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after me.’
    ‘Why does Henry need protecting? He is older than Jamie.’
    ‘He is – he is different. You must not be hurt if he does not treat you as – as a husband treats a wife.’ The colour rose in Anna’s cheeks. ‘I-I mean in bed. It is not because he does not like you. He –he has wanted to be a monk for a long time. Father Oliver used to stay here to teach us how to read and write. My father blames him for influencing Henry, but we all liked Father Oliver and Zander and I were not changed by his teaching. Henry was always different. He was not rough or wanting to fight and wrestle as the other boys did. Lizzie believes he was born different because he was a twin and his sister died, but our father will not accept that. He wants to be proud of Henry as a man and as a leader.’
    ‘I see,’ Isabella murmured. She didn’t really understand what Anna was trying to tell her. She wished her mother was here to tell her what she was supposed to do, what would be expected of her when she was a wife. She didn’t know what a man was supposed to do when he shared a bed with a wife either. She only knew she would have hated to lie close to Neb Truddle with his slobbering mouth and his hands squeezing her breasts until she cried out in pain as he had when he had caught her alone. Already she felt a tenderness towards Henry. She felt he needed her protection, as well as Zander’s. She was sure he would never hurt her.
    ‘Do you understand, Isabella?’ Anna asked ‘Truly?’ Her blue eyes were as anxious and troubled, as Henry’s had been earlier.
    ‘I-I don’t know what I’m expected to do as a wife…’
    ‘I don’t know exactly myself,’ Anna said slowly, but I know we are expected to produce babies. My father wants you for Henry’s wife because he thinks your children will inherit your courage. You will share Henry’s room at the top of the tower instead of sleeping on this floor where the rest of us sleep.’ She waved a hand around the third floor of Moyenstane Tower. There were several alcoves or cubicles, some of them screened by a curtain from the view of other occupants. ‘Henry has slept up there since he was twelve. He will share his room with you.’
    ‘I am grateful for that.’ She would not like strangers peeping around the curtain or listening to her conversations with her new husband.
    ‘Lizzie was our old nurse. She will place a white linen sheet over the bed where you will sleep,’ Anna said slowly, as though repeating a lesson. ‘In the morning my father will send her to inspect the sheet to see if there is blood on it…’
    ‘Blood?’ Isabella echoed. ‘Why should there be blood…?’ Anna bit her lip.
    ‘I think it is a sign the bride is a virgin and her husband has – has entered into her. Y-you must have seen the animals mating sometimes, Isabella?’ she asked, willing her to understand things she scarcely understood herself.
    ‘B-but I didn’t know a man… I mean, I had not considered.’ She longed for her mother.
    ‘Lizzie does not think Henry will do what a husband ought to do. If there is no blood Lizzie says father will blame Henry. He’ll be very angry. Lizzie says he might even insist on staying in the room with you the next night to make sure Henry does what he is supposed to do. Zander has always helped Henry when he is in trouble with father, but I do not think he can help him over this.’
    ‘I should not like anyone in my bedchamber,’ Isabella said, her face flaming at the prospect.
    ‘Can you keep a secret? Lizzie has a plan to prevent Father getting angry.’
    ‘Then I will keep a secret.’ Isabella was beginning to feel bewildered and nervous. Anna smiled in relief. She hated when her father raged at Henry, as he had done often recently. ‘The women are preparing fowls for a feast. Lizzie will save a small cup of blood. I am to hide it in Henry’s bedroom. In the morning you must spill the blood on the linen sheet before you leave the room.