Free The Maiden and the Unicorn by Isolde Martyn Page A

presence somehow exorcising the sorcery that Ned had always held over her? Or was it because she was older now, less gullible? Intense relief flooded through her.  
    Ned released her, and condescended to notice her companion. "My brother Gloucester is waiting to hear of Mistress Margery's arrival. Pray go and inform him, sirrah!" She sensed the suppressed irritation in Stone but he stood up obediently and bowed himself out.
    "Let me see you properly, Meg." A twist on her fingers forced her to twirl round for Ned. "Certes, there is more flesh on you but delightfully so. What monstrosity is this?" His large hands deftly freed her from the wimple and cast it over his shoulder. "You are more beautiful than I remember, Margery of Warwick."
    "Despite the six long years?"
    Ned's sky-coloured eyes bathed her in a kindness that was sincere as he touched her short hair. "Indeed, all my fault and you have paid the price. I crave your pardon." His arm fastened about her shoulders and he turned her to the hearth. "Make yourself comfortable by the fire and let us have mulled wine and sweet oatcakes." He shook a brass bell that stood on the table and a young page ran in from a door beside the arras to know his bidding.
    Margery sat down happily on a settle made luxurious by tawny velvet cushions. She edged her cold toes to the fire as close as she dared without scorching the leather of her soles, then turned her head to savour the presence of the man who had once been heaven to her. At one time this informal domesticity with the King of England had been her only dream.
    Beaming back at him, she saw again within his smile the handsome, genial youth who had bent time to visit his younger brothers in the schoolroom and Warwick's daughters in the nursery. Margery had been older than the others, worldly enough to catch the grin that he tossed at her like a ball above the smaller heads. Many a time he had mimicked the posturings of the great nobles of the land to her, teaching her they had the same weaknesses as lesser men. As his visits grew infrequent so her pride in him blossomed as he defeated Lancaster and became King. By the time she reached sixteen, she was deaf to the rumours that he had been secretly wed or that nothing in skirts south of Berwick was safe from him.
    She gave a small, happy sigh, hugging to herself the sight of Ned with the great golden chain across his broad shoulders and the ring of England weighing upon his finger, grinning at her. The aroma of temporal power exuded from him but there were subtle enemies to greatness. He might still majestically dwarf the world around him but there was now an increased heaviness about his girth that was emphasised by the pleated red and gold embroidered brocade doublet, and even the hint of jowl beneath his jawline.
    Flinging himself into the chair opposite her with a smile, he sprawled in the relaxed way she remembered so well, his long legs stretched out to the hearth.
    "Do I pass examination, Meg?" he mocked.
    "Oh dear," she exclaimed. "Am I that transparent?"
    "I am sure that ten years of being mobbed by scrofulous beggars, begetting princesses and ruling a realm of wilful lords has done its damage." He was right. Time had also chiselled cynical curves about his mouth and carved deep lines from the corners of his eyes.
    "To be truthful, you are looking heavier. Does it bother your horse?"
    The smile twitched at the corners of his mouth and spread until it mirrored her own teasing expression and his laughter filled the room. "No, only the Queen complains."
    The page scurried in like a little mouse, set the pot of mulled wine upon the hearth and shifted a tray of chased silver goblets from the table to the royal footstool. Ned dismissed him with a wave and perused her kindly.
    "So now what do you want of me, Ned?" asked Margery softly. It was a risk to call him by the name he had once allowed her but she needed to remind him of her ruin. "Why am I here?"
    "You do not know?" He