Free The White Queen by Philippa Gregory Page B

took the king by the arm as if he were a boy and hustled
     him from the room into a privy chamber, leaving the rest of us boiling with gossip
     and amazement like neeps seething in a stew.
    I took the chance to pin our father into the corner and tell him that I thought the
     king might announce his marriage to you, so as to prevent us looking as great fools
     as Lord W—but even in that moment I confess to you that I feared that the king might
     be admitting marriage to another lady. There has been another lady mentioned of noble
     birth, better than ours, actually, and she has his son. Forgive me, Sister, but you
     don’t know how bad his reputation has been. So Father and I were like hares in March,
     jumping at nothing, while the privy chamber door stayed shut and the king was locked
     away with the man who made him and who—God knows—might just as quickly unmake him
     again.
    Of course Lionel wanted to know what we were whispering about, and John too. Thank
     God, Edward and Richard had gone out, so there were only two extra to tell; but they
     couldn’t believe it any more than Father, and I had much to do to keepthe three of them quiet. You can imagine what it was like.
    An hour must have passed but no one could bear to leave the council chamber until
     they had the end of this story. Sister, they were pissing in the fireplaces rather
     than leave the great hall—and then the door opened and the king came out looking shaken
     and Lord Warwick came out looking grim and the king put on his happiest smile and
     said, “Well, my lords, I thank you for your patience. I am happy and proud to tell
     you that I am married to Lady Elizabeth Grey,” and he nodded towards my father and
     I swear he shot me a look which begged me to keep Father quiet, so I got hold of the
     old man’s shoulder and leaned hard to keep him anchored to the ground. Edward got
     the other side of him as ballast, and Lionel crossed himself like he was an archbishop
     already. Father and I bowed proudly and simpered about ourselves, as if we had known
     all along and only failed to mention that we were now brother and father-in-law to
     the King of England from sheer delicacy.
    John and Richard stumbled in at this most inconvenient moment and we had to mutter
     to them that the world was turned upside down and they did better than you can imagine.
     They managed to close their mouths and stood beside Father and me, and people took
     our dumbstruck faces for quiet pride. We were a quartet of idiots trying to look suave.
     You cannot imagine the bluster and the shouting and thecomplaints and the trouble which followed. Nobody in my hearing dared to suggest that
     the king had stooped too low, but I know that behind me and on either side there were
     men who think so, and will go on thinking so. Still, the king kept his fair head high
     and brazened it out, and Father and I went and stood on either side of him, and all
     my brothers stood behind us, and no one can deny that we are a handsome family, or
     at the very least tall, and the thing is done, nobody can now deny it. You can tell
     Mother that her great gamble has paid a thousandfold: you will be Queen of England
     and we will be England’s ruling family, even if no one in England wants us.
    Father kept his mouth shut till we were clear of the court but I swear his eyes were
     rolling in his head like Idiot Jim at Stony Stratford, till we got to our lodgings
     and I could tell him what had been done and how it had been done—at least as far as
     I knew—and now he is aggrieved that nobody told him, since he would have managed it
     so well and been so discreet—but given that he is father-in-law to the King of England
     I think he will forgive you and Mother for keeping your women’s toils to yourselves.
     Your brothers went out and got drunk on credit, as anyone would do. Lionel swears
     he will be pope.
    Your new husband is clearly stunned by the row that has broken on his head, and