Always to the fore among those who surrounded the new Queen was Alegre. Her dancing, her spontaneous laughter, her joy in being alive, were already beginning to attract attention.
Joanna watched her with some amusement.
‘Have you found a Castilian lover yet?’ she asked.
‘I think so, Highness.’
‘Pray tell me his name.’
‘It would scarcely be fair to him, Highness, for he does not yet know of the delights in store for him.’
‘Am I to presume that this man has not yet become your lover?’
‘That is so,’ answered Alegre demurely.
‘Then he must be a laggard, for if you have decided, why should he hold back?’
‘Who shall say?’ murmured Alegre. Then she laughed and went on: ‘It is a great pleasure to all of us who serve Your Highness to note how devoted the King is to you. I have heard that he has had hundreds of mistresses, yet when he is with you he is like a young man in love for the first time.’
‘My dear Alegre, I am not like you. I would not tolerate laggards in love.’
Alegre put her head on one side and went on: ‘His Highness is so enamoured of you that he seems to have forgotten those two cronies of his, Villena and the Archbishop... almost.’
‘Those two!’ said the Queen. ‘They are for ever at his elbow.’
‘Whispering advice,’ added Alegre. ‘I wonder if they have advised him how to treat you. It would not surprise me. I fancy the King does little without their approval. I believe he has become accustomed to listening to his two dear friends.’
Joanna was silent, but she later remembered that conversation. She was faintly irritated by those two friends and advisers of the King. He thought too highly of them and she considered he was ridiculously subservient to them.
That night, when she and the King lay together in their bed, she mentioned them.
‘I fancy those two are possessed of certain conceits.’
‘Let us not concern ourselves with them,’ the King answered.
‘But, Henry, I would not see you humbled by any of your subjects.’
‘I... humbled by Villena and Carillo! My dear Joanna, that is not possible.’
‘They sometimes behave as though they are the masters. I consider that humiliating for you.’
‘Oh... you have been listening to their enemies.’
‘I have drawn my own conclusions.’
He made a gesture which indicated that there were more interesting occupations than discussing his ministers. But Joanna was adamant. She believed those two were watching her too intently, that they expected her to listen to their advice, or even instructions, simply because they had played some part in bringing her to Castile. She was not going to tolerate that; and now, while Henry was so infatuated with her, was the time to force him to curb their power.
So she ignored his gestures and sat up in bed, clasping her knees, while she told him that it was absurd for a King to give too much power to one or two men in his kingdom.
Henry yawned. For the first time he was afraid she was going to be one of those tiresome, meddling women, and that would be disappointing, as in many ways she was proving to be satisfactory.
It was the next day when, making his way to his wife’s apartment, he encountered Alegre.
They were alone in one of the ante-rooms and Alegre dropped a demure curtsy at his approach. She remained with her head bowed, but as he was about to pass on she lifted her eyes to his face, and there was a look in them which made him halt.
He said: ‘You are happy here in Castile?’
‘So happy, Highness. But never so happy as at this moment when I have the undivided attention of the King.’
‘My dear,’ said Henry with that characteristic and easy familiarity, ‘it takes little to make you happy.’
She took his hand and kissed it, and as she did so she again raised her eyes to his. They were full of provocative suggestion which it was impossible for a man of Henry’s temperament to ignore.
‘I have often noticed you in the Queen’s company,’ he said, ‘and it has given me great pleasure to see you here with us.’
She continued to smile at him.
‘Please rise,’ he continued.
She did so, while he looked down at her neat, trim figure with the eyes of a connoisseur. He knew her type. She was hot-blooded and eager. That look was unmistakable. She was studying him in a manner which he might have considered insolent if she had not possessed such superb attractions.
He patted her cheek and his hand dropped to her neck.
Then suddenly he seized her and kissed her on the lips. He had not been mistaken. Her response was immediate, and that brief contact told him a good deal.
She was ready and eager to become his mistress; and she was not the sort of woman who would seek to dabble in state matters; there was only one thing of real importance in her life. That short embrace told him that.
He released her and went on his way.
Both of them knew that, although that was their first embrace, it would not be their last.
Under the carved ceiling in the light of a thousand candles the King was dancing, and his partner was the Queen’s maid of honour.
Joanna watched them.
The woman would not dare! she told herself as she recalled a conversation concerning Alegre’s lover, who had not then known the role which was waiting for him. The impudence! I could send her back to Lisbon tomorrow. Does she not know that?
But she was mistaken. Alegre was by nature lecherous, and so was Henry; they betrayed it as they danced, and when two such people danced together... But that was the point. When two such people as Alegre and Henry were together there could be but one outcome.
She would speak to Henry tonight. She would speak to Alegre.
She was not aware that she was frowning, nor that a young man whom she had noticed on several occasions had come to take his stand close to her chair.
He was tall – almost as tall as Henry, whose height was exceptional. He was strikingly handsome with his blue-black hair, and eyes which were brilliantly dark; and yet his skin was fairer than red-headed Henry’s. Joanna had considered him as one of the handsomest men at her husband’s Court.
‘Your Highness is troubled?’ he asked. ‘I wondered if there was aught I could do to take the frown from your exquisite brow.’
She smiled at him. ‘Troubled! Indeed I am not. I was thinking that this is one of the most pleasant balls I have attended since coming to Castile.’
‘Your Highness must forgive me. On every occasion when I have had the honour to be in your company I have been deeply conscious of your mood. When you smiled I was contented; when I fancy I see you frown I long to eliminate the cause of that frown. Is that impertinence, Highness?’
Joanna surveyed him. He spoke to her with the deference due to the Queen, but he did not attempt to disguise the admiration she aroused in him. Joanna hovered between disapproval and the desire to hear more from him. She forgave him. The manners of Henry’s Court were set by the King; as a result they had grown somewhat uninhibited.
She glanced towards the dancers and saw Henry’s hand was laid on Alegre’s shoulder caressingly.
‘She is an insolent woman... that!’ said the young man angrily.
‘Sir?’ she reproved.
‘I crave Your Highness’s pardon. I allowed my feelings to get the better of me.’
Joanna decided that she liked him and that she wanted to keep him beside her.
‘I myself often allow my feelings to get the better of the dignity expected of a Queen,’ she said.