Windsor Castle July 1172 When Alais came to me, she did not knock, for the door was open and my women saw her coming. The tallest of my ladies beckoned her in with a smile, as if to welcome her into the ranks of the wicked. I raised one hand, and my women withdrew from the room. The door closed behind them. Amaria lingered, to see if I would have her stay, but my hand remained raised, so she withdrew as well. Alais and I were alone, but for Richard, who stood behind me. If she was affected by the sight of my son, her face showed no sign of it. I stood before my daughter, before the woman who had betrayed me with my own husband in my own house. I looked for the little girl I had known, the little girl I had taken under my wing when she first came to me from France. As I looked into her eyes, a woman stared back at me, a woman of my own devising. Had I not been so miserable, I might have laughed at the irony of Fate. As it was, I simply offered her a chair. “Will you join me, Alais? Will you take some wine?” “I thank you, Your Majesty. No” Alais continued to stand, and continued to look at me. She did not glance at my son or acknowledge his presence. It had been a long day for me. I had endured scenes with Richard, who came back to court when I sent word, who now stood behind me in sullen silence, having refused to leave the room. I had suffered the silent consternation of my own ladies, which no doubt turned to amusement when they were out of my sight. I still had the meal in the great hall to face. I hoped to settle with Alais now, and to make the best of what had happened. “Alais, you must deny the king.” She stared at me, the daughter of my heart, and I saw her strength as I had always seen it. Now I saw not only her strength but also the will behind it. I had thought to control this girl. She was only fourteen. But then I remembered: I had been only fifteen when I first became queen of France. I had asked no one’s leave, either. Alais held my eyes when she answered me. “I deny nothing.” I sighed, and sat down, raising my goblet of wine to my lips. It was my silver goblet, the one that had gone missing the night before. I found later that it had been brought to Alais in the king’s rooms, at her request, so that I had to drink my wine from another. I kept my silver ewer and goblet in my own chamber now. No one would be fool enough to take them from there, not even Henry’s chamberlain. Henry’s people were allowed nowhere near my rooms, though no doubt he had spies among my women, as I had among his men. “Alais, you have put me in an untenable position. You have slept with my husband, and all the court knows it. You must deny that it happened. If we stand together, we can save your reputation and our treaty with France. If you stand with me, I can protect you, even from yourself.” “I have the king’s protection. I have no need of any other.” I felt my temper rise, and I clamped my jaw down on it. If we both gave up our reason, neither of us would get anywhere. I did not look to Richard. He stayed silent behind me, as he had promised me he would. I knew he did not trust himself to speak with her, that, even now, his heart bled as if she had stabbed him with his own knife. My eyes moved to the hourglass and saw that there was little time left before the evening meal. I would have to secure her assent, and quickly. There was no more time for niceties. I saw the stubborn set of her lips, and remembered where I had seen that stubbornness before. Louis had always looked like that when he was determined to get his way Louis had given me that same look when I asked to be left with Raymond in peace. No doubt he would have worn that look the whole time he laid siege to Antioch, if I had not walked out of that city, and agreed to come home with him. The stubborn look sat strange on my daughter’s face, but she had been Louis’ daughter before she was mine. “You are making a fool of me in my own court, Alais. I will not allow it.” She stared at me without answering. I saw that she had not forgiven me for handing over her letter to the king. Behind her fury, I also saw her pain. She felt Richard had betrayed her, simply because he was a man. She felt I had betrayed her. She was furious with me for acting against her, for handing over her letter to Henry. But she was my daughter. I could bring her back to me. Richard stepped forward then, and came to stand at my side. Finally, Alais looked at him, at the man she had claimed so fervently to love before she cuckolded him with my husband. When she saw his face, the pain in his eyes pierced her fury. Alais took a step toward him, as if drawn by a higher force, as if she could not stop herself. She moved only one step, for Richard flinched away from her as if she were a leper and might infect all who came too near. “How could you?” he asked her, his own fury rising to fill the blue of his eyes. “How could you be so faithless, and with him?” Alais drew herself up as if he had struck her. I saw the tears in her eyes, tears that I knew she would not shed. “You keep a mistress, and sit in judgment on me?” Richard blinked, stunned. No woman in his life had ever thrown his infidelity back in his face. No other woman would have dared. But Alais stood before him, her dark eyes blazing with an inner fire. I saw in that moment that she refused to accept what I had understood all my life: men are unfaithful ever. She thought to hold the men she loved to a higher standard. I could have warned her to look elsewhere if she expected faithfulness from Henry “I thought better of you,” Richard said. Alais swallowed her tears, for they had risen once more, and vied with her fury for supremacy. Her fury won, if only barely. Her eyes grew calm, her voice cold, as if we were dead to her already. “I will deny nothing, for I am ashamed of nothing, except that I called you beloved and meant it” I did not know if she was speaking to Richard or to me. Perhaps she was speaking to both of us. I know I felt the pain of her words, and I saw my own pain mirrored on Richard’s face. She left us gasping. She walked away as if she had never known us, as if she might never see us again. I thought I might weep, for my heart was bleeding. Richard came to me then, and took my arm. My strength flowed back at his touch. Alais loved me still, I knew that she did. I need only continue to chase her; I would run her to ground. What lay between us could not be undone. Richard escorted me into Henry’s hall, his eyes shadowed and his face grim. I smiled brightly for all to see, and greeted by name each person who called to me, with a graceful sweep of my arm. Alais was there before us, seated at Henry’s right hand. She shared his trencher, lifting a morsel of squab to her lips as her eyes turned to look at me. They had started the f............