financial security for the children. Yes, that would be it. Setting Thomas squarely on my lap, I ran my hands over the bulk of it. I could feel a seal.

‘Are you going to open it?’ Agnes was hovering, sensing my reluctance, but overcome with curiosity. ‘It won’t improve for being ignored. It can’t harm you, can it? I’ll take the child.’