Part 30 (1/2)
”Even the Comte de Senlis does not stand against the constable and chamberlain of France. Theobald wanted me with him, so that I could see the glorious French victory that I have helped bring about. The constable insisted that I stay with him here, however, so that he would have me at his disposal if I betrayed them in some way. He thinks that I might steal away from the army during its march, or that, if it came to it, Theobald would not take vengeance on his heir.” He smiled. ”The constable does not know his cousin very well.”
He embraced her and placed his cheek against her hair. He still looked down into the city. She felt conflicting emotions in him and wished that she could say something to comfort him. This decision had not been an easy one, no matter what prize it brought.
”Why doesn't the constable trust you? Surely the logic of your choice should be clear to him. It is the decision any man would have made, and there will even be English knights and lords who recognize the fairness of it.”
”He explained it to me just now. Almost apologized. It seems that if I were a knight, he would have no doubts about me. It is the fact that I am a merchant, and a London merchant at that, which gives him pause.”
”That is outrageous. Does he think merchants less honorable?”
”Undoubtedly, as all do. Still, in a way, he credits me with more rather than less honor. He told me that he knows burghers, and has met many from London. He knows that we owe our first loyalty to the city itself. He does not claim to understand men who give their fealty to a place rather than a man, but he knows it is so with us and he has seen its power. He could accept that I would betray Edward, or even the realm, but not London. And so, while he and the chamberlain agreed with Theobald that the army should move with speed, the constable will stay here to organize a defense if I lied to them.”
A steady stream of knights and mounted soldiers streamed across the gate bridge from the other side of the river. They moved through the city toward its southern edges. Foot soldiers, carts, and workers plodded with them. The streets looked like colorful, moving rivers.
David's gaze followed the lines. ”I should have insisted that you go to Senlis, but I feared never getting you out later. Theobald can be ruthless when angered, I suspect. Still, it would have been safer for you. The constable a.s.sured your safety, but there are limits to his protection.”
”What are you saying, David? Do you think that Edward has indeed changed his plans and that the constable will blame you in some way?”
He pushed away from the wall and walked across to the southern view with his arm around her shoulders. In the distance, past the lower rooftops, they could see the field on which the army gathered. At the front, with gold and blue banners, no more than dots to their eyes, sat three men on horseback.
”Theobald?” she asked.
He nodded. ”There are five thousand here with him. Others will join the army as they pa.s.s south.”
”They go to Bordeaux, then?” she asked, even though the answer was obvious. She needed to hear it said, however, so that she could begin reconciling herself to the future he had chosen for them. She wished that she felt some joy, but her stomach churned in an odd way. She thought about his question last night before they slept, and of her response.
He had misunderstood. She had sought to a.s.sure him that she loved him no matter what his degree, and had found him n.o.ble even before she learned about his father.
He has done this in large part for me, she realized. To give me back the life which this marriage took from me.
The Comte and Duke began to ride. The thick, undisciplined ma.s.s of the army oozed after them.
”Aye, they go to Bordeaux,” he confirmed.
He wore a peculiar expression on his face. His eyes narrowed on the disappearing blue banners.
”Edward, however, does not.”
She gaped at him. His gaze never left the southern field.
”I went to Edward before Catherine did. I told him everything, and offered to finish the game as I had started it. I would give them one port, and our army would arrive at another one. I pressed for him to consider Normandy, since half the French army was already in the south and if I failed he would still only face an inferior host. His experience trying to sail to Bordeaux had already inclined him to change plans, and a Norman knight has been at court these last months, also telling him about Normandy's unwalled towns and clear roads.”
She glanced in the direction of his gaze. She could still see reflections off the Comte's armor.
”Edward will debark in Normandy? Here on the northern coast?” Tremendous relief swept her, but with it came a sickening fear for David and what he now faced.
”a.s.suming that he doesn't get clever at the last moment, which is entirely possible. Or that he doesn't grow to doubt me. Catherine probably told lurid tales of my duplicity, but I am counting on Edward knowing what he has in her. G.o.defrey, the Norman knight, and I were able to give him three possible ports, small and out of the way. He will use the one which the winds favor.”
”Does the King know about Senlis and what you were offered? If he does, he may well doubt you. He will not understand your choice.”
”I told him everything. I could not be sure that Lady Catherine was involved in your disappearance, or that she planned to betray me, but I suspected it. I could not be sure that she remained ignorant of my relations.h.i.+p with the Comte. It was well that I spoke frankly with Edward. When I finally got a hold of Frans, I had my suspicions confirmed.”
”So you were never in danger in England? And you can return?” a.s.suming that he could get out of Caen alive.
”Aye.”
”Still, having convinced Edward on Normandy, you might have betrayed him. When did you decide what to do?”
He still looked to the flow of the army. ”Early this morning. Knight or merchant, you said. I took you at your word.”
”And if I had spoken differently? If I had said that I wanted to be the wife of a comte?”
”I would have given it to you, and learned to live with my conscience.” He looked down and smiled. ”I suspect that I could have rationalized it. The power and luxury of Senlis can probably obscure any guilt. Such a life has its appeal. I will not pretend that I was not tempted.”
She embraced him tightly. ”You have sacrificed much for your city and your King, David. Edward owes you much.”
”He owes me nothing, Christiana. He gave you to me. The debt is all mine.”
His gaze had returned to the distant field. The Comte was barely visible now. She saw that peculiar expression on his face again, and a flicker of yearning pa.s.s through those eyes. He had executed a brilliant victory, a daring strategy, a magnificent game, but no triumph showed in him. She doubted his subdued reaction had anything to do with the danger he now faced. She snuggled closer under his arm and tried to comfort him.
”In time he will understand, David. He knows about honor and the hard choices it gives a man. He may not forgive you, but he will understand.”
He tensed at this mention of the Comte and the blood ties which he had betrayed. She tried again. ”David, I know there is pain here. He is your unclea”
His fingers came to rest on her lips, silencing her. ”I should have told you last night,” he said. ”I feared your reaction to the truth, and also did not know if he would try to learn what you knew. I have spent the last hour wondering if I would ever tell you.”
She frowned in confusion. She searched his face for some explanation.
”Theobald is not my uncle, Christiana.”
His words stunned her. It took a few moments for the full implication to penetrate her dazed mind.
”Are you that clever, David?” That audacious? You found a man whom you resembled in some way and plotted this elaborate scheme? You fed me this story so that I could convincingly support you if I was questioned?”
That peculiar, yearning expression pa.s.sed over him again.
He shook his head. ”It is much worse than that, my girl.” He glanced to the speck of a man being swallowed by sunlight and haze. ”Theobald is not my uncle. He is my father.”
Christiana did not know how long they stood there with his words hanging in the air, but when he spoke again the straggling ends of the army were pa.s.sing out of the city.
”He did not even remember her name.”
They still stood near the roof wall. He rested his arms against it and he looked south, but at nothing in particular now.
”He seduced her, took her love, left her with child, and destroyed her life. I use her name, but it meant nothing to him. Both he and Honore had been to London several times as young men, and he a.s.sumed that I was the product of one of his brother's sins. It was the final mockery of Joanna's timeless trust.”
She spoke to comfort him more than defend Theobald. ”It was thirty years ago. When you are fifty-five, do you think that you will remember the name of every woman you bedded?”
”Aye. Every one.”
”Perhaps only because he did not.”