Free ASilverMirror by Roberta Gellis Page B

leave
him. It is my brother Aubery who will need ransom.”
    “Why did I teach you to be so honest?” Hugh sighed. “If you
are not asked a question, do not answer it. Doubtless Queen Eleanor will be
glad to hear that the Comte d’Aix favors us enough to send his brother to help
us.”
    “You had better phrase that another way, John,” Alphonse
said. “Raymond and I are both Queen Eleanor’s nephews, after all. Say Alys has
made herself ill and forced Raymond to promise he would do nothing to endanger
her father.”
    “I will step on John’s toes if he opens his mouth too wide,”
Barbara said. And then to John, “Come along.”
    Usually John was impervious to her teasing and temper, and
Barbara did not give him a thought during the time it took the servants to
bring their horses and for them to ride farther up the hill toward the castle.
Before Barbara realized how rude she had been, she and John had reached the
area between the castle walls and the church which enclosed several houses.
These had been lent to Queen Eleanor when it was known that Edward’s wife,
Princess Eleanor, and a party of her servants would join the English queen in
Boulogne. When she had spoken as if John were a feebleminded child, Barbara had
been aware only of her need to get away, to be free of the flickering glances
Alphonse cast at her. She did not understand why he should look at her as if he
could not help it and then pull his eyes away, but she felt those glances, like
butterfly touches on her skin, although no physical source for the sensation
existed.
    It only occurred to Barbara as John helped her down from her
mare and told the groom who took the horses to unsaddle her mount, but not his,
that he had not said a word to her all the time they waited for their horses at
Hugh’s house and rode through the town. The knowledge that she had offended him
lowered her spirits even further. It took considerable effort not to burst into
tears, but that would have made John feel worse. And it was not John’s fault
that Alphonse found her company unpleasant, Barbara reminded herself severely,
even if John had brought him to Boulogne.
    “Do not be angry with me, John,” she said, touching his arm
as they walked toward Queen Eleanor’s lodging. “I did not mean to offend you. I
am out of sorts.”
    “I am aware of it,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Are you
worse off here than you wanted Hugh to know?”
    “You mean is the queen unkind to me? No. I told the truth
about being much with Edward’s wife, Princess Eleanor.”
    John stared at her for a moment and then drew her around
beside the stone stair where they were half hidden. “I know something is eating
you, Barby. If I can help, let me know. I am as eager as you to spare Hugh any
further worry, although your good news about his wife and his lands has made a
new man of him. It is kind of your father to protect Joanna and try to save
Hugh loss when they have been so sharply at odds for so long.”
    Barbara laughed. “Oh, Papa loves Hugh,” she said, while
looking around for anyone close enough to overhear, and continuing in a lower
voice when it was clear no one was interested in them. “But it is not all for
love that he acted. Do not underestimate my father because he has a red face
and a loud voice. He is a clever man, and subtle. Do you not see that he has
put Hugh under a deep obligation? By shielding Hugh’s wife and lands from any
threat of harm, thus tying Leicester’s hands with regard to any hold on Hugh,
Papa has made himself guilty of any act against Leicester Hugh might
commit. How eager do you think Hugh will be to take part in an invasion of
England when he knows his brother is likely to lose his own lands if he does?”
    “By God’s—”
    Barbara’s hand flashed up and stopped John’s mouth. “Do not
blaspheme!” she hissed. “King Louis is a little mad on the subject of
dismembering the Lord to express surprise or disapproval and does not