Queen of the North

The Earl was suavely confident in his response. ‘I’ll make no apology. I took what was on offer.’

‘You knew that he would break that foolery of an oath!’

‘And you were unaware of what Lancaster intended? You are not so naive, Elizabeth.’

‘Is it naivety to believe that he should not be King? No wonder you were at the forefront in helping to get Richard securely into Henry’s hands at Conwy Castle. I knew you were self-serving, my lord, but to be tight-knit with him from the beginning when you knew he had not the right… You told him you had a price at Doncaster. By God he paid it, and your hands are smeared with filth.’

‘Enough, Elizabeth.’

‘It is not nearly enough. It was all deceit and double-dealing, all empty, broken promises, which you condoned. And you expect me to accept it, because it has worked out so well for Percy supremacy.’

I was on my feet, finding it impossible to sit, when the Earl leaned across the rolls, all but spitting out the words.

‘You will be quick enough to accept when you benefit from our power. When Harry steps into my shoes, you will be indeed Queen of the North, with no one to challenge it.’

He knew well the road to take to appeal to my ambitions, for myself as a Percy wife, and for my Mortimer connections, but I would not be distracted.

‘Your son is as deceitful as his father,’ I retaliated. Perhaps Harry’s possible perfidy hurt more than all else.

Oh, I had accepted that there had been true justification for Lancaster’s return to England, but the promises he had made on oath that day had been as ephemeral as cobwebs, dispersed in a gale. There never would be a worthier King in his mind. Lancaster had intended to seize the throne from the very beginning; the Earl had taken the payment for his allegiance long before Lancaster was King. All this incriminating document did was ratify our involvement after the event. And Harry? Had he known? Had his talk of a Mortimer King been as empty as his father’s?

As if reading my mind, Worcester said gently: ‘There never was any thought of the Earl of March taking Richard’s crown, Elizabeth. Who would have supported him? Lancaster had the power and the opportunity, as well as the will of the great magnates of the land behind him. The barrenness of Lancaster’s oath is irrelevant. It served its purpose in winning men to his side. The crown marked his victory, and we are beneficiaries.’

The smooth argument of a man of law. Without an excuse I left them, distancing myself as far as possible, climbing the steps to the wall-walk on the barbican where we had once stood to look out over the extent of the March. I turned full circle. Our power over these lands, as far as the eye could see and beyond, was so much stronger but the Mortimers had been betrayed.

I had no wish to talk to Harry.

Except that he followed me. I heard his footsteps, saw the swirl of his hair emerging above the stonework.

‘Did you know?’ I demanded even before he had climbed to be on a level with me.

‘Of the agreement, no. That was between my father and Lancaster.’ He had the sense to keep his distance from me, instead hitching himself to a seat between two of the crenels.

It was some consolation, but barely enough.

‘It is not just.’

‘No, it is not.’

His acceptance merely stoked my anger. ‘So all ends are neatly tied. You will rule the north and stand at Lancaster’s side.’ I could not name him King at that moment. ‘The Percy name is polished into brilliance.’

‘It is and we will do the work well. I’m sorry that all this disturbs you.’ He turned his head, squinting at me in the low sunlight. ‘I am sorry that you scowl at me.’

I made to walk past him, although where I could take refuge I had no idea, except that he slid from his seat and caught my arm.

‘I don’t necessarily turn a blind eye to what Lancaster did.’

‘No? You’re the only Percy hereabouts who does not!’

‘Let me speak.’ His voice had sharpened. ‘I don’t sanction it. My father does, even my uncle, but I don’t. I think that a sacred oath should be kept. I think that the wrong King has been crowned. But we can do nothing to change that. I acknowledge what is just and right for your family, Elizabeth, but as my uncle said – it was never a possibility.’

‘It was our support that made it possible. There you were, bowing and scraping before him as soon as he had landed. And your father sold his soul for the power it would give him. Did you enjoy being kingmakers? Now you have the royal House of Lancaster eating out of your hand. The royal Lancaster arse is resting on a Percy cushion. And you will enjoy the proceeds.’

‘So will you. So will our children.’

I thought of my son Hal, inheritor of all this power and prestige.

‘Yes. I know that. That makes it so much worse. And I am ashamed.’

‘You will forgive me if I cannot share that shame. We did what needed to be done.’

‘God forgive you for it.’

I tugged my wrist from his hold and left him to survey the rewards of his treachery. Harry had driven a wedge between us, for which I could not readily forgive him. My heart was a lead weight in my chest, and there was no one to whom I could unburden my disappointment.

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