First of the Tudors

Chapter 22: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three: Hostilities (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 24: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 25: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 26: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 27: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 28: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 29: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Four: Two Crowned Kings (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 30: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 31: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 32: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 33: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 34: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 35: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 36: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 37: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 38: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 39: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Five: The Return (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 40: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 41: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 42: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 43: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 44: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 45: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 46: Jane (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 47: Jasper (#litres_trial_promo)

Glossary (#litres_trial_promo)

Welsh Words and Names (#litres_trial_promo)

Author’s Notes (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading Tudor Trilogy (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Joanna Hickson (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Family Tree (#ulink_6374fa14-e7ef-5353-adb2-1932709e9998)

Maps (#ulink_5f9a0ac9-461b-5b11-8a09-ce04d15fc11e)

PART ONE (#ulink_6a14db13-957d-547c-a420-ff3fd35fd072)

Brothers to the King (#ulink_6a14db13-957d-547c-a420-ff3fd35fd072)

1451–1453

1 (#ulink_0aead324-b225-55d1-8f7d-689895ada881)

Jasper (#ulink_0aead324-b225-55d1-8f7d-689895ada881)

Westminster Palace & London

FLASHES OF IRIDESCENCE GLEAMED like fireflies in the gloom of the small tower chamber. I stared at the river of fabric as it settled in graceful waves across the bed. It was the intense blue of a noon sky, yet it glittered with the gold of midnight stars. ‘Do you think she will like it?’ Edmund asked.

I took a deep breath, hesitating to prick my brother’s bubble. ‘Yes – and no,’ I said.

‘What do you mean?’ Indignation raised the timbre of his voice. ‘Jesu Jas, a gown fashioned of such fabric would make any female feel like a queen!’

My hackles rose. I hated Edmund calling me Jas and had told him so on numerous occasions, yet still he persisted. It was a boyhood nickname and we were no longer boys but squires in the service of the king, soon to become knights. My name was Jasper. I had stopped calling him Ed on the day we came to court.

‘But she is not a queen and there are sumptuary laws. Our sister could be royally fined for wearing a gown made from such fabric. You know its use is restricted to royalty, archbishops and the effigies of saints.’