Read Castle of Dreams for Free Online Page A

Duke Robert, in
Normandy, and the Scottish king, Malcolm, in the north of England,
and had at first little time to think of Wales. Afoncaer enjoyed
ten peaceful years until the Normans came again.
    It was twelve years before Branwen returned,
and by then there was Baron Lionel. And there was Lady Isabel.

Part II
     
    Isobel
    England, A.D 1090 – 1098

Chapter 4
     
     
    Westminster, early December, 1090
     
    Isabel was pleased with the arrangements her
father had made for her. Sir Fulk of Brittany had said nothing to
her about his health, but she had watched him decline over the last
year. She knew one of his old battle wounds had opened yet again,
and the infection in it was slowly sapping his strength. The
physicians pretended optimism. Isabel no longer believed anything
they said. Her father would die soon, but before he joined her
mother in the next world he would make proper provision for Isabel.
He had always taken care of her and he would not fail her now. He
would find her a good husband.
    She knew he had refused several previous
offers for her hand, including one from a certain highly placed
gentleman at the French court. In Sir Fulk’s opinion, opportunity
lay not in France, but across the Narrow Sea, in the land his old
friend William of Normandy had conquered nearly a quarter of a
century ago. There were still great titles to be won in England,
and Sir Fulk, whose lands in Brittany would all go to a nephew at
his death, had dreams of glory for his future grandchildren. He
made arrangements to entrust his beloved, if slightly spoiled, only
child, and her considerable dowry of his scattered properties in
England, to Sir Lionel fitz Lionel of Adderbury. He assured Isabel
that her proposed husband was young, good-looking, and, most
important to Sir Fulk, a close friend of king William Rufus.
    “I have never met the new king,” Sir Fulk
told Isabel, “but let us hope he is as brave, and as good a ruler,
as his father was. You will live at the English court, where your
husband will no doubt hold a position of great honor and
authority.”
    Isabel glowed at this news, her mind filled
with thoughts of gowns and jewels, great banquets and royal favors.
The prospect was all any young noblewoman could want. She had never
been more than a few miles from her father’s castle in Brittany,
and the thought of the exciting journey before her, ending in a
sumptuous wedding, was almost too marvelous to comprehend. She did
not even mind being seasick all the way to England. She had
recovered quickly once they landed, and now she stood in the room
allotted to her in the King’s House at Westminster and let her
maids robe her for her wedding to Sir Lionel.
    The betrothal had taken place by proxy. The
marriage, originally planned for the summer just passed, had been
postponed by the deaths of Sir Lionel’s father, old Sir Lionel of
Adderbury, six months ago, and then his mother only a month later.
Sir Lionel had immediately been confirmed in inheritance of all his
late father’s honors by his good friend the king. He was now a very
wealthy man.
    Now, several months later, Lady Isabel stood
in the room allotted to her in the King’s House at Westminster and
let her maids robe her for her wedding to Sir Lionel. The period of
mourning for Sir Lionel’s parents was ended. The marriage of Sir
Lionel and Lady Isabel would take place in early morning, and then
the king would give a feast in honor of the couple. Isabel had not
yet met her future husband, but that was not unusual, and she
trusted her father’s judgment in such an important matter.
    Isabel sighed happily as Joan helped her to
pull the soft blue silk gown over her white linen under-dress and
Agnes draped a deeper blue mantle about her shoulders. Agnes was
weeping.
    “My baby,” she sniffed. “If only your dear
mother were here today.” Agnes was old and looked frail, though she
was tough as steel. She had served Isabel’s mother, and on that
lady’s death had