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

a handsome lad, Joanna°ught, if very unlike his father. His sister Gwenllian shared his color-& had pale skin and auburn hair, burnished curls spilling down her

200back in a cascade of copper, while Gwladys and Marared were as dark Gruffydd and Gwenllian were fair. They were a striking quartet, but wary as fawns, would need gentle handling. Joanna smiled, held o the dog toward Gwenllian, the youngest."Would you like to pet her?" The child reached out, her finoe brushing Sugar's long, silky fur, but Gwladys hissed something l Welsh, and Gwenllian jerked her hand back."You need not fear; she'll not bite," Joanna said reassuringly. Qet ting no response, she tried another approach. "As I do not speak Welsh I should like to make sure that I am saying your names correctly. Grift. ith, is it not? AndG/ad-is? Your lord father told me that is Welsh for Claudia ..." Her voice trailed off, for a disconcerting thought had just come to her. "You do speakFrench?"The little girls were now looking not at Joanna, but at their brother Gruffydd drew an audible breath. Joanna caught but one word of the outburst that followed: Saeson. As ignorant as she was of Welsh, she knew Saeson to be a contemptuous term for the English. But even had she not known its meaning, she would have needed no translation. It was there for all to read in the defiant jutting of Gruffydd's jaw, in Gwladys's black eyes, in Gwenllian and Marared's shocked giggles."Gruffydd!" The voice was angry, was so like Llewelyn's that Joanna was startled to see a stranger. No, not a stranger, she amended, for this man's kinship to her husband was emblazoned upon his face for all to see. He hadLlewelyn's coloring, the same finely chiseled bone structure, the same deepset dark eyes. But his mouth was not Llewelyn's; thin and rigid, it spoke not of laughter, but of pain denied, of secrets never to be shared. He snapped a command in Welsh, and Gruffydd's color faded. Not looking at Joanna, he mumbled, "I ask your forgiveness, Lady, for my bad manners.""Of course," Joanna said automatically. The boy's French was flawless. She watched as he fled the hall, his sisters in flustered pursuit, and all she could think of was her own first meeting with Isabelle, of how little it had taken to win her heart."You must pay my nephew no mind, Madame. Ten is a troublesome age.""You must be Lord Adda, Llewelyn's brother." Joanna ventured a smile, and he nodded gravely, shifted his crutch so he could bow over her hand. Joanna almost implored him not to make the effort, checked herself just in time."Do call me Joanna." She hesitated, but who else was there to ask? "My lord .. . Adda, will you tell me the truth? There was not much sentiment amongst your people for this marriage, was there?"He did not reply at once, but she got the impression not that he was

201t. ne his words, rather that he was weighing her, assessing her abilv/el"accept honesty "No," he said at last "Most of Llewelyn's subjectsId rather he'd wed a Cymraes a woman of our blood But a^ I u wife would bring few political gams, so they'd reconciled them-1 es to a foreign marriage It was thought Llewelyn would wed the j ehter of the Manx King, but then your father did offer you in her d Llewelyn would have had to be utterly mad, of course, to refuse t not all are as clear-sighted as he, and some were affronted that he uld take anEnglish wife I do not mean to offend you, but the Welsh have been given little reason to love the English "Joanna had never thought of herself as English, in fact, to one ofNorman-French descent, that qualified as an insult She did not quibble atAdda's inaccuracy, however, realizing that to the Welsh, the distinction drawn between Norman and Saxon was irrelevant But that understanding only intensified her sense of isolation, her awareness that she was a political pledge, a hostage for England's amity"I thank you for your honesty, Adda Be honest with me now, too Tell me if you believe Gruffydd will come to accept me as his father's wife "Adda was silent for some moments "He's a headstrong boy, thinks the world ofLlewelyn and for five years he has not had to share his father's love It is only natural that he should resent you, see you as a nval, an intruder " ButJoanna was, after all, very young herself, and Adda compromised his candor with a half-truth, adding, "Mayhap with time ""Yes, with time," Joanna echoed, lowering her lashes to hide her hurtJOANNA'S life as Princess of Gwynedd was not utterly devoid of compensations or satisfactions Never before had she her own private bedchamber Never before had she money of her own All her life she'd been dependent upon the generosities of others But as Llewelyn's consort, she had her own privy purse, was entitled to one-third of his private mcomes As far as she knew, English law made no like provision for tnglish queens Nor had she ever before experienced the sweetness of giving commands, of having them obeyed at onceShe'd been greatly pleased when her father had engaged Blanche for her Now she had her Wn household chaplain, seneschal, chief groom, handmaiden, candle earer, doorkeeper, page, even her own cook and food taster If she wanted to write to her Aunt Ela, she need only dictate to her chaplain, within the hour a couner would be dispatched to Salisbury Castle ad' a staple of the Norman diet, was not as often found upon Welsh

202tables; they were herdsmen, not farmers. Joanna had casually confess to a longing for wheaten bread, making but idle conversation wlt, Blanche and Enid, her Welsh maid. The next day a freshly baked 10 was laid out by her trencher, and at every meal thereafter.For the first h'me