* * * * *
"Damn the man!" I said as I burst through the door into the kitchen garden. "Why can't he be predictable?"
"What is it?" Meg sat against one wall, soaking up the last heat of the mid-October day. We'd had rain every day for a week, and the bright sunlight that spilled through the branches above her head was very welcome. Her hand rested comfortingly on her belly, while Anna sang from the other side of a bush as she dug in the dirt with her little shovel. I came to a halt and drank Meg in. Since Caerphilly, I'd been more absent than not, seeing to my lands and marshalling every man I could to my side. But for the first time in my life, I resented my responsibilities.
"It's Clare again. Apparently our meeting a month ago wasn't enough. Now he wants to meet me south of here."
"Where?"
"The old Roman road follows the Usk to the standing stone at Bwlch. Remote."
"I thought you'd resolved your dispute for now?" she asked. "I thought you agreed that you would rule the north of Senghennydd and he would control the south and wouldn't build further on his castle at Caerphilly."
"That's what I thought too."
"So what changed?"
"I don't know." I sat, stretched out my legs to their full length, and crossed my ankles, leaning back against the garden wall.
"What do you think he wants?"
"He wants me out of Senghennydd," I said. "It's that simple. Barring that, he wants to start building his castle at Caerphilly again. What I wonder is to whom he has spoken in the weeks since Tudur hammered out the latest agreement. Why does he need to see me face to face?"
"There hasn't been any fighting, has there?"
"Not that I know of. I would have thought that Gruffydd would have sent me word if there had."
"If he were free to do so," Meg said.
I turned my head to look at her. "You have a point. And before you say it, I can see a trap opening between my feet too."
"I'm afraid to say it at all," Meg said. "You need to meet him in person? You just saw him at Castell Dinas; and your emissaries will meet again in the new year. Why this meeting? Why now?"
"Because he wants it resolved sooner and requests me, face to face, to hammer out our differences."
"Is that usual?"
I shrugged. "I've met King Henry at the Ford of Montgomery. I would meet Edward, if need be. I can speak to Clare again."
"Okay, I'll say it," Meg said. "Cilmeri."
"It's a long time from now," I said. "I've no reason to believe Clare treacherous."
Meg pursed her lips. "Send Clare a letter and say you've urgent business in the north and wish to proceed with the arbitration as planned."
"He would know I wasn't telling the truth."
"Would he? Why? And why does it matter? You rule in Wales and can do as you please."
"I wish it were that simple. I do have the right to defend my lands and have done so against the Marcher lords, but everything I do has consequences." I studied her. "You recall that Bohun says Mortimer hates me?"
"I do," Meg said. "I also recall that he tried to take Brecon from you-and kill you-not long ago."
"And failed on both counts," I said. "Do you think his ire has faded? Can you see how his failure this year might fester within him such that fourteen years from now his sons lure me to Cilmeri and kill me?"
"Gilbert de Clare is not Roger Mortimer."
"But he could be," I said, "given time. Besides, this wasn't the first time I've defeated Mortimer. I've decimated his army twice. The first time was in 1262 at Cenfylls, and the second was only two years ago when he marched on Brecon and we stopped him at the ford, just to the northeast of the castle. The man has reason for a grudge."
"And if you can avoid making Clare into another Mortimer, it is worth the effort," Meg said.
"Yes," I said. "That is it exactly."
"How far is it? Can I come?"
I looked at her for a heartbeat and a half. "Meg."
"All right, all right," she said. "You don't need to tell me why I shouldn't."
"It's day's ride. No more. I've a castle close by and we'll make our base there before our meeting with Clare."
"Why Bwlch?"
"Clare's new mistress, since his marriage to Alice de Lusignan ended last year, is a Picard of Tretower Castle, located only a few miles away."
"That's just great," Meg said. "And what happened to his first wife? I thought you couldn't get a divorce in England."
I smiled. "I think he's going for an annulment, which might be hard to prove given that they have two daughters. You do have to pay a lot for it, and convince the Pope of your utter sincerity-though the fact that she has had a relationship with Prince Edward for many years may eventually aid Clare's cause."
Meg stared at me, aghast. She shook her head. "I don't understand that."
"That's not surprising," I said, "since nobody else does either. But as you may have observed, when a Prince wants something, he tends to get it."
"I had noticed that." She wrapped her arms around her belly as the baby kicked again.
"Don't be like that," I said. I put my arm across her shoulders and pulled her in to kiss her. "Am I really such an ogre?"
"I just don't want you to go away again, not so close to the baby's birth. I hate worrying about you."
"I'll take extra precautions," I said. "There will be no Cilmeri at Bwlch. Don't worry."