Rebellion by Livi Michael Page A

warm pan and holy water was sprinkled on it. The king took a shit
     and his arse was wiped by his chamberlain. He glanced ironically at the duke while this
     was going on, as if to say,
Yes, this is what kings do.
    Henry Beaufort considered
     putting his shirt back on, but it seemed that the king would go naked. He stood, massive
     and pink from the steam, issuing orders to those testing his bed, emphatic in his
     nakedness. His chest was broad and fleshy, only his legs were covered in tawny hair, and
     his member was mercifully limp; though at one point he took hold of it and shook it at
     one of his attendants.
    All this time Henry Beaufort stood
     uncertainly, holding his shirt in front of him in partial concealment. He was conscious
     of his considerably smaller, leaner frame, but the king did not look at him. He saw to
     it that there was drink for the night and that the scented herbs were swept away; he
     said he would put out the last candle himself. Then he dismissed all his attendants and
     got into the bed.
    The door of the room closed.
    â€˜Are you going to sleep standing up?’ he
     enquired.
    Henry Beaufort dropped his shirt and climbed
     carefully, gingerly, between the sheets. He lay on his back, at a distance of about four
     inches from the king. The king sat up and pushed the curtains around the bed back
     fully.
    â€˜That’s better,’ he said. ‘As a boy I could
     never sleep if I felt closed in.’
    Then he settled back down on his side,
     facing the duke, and for a moment the duke feared that he might touch him.
    â€˜Are you comfortable?’ the king said, and
     the duke replied that he was perfectly comfortable.
    He had never been less comfortable in his
     life.
    â€˜I imagine that you never thought you would
     be here, in my bed.’
    The duke said that was certainly true. Then
     the king said, ‘I suppose you never slept with your former king?’ and the duke tensed in
     case he was about to make some detrimental comment about the queen. But he only made an
     amused sound, like a kind of grunt, and turned on to his back. Then he said, ‘We could
     have been friends, you and I.’
    The duke said that he hoped
     they were friends.
    â€˜I mean, from our earlier days. We could
     have been like brothers. I feel as close to you as if you were my brother. Closer,
     even.’
    The duke said nothing.
    â€˜Shall I tell you something?’ the king said.
     ‘A secret?’
    The duke was instantly alert.
    â€˜Something that no one else knows – not even
     Hastings or the Earl of Warwick.’
    The duke, sensing that he was expected to
     reply, said that he thought the Earl of Warwick knew everything.
    â€˜That is a rumour put about by Warwick,’
     said the king. ‘No one knows this. I have told no one. Apart from you.’
    The duke shifted in the king’s bed until
     even in the darkness he could see the king’s eyes glittering at him.
    â€˜There is a lady.’
    â€˜Ah.’
    â€˜No,’ said the king, starting to laugh.
     ‘This one is different. I mean, she is someone that I could love.’
    The duke made a surprised sound.
    â€˜I think I love her. At least, I can’t stop
     thinking about her.’
    The duke thought of all the women that the
     king had slept with. ‘How is she different?’
    â€˜She will not sleep with me.’
    â€˜That is different.’
    â€˜She says that while she is not good enough
     to marry me, she is too good to be my whore.’
    â€˜She wants to
marry
you?’
    â€˜There are difficulties.’
    â€˜Is she already married?’
    â€˜No. Not now.’
    â€˜Not now?’
    â€˜She was married. To Lord Grey of
     Groby.’
    Even in the darkness the king could sense
     the duke’s surprise.
    â€˜Yes – her father and her husband and her
     brother all foughtagainst me. Just like you. And I have forgiven them
     all. Do you think me very