Page 66 of The King’s Man (Guardians of the Crown #2)

J ane’s death left her husband broken. Roger Knott had not stirred from his chamber since the funeral two days previously and now Thamsine found him on his knees at the window, his hands clasped in prayer.

Thamsine looked down at the man’s bowed head.

She had little sympathy for the pathetic specimen of manhood.

‘Roger?’ When he didn’t move, she said, without warmth. ‘Prayer will not bring her back.’

She had shed no tears for Jane. It was as if her grief went so deep it would never be expressed.

In less than a year she had lost her father, almost murdered a man, become a beggar on the streets, and lost her sister and the man she loved so much that she could not even bring herself to think of him without a shard of pain so physical it made her ill.

‘I pray for my soul, not hers. Jane has gone to our Lord with a soul unblemished and spotless, whereas I feel the fires of Hell already licking at my feet,’ he said.

‘Rightly so,’ Thamsine responded. ‘You’re an adulterer. You betrayed your marriage vows and allowed yourself to become a party to a despicable plot that nearly ended in my death.’

Roger’s thin lips moved but no sound came out.

‘I always loved Jane,’ he said at last.

‘Not enough, Roger. Now, I wish to speak with you about the future.’

He rose to face her, his shoulders bowed. He cringed from her like a whipped dog.

‘What do you mean… the future?’

‘If it were my choice,’ she said, ‘I would pray to God I never saw you again. However, you are the father of my sister’s children and I must consider them.

My dearest wish is that they will never have to suffer what I have endured.

I have therefore decided that I shall settle upon them a comfortable amount to allow them to live independently should they so choose. ’

‘A dowry?’

‘Not a dowry. It shall be a condition of my gift that it shall remain the property of the girls and not devolve upon any future husbands they might have.’

Roger looked up, life sparking into his dead eyes. ‘But that is unheard of.’

‘It is the condition of my gift,’ she said and named the amount.

Roger looked down at his hands again. ‘They don’t deserve such generosity.’

‘They are my only blood kin, Roger. When are you planning to return to London?’

‘Do you want me to go?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘Of course. You owe me nothing, yet I have one last thing to ask of you. Can I leave the girls here?’

Thamsine stared at him. What was he asking her? He was the children’s father and they should be with him.

‘Their place is with you,’ she said.

Roger drew a deep breath. ‘I have been a poor husband and a worse father. I do not deserve them. This will be my punishment.’

‘Let me think about it,’ Thamsine said and left the room.

In her own bedchamber, Thamsine stood by the window contemplating the peaceful countryside that had remained relatively untouched by the recent wars. Her father had been clever in his support of the King, never allowing his loyalty to his monarch to undermine his loyalty to his family.

She wrapped her arms around herself. She would never remarry and would have no family of her own.

When Kit had first been taken from her, she had prayed that she was with child but it was not to be, and she had cried when her body betrayed her.

Having the girls with her would be some comfort and ease the loneliness of a life of long widowhood.

She had nothing left of Kit except a battered copy of Francis Bacon that she kept under her pillow and the contents of an old chest, still at The Ship Inn. Her lips tightened. The time had come to collect up the remnants of Kit’s life.

And what of Kit’s family still alive at Eveleigh Priory; his grandfather, his stepmother, and his sister?

Did they know of his death? She thought she would like to meet them and learn a little more of his life before she had known him and the boy he had sold his soul to try and save.

Hopefully, even now, Daniel Lovell was on a ship returning from exile to the people who loved him.

That would have to wait. She didn’t have the strength to face his family just yet, but she would retrieve his belongings from London.

She crossed to the desk and penned a short note to Jem Marsh.