She looked sharply at him, and he knew she had not expected that Eluned had told him about her studies with the sword. Gwenllian looked at him a long time, her brow slightly furrowed. Her thoughtful frown created the same pattern of lines across her forehead as Eluned’s.
“She trusts you.” She seemed hardly to believe it. “She loves you, then. With all her heart.”
“It is as much a marvel to me as it is to you,” he assured her.
He looked to Eluned, whose smile was so wide that the dimple had appeared in her cheek. He had forgotten many things over the years, and remembered other things wrong, but it seemed to him that it little mattered anymore. Now he lived for today and tomorrow, not yesterday. And so did Eluned.
THE END
Author’s Note
Readers unfamiliar with 13th century England can be assured that the author researched like mad and yet certainly still managed to get a lot wrong. Here are a few things you might not have known:
One perhaps surprising fact about the time is that hostage-taking (including of young children) was an extremely common custom that was well-entrenched for hundreds of years. It was not considered cruel or a punishment; it was simply a transaction.
Less surprisingly, the prevalence of rich speculators grabbing up the estates of those indebted to moneylenders is not at all a modern phenomenon and, in fact, the Statute of the Jewry (1275) came about in part because it had become such a problem. The statute was a response to the increasing virulence of anti-Semitism (which is not at all either a modern or outdated phenomenon, but seems to be depressingly timeless) which eventually led to the expulsion of all Jews from England in 1290.
Dafydd really was the first English noble to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, and it really did appall people. Nevertheless it became the standard punishment for treason in England.
The Statute of Rhuddlan was promulgated in March 1284, and created four new Marcher lordships out of the conquered Welsh territory. Robert’s lordship of Darian is a fictional invention of a fifth lordship.
Roger Mortimer became the first Baron of Chirk and had a long and storied life which ended in the Tower of London, where he was imprisoned for revolting against King Edward II.
Isabella Mortimer married Robert de Hastang in 1285. Failing to find any other advantage for her in the marriage, and noting that the historical record shows it was done without the king’s permission, the author has chosen to believe it was love.
Did you enjoy Fair, Bright, and Terrible? Let other readers know by leaving a review! Readers may also be interested to know that Ranulf and Gwenllian’s story is the subject of The King’s Man.
For more information and to sign up for the Elizabeth Kingston mailing list, please visit ElizabethKingstonBooks.com.
Other books by Elizabeth Kingston include:
The King’s Man
A Fallen Lady
The Misadventures of a Titian-Haired Goddess and an Outrageous Hellion (collaboration with Susanna Malcolm, available in installments)
Acknowledgements
As ever, Susanna Malcolm is the best beta-reader, editor, writing buddy, and DFF a girl could ever ask for, and none of this would be possible without her all-around magnificence. Instrumental to my understanding of and fascination with medieval England and Wales are the following fantastic resources: Sharon Kay Penman’s Welsh Princes trilogy, Mark Morris’ A Great and Terrible King, virtually everything Frances and Joseph Gies ever wrote, and all of Medievalists.net. Thanks also to the incomparable Amanda Dewees for the help and cheerleading, Dr. Dawn Zapinski for the psych consult, Charles R. Rutledge for the murder advice, Laura Kinsale for the usual stellar friendship and fairy godmothership, and my friends and fellow regulars at Just Write Chicago for their support.
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