I am so pleased today to be hosting ANNA BELFRAGE on my blog, to tell you about the recent publication of Their Castilian Orphan. This is the fourth and final book in Anna’s historical romance series, The Castilian Saga, set in 13th century England.
Find out more about the book below and read an excerpt from it.
What is the book about?
It is 1294 and Eustace de Lamont is back in England after five years in exile. He will stop at nothing to ruin Robert FitzStephan and his wife, Noor d’Outremer.
Robert’s half brother, Eustace de Lamont, has not mellowed during his absence. He is more ruthless than ever, and this time he targets Robert’s and Noor’s foster son, Lionel.
Lionel is serving King Edward as a page when Eustace appears at court. Not only does Lionel become the horrified witness to Eustace’s violent streak, Eustace also starts voicing his suspicions about Lionel’s parentage. The truth about Lionel’s heritage is explosive—should King Edward find out, all would be lost for Robert and Noor.
In October of 1294, Wales rises in rebellion. Robert must leave his family unprotected to fight the Welsh rebels on the king’s behalf, comforted only by the fact that Eustace too is called to fight.
Except that Eustace has no intention of allowing his duty to his king—or a mere rebellion—to come between him and his desire to destroy Robert FitzStephan. . .
Read an excerpt…
In which Lionel bests a bully and discusses hygiene with his liege
Not that Gascony was what Lionel spent his time thinking about. Will was. It irked the older lad that Lionel was so often selected to serve the king in the more private settings. Truth be, it irked him into taking every opportunity to hurt Lionel, be it by shoving him down the narrow stairs that led to the room they all shared, or pushing him so he hit his hip against the table. All through this, Lionel held his peace. Not once did he rise to Will’s taunts or shove back. Despite having returned to Kent with a veritable arsenal of suggestions as to how to deal with Will, the words he had taken most to heart had been Father Alain’s, the tall priest advising him to ignore Will—except in the tiltyard.
Lionel grinned and rubbed at his arm. It ached after today’s session with the sergeant-at-arms, hours of first running back and forth while swinging their training swords at the straw targets, then hours of sparring one-on-one. And today, Will had been paired with Lionel. The larger lad had sneered and protested. Lionel had merely hoisted his shield and waited.
Lionel might be shorter than his opponent, but he was strong and agile and invested as much time as he could on mastering the fighting skills he would require to one day win his spurs. By the time the sergeant called it a day, Will had been panting and limping. Lionel would wager he’d be sporting bruises up and down his arms because Will was a sloppy fighter, relying far too much on his longer reach than on the correct use of his shield.
“Well done, lad,” the sergeant had said to Lionel afterwards and Will’s eyes had gone black.
Not that Lionel cared. The king was riding out today, and he had an entire afternoon to himself, hours he intended to spend in the stables and mews. But first, he had a letter to read.
Where the other lads had set off together towards the hall and the waiting meal, he had chosen to slink off, wanting a private moment to read the letter from Mama. It had arrived earlier today with one of Geoffrey de Geneville’s messengers, neatly sealed and addressed to Lionel FitzHenry, foster son of Robert FitzStephan.
This was a short letter, telling him of lambs and tilled fields, of Avice beginning to smile and ending, as it usually did, with words of love.
He carefully folded the missive together and tucked it into his pouch for safekeeping.
“Yet another letter from home?” The king’s voice had Lionel leaping to his feet and turning to bow in his direction.
“Aye, my liege.”
“A veritable scribe, that woman,” the king said.
Mama was a conscientious letter writer, and while it often took very long for the letters to reach him—he’d open a missive describing the flowering apple trees in August, what with the court’s constant perambulations—he relished her depictions of his childhood home and its people. Through Mama, he heard of foals and puppies, of Issy and Amalia, of Papa and Elias. He knew how much Mama missed Papa when he was off on the king’s business in Wales, laughed out loud when she complained about Issy’s latest pranks involving frogs in Hugh’s shoes. It pleased him that not only could he read Mama’s letters, he could also write replies. He alone among the various pages had a good and steady hand, very much due to Father Alain.
“So what does she write about?” the king asked.
Lionel cast about for a safe answer. He did not think the king would be pleased to hear Elena, former lady-in-waiting to Queen Eleanor, was so fond of Rhys, erstwhile Welsh rebel, that she’d wept for days when he’d left.
“Mostly it is about me keeping hale and clean, my liege,” he said. Not a lie, as every single letter ended with an exhortation that he wash.
The king’s lips twitched. “Ah. Good advice to a young lad.”
“I do keep clean,” Lionel muttered. “And she keeps on telling me to change my braies regularly.”
There was a choked sound from the king. “And do you?”
“Me?” Lionel straightened up. “Of course I do, my liege! Every Saturday, I change them.”
There was a long silence, and then the king burst out laughing. “Once a week? No, no, Lionel, that will not do, lad. Imagine if Eleanor d’Outremer were to descend on us and discover you walk about with streaked linens, hey?”
Lionel’s cheeks heated.
The king grabbed him by the shoulder and gave him a little shake. “Twice a week, Lionel. You hear me lad?” Still laughing, the king strode over to where his cousin and one of his squires were waiting by their horses. Once in the saddle, he wagged a finger at Lionel. “Twice, lad!”
“Aye, my liege,” Lionel mumbled. But he couldn’t help but smile at his king. It was rare these days to see him in such a good mood. Mayhap Sir Geoffrey had shared good news rather than the utter lack of news from France. According to Soaking Sally—who was remarkably well-informed about more or less everything—usually no news was good news. “But not in this case,” she’d added dourly. “Mark my words, Lionel, not in this case. You see, those Frenchies are a devious lot, and you can’t trust ’em further than you can throw ’em.” She chuckled. “Mind you, I could likely toss that king of theirs a fair bit.”
She probably could. Or she could crush his skull like she would crush an apple.
Book details
Their Castilian Orphan was published on March 23rd 2024 by Timelight Press.
It is available to read on Kindle Unlimited.
Buy links
About the author
Anna Belfrage
Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with three absorbing interests: history, romance and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England. Anna has just released the final instalment, Their Castilian Orphan, in her other medieval series, The Castilian Saga, which is set against the conquest of Wales. She has recently released Times of Turmoil, a sequel to her time travel romance, The Whirlpools of Time, and is now considering just how to wiggle out of setting the next book in that series in Peter the Great’s Russia, as her characters are demanding. . .All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Reader’s Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards.
“A master storyteller”
“This is what all historical fiction should be like. Superb.”
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Thank you so much for hosting Anna Belfrage today, with an intriguing excerpt from Their Castilian Orphan.
Take care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club