The King's Witch Read Free

chaste.”
    Johanna lifted her cup; she realized she was a little drunk. But the first part of her mother’s orders looked easier to fulfill than she had expected: Richard would marry the girl after all. “Chastity. I suppose it has to start somewhere. As Saint Augustine said.”
    “Don’t try to distract me,” he said. He walked toward her, put the cup on the table, and put his booted foot up on the treasure chest. “That wasn’t half what Augustine said.”
    “So you’ll be chaste for the Crusade? How long will that last?”
    He gave a bark of startled laughter. His eyes were so intense, even the irises seemed blue. “This is the Crusade. We’re bringing in the Kingdom of Jesus. What higher calling is there? It lasts until we win. Maybe it lasts all our lives.”
    She hoped not. She said, “This new chastity of yours. Is that why you made that confession in Messina? All but naked in the public square in front of most of Sicily? Do you know what Mother said about that?”
    He smiled at her. He seemed pleased. He loved to shock their mother. “Mother told me, although I don’t remember she got so worked up when Papa had himself whipped for killing the Archbishop. And I told her, I did it to cleanse my soul for the task to come. And since—”
    “As if everybody didn’t already know you have the morals of a billy goat.”
    Richard sat down beside her on the couch. “And since then I have not touched a single white buttock, nor pressed my lips to soft sweet lips—” He began to sing a little, on the last words, part of an old song, his hands holding an invisible lute.
    Johanna said, “Female or male?”
    “Man, woman, boy, girl, or goat.” Abruptly he stopped smiling. “This is my offering to God, Jo. Myself, free of sin, to do His greatest, most glorious work.”
    Johanna realized that he meant this, that it was no mere proper face that he put on when it served him. She saw the second of her mother’s orders becoming even harder than she had expected.
    Get him married. Get him home, where his real duty was.
    He said to her, “Christ will come when we are worthy.”
    Johanna said, “Yes, but you must have an heir. What if something happened to you? What if you do spend the rest of your life out here?” She ran out of wind; even she could see that against the lure of King Jesus a baby was nothing.
    “I’ll attend to that in good time. And there’s an heir. There’s John. The family will go on. The Crusade is more important than anything else, even us.”
    “John is not good. Even I don’t like John.”
    They were quiet a moment. Johanna thought they were thinking of the same man, and what was never said about him. Richard broke the silence.
    “Who will marry us?”
    “Evreux, of course. Nothing fancy.”
    “Good. Just get it done. I can lie down on the bed with her.” He got up. His foot nudged the treasure chest again. “You need to get busy. Make this room over so I can hold court here. Put this where it belongs.” He raised his hand and the two guards by the doors leaped to open them. The men gushed in, shouting, cheering Richard, who went in among them, his arms out. They all massed together, smacking and banging together as men usually did on meeting, especially after a good fight.
    Johanna turned, her temper bridling up. This was why he had brought her along, to keep his household for him. She wished she were a man; she would show him how to rule. Her women were waiting, over at the other side of the hall, and the new girl, Edythe, had come in among them, which pleased her. She liked Edythe, who was sensible and capable and did instantly as she was told. She was good with potions and tonics, and Johanna’s mother had said she had healing hands. If she was a spy for Johanna’s mother, at least they were all working to the same end. Johanna went to collect them and go and tell the Princess Berengaria she would soon be the Queen of England, although with a difference.

    Berengaria