Page 75 of The Raven and the Rose
“Mother, I know. I suspect Jeffrey was involved in it, too.”
“How dare you make such an accusation about my son!” she flared.
“Mother, only think for a moment. They took their service with George.”
Joanna was adamant. “George is Edward’s brother. I don’t believe he’d be disloyal to the King. ’Tis that devil Warwick! There is nothing to implicate poor George in this. My own son could not be disloyal to the King. Ned is and always will be my dearest love!”
Over the next two weeks a pattern was formed. On the nights when Roseanna sat with Neville, his condition remained steady; but on the nights when Jeffrey attended him, his vomiting increased, and he was on the verge of slipping into a coma.
Kate Kendall called Joanna and Roseanna together and said in her forthright manner, “Lord Castlemaine is being poisoned, in my opinion.”
“That is impossible, Kate. Only you and I and his children attend him.”
Roseanna said quietly, “I agree with Kate, Mother. There is ever the smell of almonds about him.”
“Dear God, do you know what you are saying?” cried Joanna.
“Has the suspicion of poison never crossed your mind, Mother?”
“God help me, yes! Tis the only thing that seems to fit.” Joanna straightened to her full height as if her spine needed strengthening for what she was about to do. “Kate, go and watch over him. Roseanna, come. We will go to the west wing and search your brother’s apartments.”
The two women began a methodical search of Jeffrey’s chambers. He had two large rooms with an archway between. One was his bedchamber; the other was his private living room-dressing room, where he kept his armor and his weapons. The walls were decorated with the heads of animals that he had taken in the hunt, proudly displaying his accuracy with the crossbow.
In the drawer of the bedside table Roseanna found a bundle of love letters and poems written by Sir Bryan. She blushed as she read them and puzzled as to why her brother had not given them to her, especially since her every waking thought had been centered on the young knight last summer. How mean Jeffrey had been to keep them from her! Then as she read one of the poems, she realized that they were not intended for her. They were from Bryan to Jeffrey!
Suddenly, Joanna gave a little cry: “No!” It came from the dressing room. The letters clutched in her hand, Roseanna moved through the archway. Her mother stood staring in disbelief at a box she had just opened. The white crystal powder inside it was the same poison the head groundsman used to destroy rats and vermin.
“There must be a reasonable explanation for Jeffrey having this poison,” whispered Joanna, turning imploring eyes to Roseanna. Yet they were already filled with hopelessness.
Roseanna was still in shock from her own discovery. “Mother, Jeffrey and Bryan are lovers,” she whispered, and held out the letters.
Joanna recoiled at the suggestion. How could that be, when the young knight had almost made love to her on several occasions? The two women looked wordlessly into each other’s eyes as the implications of what they were discovering became clear.
Suddenly they heard voices and were horrified to realize that Jeffrey and Bryan had just entered the other room. They held their breath and remained motionless behind the curtained archway.
“If that interfering little bitch had stayed at home, he’d be dead by now!” stated Jeffrey flatly.
“You are too impatient, my love. The longer he lingers on, the less suspicion there will be. The men will be yours to command very soon now.”
“That royal bastard has tainted my life ever since her very conception!” spat Jeffrey.
“Come to bed, love; let me soothe you. Sometimes I think you are in love with your hatred for your family. You love your hatred more than you love me,” said Bryan petulantly.
“Nay, nay. Come here to me. Let me undress you. The girl means nothing to me.” He paused to disrobe, then pulled Bryan down onto the bed and fondled him. “The only one I truly hate is my mother, the King’s whore! Have you been able to bed her yet?”
“Patience. You are like a bull ready to charge,” said Bryan, laughing.
“You like me to be a bull, don’t you?” asked Jeffrey silkily as he rammed his hard member into Bryan’s body.
Bryan gasped, then moaned with pleasure. “I love it! You know that.”
Jeffrey began to thrust so brutally that Bryan grasped the coverlet with tight fists to prevent himself from screaming from excitement.
“If she was determined to give the King a child, why wasn’t it me? Why is that nobody, Castlemaine, my father? That’s why the bitch must die in the special way I’ve devised. You will do it for me, won’t you, my love?”
“Yes, yes!” gasped Bryan, far gone in the throes of passion. “Now, now!” he begged.
“First repeat to me what you must do to her,” demanded Jeffrey.
