The Wise Woman Read online

  'This time next year,' Hugo said. He came back towards his father in his eagerness. 'But he needs to have the firm promise of it by the autumn.'

  'I'll do this for you then,' the old lord said. 'If Catherine has a son safely delivered in the October, then I'll find the thousand pounds for you. And it shall be your money and your son's money. A gift to celebrate his birth. You may do as you wish with it. Buy land in good heart and with set rents, or throw it to the winds and the seas with this venture. Let us see how your judgement is, when you have a son in your arms to be provided for, another generation to come after you.'

  'If Catherine has a son, I have a thousand pounds?' Hugo asked. The old lord nodded. 'You have my word,' he said. Hugo stepped quickly towards his father, dropped to one knee and kissed his hand. 'I shall make my fortune then,' he said delightedly. 'For Catherine is certain she is carrying a boy. Isn't she, Alys? You think so, don't you?'

  Alys nodded stiffly. Her neck was tight with strain. 'I'll go to her now and see how she fares,' Hugo said delightedly. He bowed to his father, nodded blithely at Alys and strode from the room. Alys did not move as the door shut behind him.

  The old lord chuckled. 'I shall have some peace in this castle yet,' he observed. 'I shall set myself up as a marriage broker. Wait till you see how he cossets her now that she means an heir, a future and a thousand pounds for him!'

  Alys moved her stiff lips in a smile, and took up the book she was reading to him.

  Fifteen

  Alys spent the evening on the other side of the ladies' gallery fireplace from Hugo and watched with an impassive face as Catherine tapped him on the shoulder in reproof at a jest, rested her hand on his shoulder and twisted one of his dark curls around her finger.

  Alys was ordered to bring Hugo some more Osney wine from the sideboard. She went down on one knee to serve him. He smiled down at her.

  'Are you well, Alys?' he asked under his breath, so that only she could hear. 'When I wrote to my father of all my doings I thought of you, reading the letters. I wrote to you as well as to him, you know.'

  Alys' hand pouring the wine shook a little and the bottle rattled on the lip of the cup.

  'When I lay with a whore I thought of you, Alys,' he said, his voice very low. 'I wondered if you were playing with me. If you have played with me all along, and with my father, and with my wife. What dark games do you have, Alys? Have you truly given up play and magic after all, as you promised?'

  He glanced swiftly round. No one was watching them. 'I went away half mad for you,' he whispered. 'Everywhere I went in Newcastle the edge was off my pleasure. I kept wondering what you would think of a thing, how you would like it. And then I was angry with you, Alys. I believe you bewitched me after all. I believe you have played with me to spoil my peace.'

  'I have no magic, my lord,' Alys said stiffly. 'I have a little skill with herbs, sickness and childbirth.' She shot a quick look at him from under her eyelashes, then she stood with the bottle of wine still in her hands. 'And my peace is spoiled too,' she said.

  Hugo laughed up at her, his white teeth sharp in his smile. 'I'm ready to be witched,' he said. 'I'm ready to be tempted! But see how I am placed now, Alys! There can be nothing in my life till October -I get everything then. We could make merry till then, you and I. But in secret.'

  'What are you saying?' Catherine interrupted. 'What are you saying to my lord, Alys? Don't you think she has grown thin, Hugo? Thin and white. I am afraid we are not feeding her well enough. She was so pretty when she first came to the castle and now she is as boney as a spinster at her distaff!'

  The women laughed in an obedient chorus. Alys met Hugo's quick scrutiny with a look of blank resentment.

  'Are you unwell?' he asked neutrally so that they could all hear.

  'No,' Alys said in a tone as level as his. 'I am weary with being indoors so much. That is all.'

  'Leave us now,' Catherine interrupted. 'One of you check that my bed is warm.' She shot a look at Hugo. 'Though I will be hot enough in a moment, I reckon,' she said in a loud whisper.

  Hugo laughed and took the hand she reached out for him. 'Away to bed, my lady,' he said caressingly. 'You must rest for the health of my son. You don't know what a fortune I have riding on him!'

  Eliza went into Catherine's bedroom and checked there were fresh herbs on the floor and under the pillows. Then she bobbed a half-curtsey to the two of them before the fire and she, and all the ladies, went to their rooms.

  'Not so hot for you these days,' Morach commented as she and Alys stripped off their gowns and scurried into the cold bed in their shifts. 'No,' Alys said shortly. 'Why's that d'you think?' Morach pried. 'I don't know,' Alys said. 'I wonder why,' Morach said, undeterred. "The old lord has him fast,' Alys said, in sudden impatience. 'He did it today, I heard every word. He will make Hugo's fortune if Catherine bears a healthy son. He has promised him a thousand pounds for his own free use.'

  Morach gave a low whistle. 'So Hugo's bought off!' she said. 'No future for you then, Alys. I reckon that work you did with the moppets worked better than you thought!' 'I've wished that away a thousand times,' Alys said. 'Why?' Morach asked. 'Because you love him and desire him now? Because you want him so much that you will risk everything to lie with him? While you look at him so coldly and walk past him without looking back, are you praying he will put her aside and come to you; as hot for you, as you are for him?'

  Alys pushed back the covers and jumped down to the cold floor.

  'Yes,' she said through her teeth. She rattled the wood basket and threw a log on the fire. 'I am sick to my very soul for him. I cannot eat, I cannot sleep, and now tonight he lies with her again, and after this child there will be another, and another, and all there will be for me will be the leavings from her dinner.'

  Morach chuckled delightedly. 'Pass me my shawl,' she said. 'And put on another log to bank up the fire. It's as good as the mummers, life in this castle. You're lost now she's with child, you know. Even without the money he wouldn't stop going with her. He has the taste of her now.'

  Alys threw the shawl to Morach. 'What d'you mean?' she asked. She took a comb from the chest of clothes and a steel mirror and started to comb her hair. It was shoulder length now, a tangle of brass and gold. Alys picked impatiently at the knots.

  'The taste of her?' Morach asked. 'Oh, men are trapped by it. When their women are carrying a child. Men see their women's breasts grow fuller, their rounded bellies. They like the evidence of their own rutting, even as they do it. It's two parts male swagger, and one part something else. Something old, deeper. And Hugo has it badly.'

  Alys pulled at her hair mercilessly and coiled it into a rough plait. 'Badly?' she asked.

  Morach cocked an eyebrow at her. 'Sure you want to hear?' she asked. Alys nodded.

  'He had her this afternoon,' Morach said. 'After he had been with his father. You were still in the old lord's chambers. He came striding down here and shooed all the women out of the room and he took her like he was possessed. If this is your magic moppets then they've done their job well. He can't leave her alone. First this afternoon and then tonight again.'

  Alys' face was shocked. 'How were they together? Was he as rough with her as ever? He was never tender with her?'

  Morach shook her head. 'He didn't bind her this time,' she said. 'But he did everything else he had a mind to do. He slapped her a little and he pulled her hair. Then he made her take him in her mouth. He's careful for the child so he would not lie on her. He thrust himself into her mouth and bellowed like a bull with pleasure.'

  'Stop it,' Alys said abruptly. 'You're disgusting, Morach. How d'you know all this? You're lying.'

  'I watched,' Morach said, smiling, tucking the fine shawl around her shoulders and moving the pillow behind her tousled head. 'I needed to know. Of course I watched.'

  Alys nodded. Nothing Morach could do would surprise her.

  'And what about her?' Alys said abruptly. 'Why does she permit it? Now that she has his