Here Be Dragons - 1 Sharon Penman (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📖

surf against the rocks below. The pass ofPenmaenmawr, Llewelyn called it, Welsh for End of the Large Stone." By then, alerted by Joanna's chalk-white pal'°r, he'd taken the mare's reins himself, and as the trail wound ever upward, Joanna had at last simply closed her eyes, sought to concentrate only upon the reassuring murmur of Llewelyn's voice. She was embarrassed at showing her fear so nakedly, although at least she'd stained more dignity than Blanche, who, when not whimpering, was s°bbing prayers to every saint on the Church calendar. Joanna belatedly

198understood why Llewelyn had declined the Earl of Chester's offer of a baggage cart. She could only marvel at the nonchalance of the Welsh who braved these heights with the ease of eagles, and she was grateful when Llewelyn, after assuring her that Aber was not perched upon a mountain peak, confessed that he had no liking himself for the sea never set foot on shipboard without feeling his stomach lurch, sink like a stone.She was indeed lucky, Joanna reminded herself now, had no cause for complaint in the husband God and her father had given her. And she would do her best somehow to make his world her own. With that resolution, she drew rein for her first look upon Aber.Llewelyn's palace was encircled by a deep, man-made ditch, fortified by wooden palisades, much like John's favorite hunting lodges at Freemantle andClipstone. Passing through the gatehouse into a bailey packed with people, Joanna saw wooden buildings such as she'd expect in any Norman lord's manor:stables and barn, a kiln and kitchens, privy chambers, kennels for Llewelyn's hunting dogs, quarters for those not bedding down in the great hall. Joanna was not sure what she'd thought to find, but she felt relief, nonetheless, that her surroundings were so familiar, were neither alien nor exotic.Llewelyn had no sooner dismounted than he was engulfed by wellwishers. For the moment forgotten, Joanna watched as a young boy and several small girls ran forward, flung themselves into Llewelyn's arms. Joanna was taken aback by the exuberance of their welcome; she would never have given her father so uninhibited a public greeting. But she was not as startled as she might have been twenty-four hours earlier. In that brief span, she'd seen ample evidence to document the Norman aphorism that there was not a Welshman born who did know his proper place. For certes, she thought, none of her father's subjects would have dared approach him as these Welsh men and women were crowding around Llewelyn.Llewelyn had remembered he was bringing back a bride, and moving towardJoanna, he reached up to lift her from the saddle. Acutely aware of all eyes upon her, she slid to the ground, smiled at her husband's children. They were attractive youngsters, but solemn, unsmiling, and remembering her own nervous unease about meeting Isabella Joanna's heart went out to them.edSEATED beside Llewelyn upon the dais in the great hall, Joanna receive0 the acknowledgments of her husband's subjects, now hers, too. White the chief officers of Llewelyn's court spoke French of necessity, few ° their wives did, and relieved of the need to make polite conversation'

199Joanna felt free to let her thoughts wander as they would. The gowns of the women were much like those at her father's court. But on their hair they wore only thin veils. Would Llewelyn want her to put aside her vvimples? The men looked rather like Papa's nobles, too, though not so finely garbed. She slanted a sideways look toward Llewelyn. His tunic ^as shorter than the gown in which he'd been wed, the long, lavishly furred robe of a highborn Norman lord; both tunic and chausses were a subdued shade of green, his boots higher than was fashionable at her father's court, reaching to the knee. She was glad he'd dressed so richly for their wedding, would not have wanted Chester and the other lords to scorn him for the strangeness of his Welsh ways.Mayhap life would not be as harsh and austere as she'd first feared. Looking about the great hall, she might well have been at Windsor or Winchester. And her bedchamber was in no way inferior to the royal apartments set aside forIsabelle's use. The rushes were sweet-smelling, the walls whitewashed, the bed hung with curtains, and the mattress filled with down, not straw. She'd not dared to ask Llewelyn if she would have her own quarters, like her stepmother and the queens on the Continent, and her relief had been intense and overwhelming upon finding it was so. But mingled with that relief was a reluctant sense of shame. No matter how often she told herself she had no reason for selfreproach, she flushed every time she thought of what she'd done at Rhuddlan Castle.Llewelyn had taken Rhuddlan some ten years ago, and there they'd passed the second night of their marriage. They'd covered thirty-six miles, and Joanna was very tired. She was also utterly wretched, longing for what she'd left behind and dreading what lay ahead. Excusing herself soon after supper, she retired to their bedchamber, and when Llewelyn came to bed, she lay very still, pretended to sleep. Remembering that now, Joanna bit her lip, twisted her wedding ring until it chafed her finger. For a wife to deny her husband his marital rights was a sin of no small proportions. Not that she'd actually refused him, of course. But she could not stifle an uneasy suspicion that she'd violated the spirit, if not the letter, of her marriage vows.Across the hall, her stepchildren had withdrawn into one of theVvmdow recesses. Joanna had been awaiting just such an opportunity to sPeak to them alone, and picking up Sugar, she made her way toward wm. They rose at her approach, the girls staring more at Sugar than at°ar»na, for such small dogs were a rarity in Wales. Gruffydd, however, ePt his eyes focused upon Joanna's face; they were a vivid sea green, nged with thick golden lashes. He was