Read The Jewels of Warwick for Free Online Page B

have naught but my wits to see me through.
    Men don't age as quickly as women, but I daresay look at your King
    Henry in the next few years, after a war or two and a few personal
    tragedies, and I can assure you he will begin showing his age. He
    won't be the pretty boy ass he is now."
     
     
"Topaz! What a way to talk about our King!" chided Emerald.
     
     
"Your King, you naïve child, your King? I
    referred to him as such as I feel generous tonight, and do not wish
    to insult him."
     
     
"I've heard you say worse things about your own husband-to-be," said
    Amethyst. "And he's the one you'll be abed with every night."
     
     
"Every night—posh! I plan to maintain my own chambers, into which he
    will not set foot uninvited."
     
     
"Surely you won't lock yourself away in separate apartments on your
    wedding night, Topaz?" Amethyst exclaimed. She was at that age where
    curiosity about such matters fairly burst out of her. "I look
    forward to my own wedding night."
     
     
"So you should, but to me, I have my own reasons for this marriage,
    least of which is the bliss of the marriage bed."
     
     
"But you love Lord Gilford, do you not?" she asked, shocked.
     
     
"Love, sister? No, I do not love him. But it matters not to him,
    because he has enough love in him for the both of us. It bothers him
    not that my desire for him does not match his for me, or that he
    wishes to remain faithful to me forever. He is a lucky man, for very
    few people find love within marriage. I am marrying him for reasons
    of my own."
     
     
"And what reasons may they be?" Amethyst asked, as Emerald had lost
    interest in the conversation and was now pawing through Topaz's
    wardrobe. "Surely 'tis not for Kenilworth Castle."
     
     
Topaz turned to face her younger sister and looked deeply into her
    eyes. "A son, Amethyst, that is what I want more than anything. I
    want a son more than these empty titles, castles and lands to build
    them on."
     
     
Amethyst started to relax. "Wanting to be a good mother does you
    credit, I am sure."
     
     
"I want a son, an heir, to carry my legacy through history. And I'll
    be breeding as of tomorrow night, pray God. This is my mission. And
    I shall carry it out."
     
     
Amethyst understood then what Topaz was saying, as the younger
    Emerald could not, and what their mother Sabine dared not. Lord
    bless them all, she wasn't marrying Matthew Gilford to be a good,
    loving and true wife and put her boundless ambition to good use as a
    chatelaine and helpmeet to her husband. She was going into this
    marriage in a coldly calculating way, using the poor man. She was
    still on this rampage about being the rightful queen. And
    unsuspecting Matthew Gilford, as smitten with Topaz as he was, was
    no more than the tool to provide the means to power.
     
     
Amethyst wondered if she should warn her mother, nay, even warn the
    naïve bridegroom herself. But no, it was not her place. Her
    mother would not dare try to call off the wedding and she could
    never betray her sister no matter how unfair her actions seemed.
     
     
She could only pray that her sister was talking with her usual
    bravado and swagger, the better to hide her true feelings lest she
    seem vulnerable to love and romance just like other women. By all
    accounts, Matthew Guilford was a paragon. How could any woman not
    fall in love with him, even the willful Topaz?
     
     
Topaz's wedding day bloomed with a quilting of sunshine illuminating
    the clouds that billowed out like a galloping range of mountains.
    The trees were unleashing their papery leaves, carpeting the castle
    grounds with a matting of red and gold.
     
     
The great hall sparkled with Warwick Castle's magnificent array of
    plate. Trestle tables lined the length of the hall, covered with
    linen cloths threaded with gold. The drinking bowls, goblets, ewers
    and basins glittered in the glow of hundreds of candles adorning the
    chandeliers and sprouting from the ornate candlesticks on