| |
“I need to move things along,” Jonathan said as he and Valdemar left the main road outside of the city and were soon riding along a path leading to the forest.
“With Maria?” Valdemar asked with a somewhat cheeky grin. His grin made Jonathan think that Valdemar was at least to some extent aware of how Maria affected him.
Jonathan sent him a gloomy look, then glanced back at the two guards that were escorting them. They were out of earshot. He hated that Lord Helmholdt had done this to him as well: made him distrust everyone. Valdemar and Anna were the only two people that he trusted these days.
“No, with Lord Helmholdt,” he said. “I need to convince his supporters to join my side.”
“Well, I know that, but how will you do it?”
“I’m thinking of giving Peter Goodwin Bear Island and Oakholm,” Jonathan said and looked intently at Valdemar to see his reaction to this. Valdemar did indeed seem taken aback.
“But the islands are essential to collecting customs duty from the ships in the sound ... and you know as well as I do that we depend upon that money now,” Valdemar finally said. Meaning: You’re an idiot for even thinking about giving them away.
“It’s the only thing that will sway Lord Goodwin to join our side. He has been friends with Lord Helmholdt since infancy, practically,” Jonathan said.
The Goodwin family had lost the two islands in a dispute with the crown about a hundred years earlier. It had set them on edge with the royal family, which made them more likely to side with Lord Helmholdt. Especially if he promised them the islands for their support once he gained the crown.
“If that won’t sway them to join our side, nothing will,” Jonathan went on.
He had been thinking about this a lot. If Lord Helmholdt lost Lord Goodwin’s friendship and support, it could be his downfall. Everyone knew that Lord Goodwin was a born strategist and one of the reasons why Lord Helmholdt had won the battle seven months earlier.
Everyone also knew that each Goodwin earl was sworn to try to get the islands back into the family’s possession – almost at all costs. Jonathan only hoped that the price of betraying his best friend wasn’t too high for the lord to pay.
“Well, there’s no harm in talking to him,” Valdemar said with a sigh.
Jonathan nodded and they rode on in silence for a couple of minutes. He enjoyed watching the trees along the path that were still covered in a thin white layer of frost. It made the whole forest seem enchanted.
“Maria was married to Lord Goodwin’s older brother, you know,” Valdemar then turned to Jonathan and said. “He was her first husband.”
Jonathan simply sent him a pointed look trying to get him to convey the meaning of his statement. He already knew this about his wife.
“You should bring her,” Valdemar said and made a sweeping hand gesture with his palm up that seemed to signify that it would be an easy and simple task bringing Maria along.
“I can’t bring her,” Jonathan said and almost spurred his horse to get away from Valdemar and the unpleasantness of the conversation. “I can’t trust her.”
Now it was Valdemar’s turn to send him a pointed look.
“She could send a message to Lord Helmholdt, ruining the whole deal,” Jonathan tried to explain.
“Lord Helmholdt will know soon enough if Lord Goodwin changes sides,” Valdemar said. He seemed to think for a moment. “She was married to his brother for three years, I think. She has to know Peter Goodwin rather well. She could help you gain his trust faster.”
Jonathan thought about it. If Peter Goodwin liked and trusted his former sister-in-law, and all rumors said that he did, it would indeed make it easier for Jonathan to propose that Lord Goodwin would support him in exchange for the islands. Maria would probably also be able to figure out whether he was actually truthful when he said that he would.
“Why would she help me?” Jonathan asked hesitantly.
Valdemar smothered a smile.
“Ha, I knew you’d come around,” he said.
“I haven’t come around,” Jonathan said and tried not to sulk like a child but keep his features stern. “Why would she help me?” he repeated.
“Don’t you think that she would prefer to be queen rather than sister to the king?” Valdemar asked. “If only you started treating her a bit nicer, I think that the two of you could have an excellent marriage.”
“I can’t promise her anything of the sort,” Jonathan said and shifted a bit in the saddle. “You know that I plan to get the annulment as soon as Lord Helmholdt is dead,” he whispered.
He glanced back after he said the last thing, but the two guards were still too far away to have heard anything.
“Then promise her something she wants,” Valdemar said matter-of-factly. “Anna said that you forbade her to go riding. Tell her that she is allowed to go, if she helps you.”
Jonathan pondered it for a moment.
“If she really is loyal to her brother, it won’t be enough that I grant her permission to ride,” he said. “She would need something much larger to betray her brother.”
He looked questioningly at Valdemar for a moment.
“What would make you betray me?” he asked.
Valdemar didn’t seem offended that he would ask a thing like that. He simply looked ahead at the crisp, frosty forest in front of them.
“A threat to Anna’s life,” he said simply.
Jonathan nodded.
“Well, I’m not going to threaten to kill anyone in order to get her to cooperate,” he said. He couldn’t help but wonder whether there actually was a person in Maria’s life that she cared enough about to betray her brother. Her whole life seemed to revolve around him. Both of her marriages had been to men who supported him and wanted a close family connection with him, once he became king.
Even if she was the most dedicated of sisters, she must have noticed that she was simply a pawn that her brother moved around the board. A pawn that he seemed ready to sacrifice. At least Jonathan doubted that Maria had had any interest in marrying him.
She would have had to be extremely self-sacrificing in order to marry a man she knew hated her and her brother and who could have done whatever he liked to her – and her body. Jonathan would never have forced himself on her, but neither Maria nor Lord Helmholdt could have known that beforehand. And she had readily accepted that they didn’t consummate the marriage.
“She wants to be a nun,” Anna had said, Jonathan suddenly remembered.
He could hold back a smile at the thought of it. It seemed absolutely ludicrous that Maria would enjoy a life as a nun. She who enjoyed fine dresses and riding. He couldn’t imagine that she would enjoy the ascetic living of a nun.
“What?” Valdemar said and smiled slightly himself. “What’s that smile?”
“I know what could make Maria betray her brother,” Jonathan said and now he almost grinned.