Here Be Dragons - 1 by Sharon Penman (best ebook reader android TXT) 📗
- Author: Sharon Penman
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691JOANNA was standing beside her brother, bringing him up to date on the happenings at her husband's court. "Llewelyn's cousin Madog is here, as isMaelgwn's son. Gwenllian is still in Ireland, but Llewelyn's other daughters are present, and Tegwared and his wife; they've given Llewelyn and Ednyved four grandchildren so far. Gwladys, too; did you know? After thirteen barren years with Reginald de Braose, she found herself with child within a twelvemonth of marrying Ralph de Mortimer, has two sons by him now. There'sGlynis; you remember her from Llanfaes? Llewelyn and I made a most advantageous marriage for her, and I stood godmother to her firstborn. That isMarared over to your right; did I tell you she's to marry Walter Clifford?"Richard had been listening indulgently, having no real interest in Welsh weddings and birthings. But an alliance with a Marcher lord like Clifford was of no small significance, and he said admiringly, "So Llewelyn has entangled another Norman fish in his nuptial nets. He's pulled in quite a catch over the years: Chester, de Braose, de Mortimer, de Lacy . . . and now Clifford. Had he only a few more daughters and a sister or two, he might have won over theMarches by marriage!""Strange you should say that. Morgan, may God assoil him, once told Llewelyn the same thing, almost word for word.""I heard he'd died."She nodded. "Last year. No great surprise, for he'd been ailing, and he'd reached a venerable age. But Llewelyn took his death hard, still misses him sorely."A sudden burst of laughter drew their attention. They turned to discover thatNell was displaying the same magnetic allure for males that her mother had so often demonstrated; she was surrounded by bedazzled admirers, a vision in willow green, and Richard murmured, "Jesu, how like Isabella she is. The man on her left, the one gazing at her as if bewitched, damn me if he does not look remarkably like the Earl of Winchester.""That's because he is. And the man laughing is his younger brother, Robert deQuincy." Richard did not comment, but Joanna felt a need to elaborate further, to explain why the sons of one of their father's bitterest enemies were guests at her hearth. "Saer de Quincy," she said. "How Papa hated him. And how long ago it all seems. Roger and Robert de Quincy came with John the Scot and Elen.They are kin to John; his aunt was once wed to their uncle.""You owe me no explanations, Joanna. As you say, it was a long hrrte ago.Seeing Nell brings it back, though, for she could be Isabelle at eighteen, in truth she could. Do you ever hear from herfrom Isabelle?"
692"Not for years. What with Hugh de Lusignan's intrigues and I belle's yearly pregnancies, when would she find the time to write?"Richard grinned. "I've lost count; how many children has she born de Lusignan?Seven? Eight? For certes, we know what they do vvhe they're not plotting against Henry or the French King." Nell's laughte came to them again, and he shook his head. "That chastity oath of hers was an act of arrant lunacy, Joanna. She'll never hold to it. How can she? Look at her; she's the most beautiful woman in the hall.""Not so." Neither had heard Llewelyn's approach; they turned as he said, "Elen is the most beautiful woman at Aber . . . and that's because she so resembles her mother."Fair coloring was prized no less by the Welsh than by the English was
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