From another letter of William, Archbishop of Sens, to Pope Alexander: “And indeed, I believe that the outcry of the world must have filled the ears of Your Holinesss, how that this, not King of the English, but enemy rather of the English and of the whole body of Christ, has lately committed wickedness against the holy one… For this crime is one that by far deserves the first place among all the crimes of the wicked that are read or related; as all the wickedness of Nero, the perfidiousness of Julian, and even the sacrilegious treachery of Judas does it exceed…”
The Bishop of Worcester was taken at once to the king’s solar, where he was greeted by a trinity of churchmen: Rotrou of Rouen, Arnulf of Lisieux, and Giles of Evreux. His mantle was wet with melting snow and sleet, for Argentan was in the grip of an icy January storm. They hovered around him, fatherly and concerned, offering to find dry, warm garments, to provide food, mulled wine. Roger brushed off their suggestions with terse courtesy; he did not want their solicitude.
“I do not know why I am here,” he said, and Rotrou began to describe the king’s anguish. Arnulf cut him off, understanding what Roger was really saying.
“It is possible,” he said, “to mourn for the archbishop without forsaking your cousin the king.”
“Is it?” Roger asked bleakly and Arnulf shrugged.
“You are here, are you not?”
“Yes,” Roger admitted, “I am…” Pulling off his mantle, he flung it across a chair. “Tell me why you think I can help.”
“If you cannot,” Arnulf said bluntly, “I fear for the life of the king.” Roger’s left eyebrow shot up in a skeptical arch that was uncannily like Henry’s. “Is his grief as great as that? Or his guilt?”
Arnulf shrugged again. “I suspect they are horns on the same goat. I can tell you, though, that his sorrow is very real. He has been secluded in his bedchamber for more than three days now, refusing to admit anyone, refusing to eat, to accept any comfort at all.”
“The queen is not here?”
Rotrou shook his head. “Would that she were, but she and the king parted after Christmas, he riding north and she returning to Poitou.”
They were watching him hopefully, expectantly. Roger stalked to the hearth, held his hands out toward its warmth. “Ask him,” he said, “if he’ll see me.”
The chamber was dark, shutters latched, candles and lamps quenched. It was cold, too, for the hearth fire had gone out, only a few feeble embers still aglow. Roger was blind, unable to see anything but blackness. “Harry?” There was no reply and he waited until his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, until he could discern a motionless figure in a window seat. He hesitated and then carefully crossed the room and sat down beside Henry.
“Jesu!” Cold air was seeping through the shutters, the window seat under siege by icy drafts. “Are you not half-frozen by now?”
“No.”
Roger was encouraged that he’d gotten an answer, any answer. Sure that he could outwait his cousin, he said nothing, let the silence settle around them. He could hear Henry’s breathing, shallow and uneven, could hear the other man shifting position on the seat. When Henry finally spoke, his voice was as constricted as his breath.
“As God is my witness,” he said, “those men did not murder him at my bidding.”
“I know,” Roger said, thankful that he need not lie about that.
There was another prolonged silence. “Do you think that Thomas knew that?”
“Yes, he did,” Roger said, with such certainty that Henry came abruptly to his feet.
“If I wanted to be fed pap, there are more than enough men eager to serve it up to me. That question was not easy to ask. I agreed to see you because I thought you’d be the one man who’d give me an honest answer!”
Roger rose, too, unable to endure the window seat chill any longer. “You want more from me than honesty, Harry. You want absolution.”
Henry started to make an angry denial, stopped himself. “What if I do?”
“I cannot give it to you,” Roger said and again it was quiet.
“I know,” Henry said at last, so softly that Roger barely heard him.
“But I can give you this much. I can tell you for certes that Thomas knew his killers were not there at your behest. He said so, you see. When they first confronted him in his bedchamber, he told them that he did not believe they came from the king.” Thrusting into the pouch at his belt, he drew out a letter. “This was written by William Fitz Stephen within hours of the murder. Read it for yourself if you doubt me.”
Henry reached out, but his fingers just brushed the parchment. Roger turned away, dropping the letter onto a nearby table, and strode toward the hearth. Picking up fire tongs, he began to prod the embers back to life. “I am going to light a candle now,” he said and when Henry did not protest, he did so, cupping the flame once it had kindled and holding it aloft.
Henry flinched away from the light at first, but then he raised his head and met Roger’s gaze full on. “Do I look like a man with blood on my hands?”
“You look,” Roger said, “like a man who has not slept or eaten for days.” Setting the candle down, he started toward the door. “If I order milk of almonds, will you drink it?” Taking Henry’s silence as assent, he opened the door just wide enough to issue instructions. Neither man spoke until a timid knock announced a servant’s arrival. Thwarting the curiosity of those hovering out in the stairwell, Roger did not admit the man, taking the tray himself and closing the door upon the waiting world.
Henry accepted the cup with indifference, but with Roger’s eyes upon him, he took a swallow, then another. His gaze shifted several times from his cousin’s face to Fitz Stephen’s letter. He was not ready to read it, though, and began to pace, retreating back into the shadows beyond the candle’s solitary glimmer.
“It does not matter that I never wanted this. I will be blamed for it.” It was not posed as a question, but Roger heard the echoes of one nonetheless. “Yes,” he said, “you will.”
Henry halted his pacing. “Do you blame me?”
“Yes,” Roger said implacably and Henry drew a sharp breath.
“You said you believed me! You said you knew I did not order his death!”
“I do believe that. But if you are not guilty, neither are you innocent. Your hot, heedless words set the killing in motion.”
“I did not want him murdered!”
“But he was murdered, and by men who killed in your name.” Henry shook his head vehemently. “It was not my doing, Roger! I spoke out in anger, no more than that. You know my temper, quick to kindle and quick to cool. I admit that my words were ill chosen, but this was not the first time that I’d flared up over one of Becket’s affronts. I cursed him out soundly and publicly at Chinon after learning that he’d excommunicated my justiciar, and I daresay my language was intemperate, even threatening. But no one acted upon my words!”
“Well,” Roger said, “this time they did,” and that, Henry could not deny.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
January 1171
Trefriw, North Wales
Peryf Ap Cedifor looked haggard and tense, like a man in d ire need of sleep, one who’d forgotten how to laugh. Arriving at mealtime, he’d politely accepted the invitation to dine with them, but he’d yet to swallow a mouthful. His brothers Caradog and Brochfael, had eaten very little, too, and since Cedifor’s sons were as known for their prodigious appetites as for their powerful, wrestlers’ physiques, their indifferent eating did not pass unnoticed. Enid fretted and apologized for the “poor fare,” Rhodri kept urging them to try various dishes, and Ranulf’s own appetite dwindled each time he glanced at Peryf’s transparently troubled face.