Виктория Холт - The Battle of the Queens

Blanche said that she thought the game somewhat childish and that the most amusing were usually the first questions; after that it could pall.

So Isabella clapped her hands and declared that she would name some of the knights to play for them and perhaps sing if they could and that she had heard that the Count of Champagne was a very skilful songster. Would he enchant them with his music?

The Count rose from the table and bowing low declared his pleasure.

He then sang of the beauty of one whom he had long admired from afar. She was beyond his reach but so fair was she that he could find joy in no other.

It was a song which, it was whispered, he had written to the Queen; but she being so virtuous had not been aware that it was written of her.

Everyone applauded when he had finished and none more fervently than Isabella.

‘A beautiful song, my lord,’ she cried, ‘and well sung. I am sure if your lady heard you sing with such feeling she would be unable to deny you.’

‘Ah, my lady,’ replied Thibaud, ‘if she did my song would have no meaning.’

‘Then you could write another,’ declared Isabella, ‘and I’ll swear it would be even more beautiful.’

She then called the jongleurs back and they performed acrobatic feats of great dexterity to the delight of all; and so passed the night.

* * *

In their bedchamber Isabella, her hair loose about her shoulders, her eyes blazing with excitement, was laughing with Hugh.

‘Dear, dear Hugh,’ she cried, ‘I believe I shocked you greatly tonight.’

‘My love,’ he replied reproachfully, ‘the Queen was put out.’

‘The Queen. I hate that woman. Haughty, cold, reminding all that she is the Queen.’

‘She is the Queen, my dear,’

‘She is the Queen of a few months. I have been a Queen for years. I will be treated as such. In marrying you I am but the wife of a count but I am a queen nonetheless.’

‘Blanche is a reigning queen.’

‘Poor Louis! He has to do as he is told. And poor little Louis, the son … and the rest of them. I tell you she is a woman who will be obeyed.’

‘Some women are,’ replied Hugh.

She laughed at him and running to him put her arms about his neck. She pulled him to the bed and lay down with him. She could always bring him to her way of thinking at any time … but it was easier thus.

‘They have different methods. Can you imagine Blanche and Louis like this?’

‘Never.’

She laughed. ‘My beautiful Hugh,’ she said, ‘you don’t know how often I thought of you when I was with that odious John. And you love me, do you not? You would do anything to please me. What should I make you do, Hugh? Go to the royal chamber and take a cushion and hold it down over that haughty face until, it is still and cold …’

‘Isabella, what are you saying!’

‘Nothing of importance. How could you do that? And to what purpose? But they must do what we want, Hugh. They are afraid of us.’

‘I think not, my love. Louis is the King, Blanche the Queen. You have seen the army they have encamped around.’

‘But why do they come here thus, if they are not here to placate you? Why should they come here … first to you. Louis is recently King and he says, “I must go and speak with Hugh de Lusignan.” They are afraid of us, Hugh. We must keep them afraid.’

‘Nay, I am but Louis’s vassal.’

‘Vassal! Say not that word to me. I hate it. I will not be married to a vassal. Listen to me, Hugh. We may have to pretend to pay homage. You may … I never will. But my son is the King of England. Do you not see what that means? We are in a powerful position. Henry will not desert his mother. He is a good and docile boy … and so young. Louis is afraid of you. No, Hugh, you and I will put our heads together and use them both. Do you understand?’

‘My dear, there could be war …’

‘Well, there will be war and if there is war Louis will be more than ever afraid of the Lusignans. Henry will want us to be on his side too. You see how well you did for yourself when you married the Queen of England. Hugh, will you leave this to me?’ He did not answer and she pouted. ‘I should be a little angry … even with you, Hugh, if you did not.’

He smiled at her and put his lips against her hair.

‘You looked beautiful tonight, Isabella.’

‘Do I not always?’

‘Always, but tonight there was something wild about you … something …’

‘Irresistible?’ she asked.

‘Always that.’

‘Except to two men … Louis and the Count of Champagne.’

‘Louis has little time for any woman but his wife.’

‘The virtuous husband! Are you faithful always to me?’

‘Always, but for far different reasons than Louis is to his wife.’

‘What reasons?’

‘After you none would do for me. Louis feels no strong impulses.’

Isabella laughed aloud.

‘And Champagne?’

‘He is fixed on the Queen. Poor fellow, it will do him no good.’

‘She is an icicle, that woman.’ Isabella sighed and opened her arms. ‘Very different from your Isabella.’

* * *

The Queen paced up and down the apartment which had been prepared for her and Louis.

‘I don’t trust that woman,’ said Blanche. ‘I don’t trust Hugh de Lusignan either … now that he is married to her.’

Louis said: ‘You have allowed her to upset you. The question you asked …’

‘I meant mine for her. I hope she remembered how inhumanly she treated that poor daughter of hers. I have heard that the child loved Hugh, who would be good and kind I am sure, were it not for that woman who seems to have bewitched him.’

‘It was strange that you should have picked her out after she had picked you.’

Blanche looked at him with fond exasperation. Louis was a very innocent man.

‘We must be watchful of them, of course,’ Louis went on. ‘They are going to ask for concessions. We must be very wary of granting them.’

‘The Lusignans have always been a family to reckon with. Don’t forget that Hugh is the head of a house which reigns over a large part of France from the valleys of the Creuse and the Vienne in the east to Lusignan in the west. They hold many castles in Poitou. They could be a danger …’

‘Either to us or to Henry should he decide to come over and try to regain that which his father lost. And Isabella is his mother.’

‘That woman would have no feeling for her son,’ said Blanche firmly. ‘I fancy she would use him – as she did her daughter – to suit her own ends.’

‘I am not sure. She is clearly in love with Hugh and he undoubtedly with her. It may have been that their emotions overruled their sense of duty.’

‘As expediency would do as easily as love,’ replied Blanche cynically. ‘So we must take care.’

‘Never fear, we shall. They are claiming Saintes and Oleron which Isabella declares were promised as her dower lands.’

‘And you will grant them possession of these, Louis?’

‘We cannot afford to have the Lusignans against us. Don’t forget, Hugh commands a large army. If he were with us, if he were our ally, we could leave the south in his hands and return to the north where we may well be needed.’

Blanche saw the wisdom of this. ‘If Hugh had not married that woman, I would trust him.’

‘He has ever been a man of honour.’

‘Now he is married to Isabella you will see a change in him.’

‘Nay, Blanche. You are obsessed by the woman. She is a very fascinating creature and it is clear that Hugh is bewitched by her, but he is a soldier and a man of honour, and nothing can change that.’

‘Isabella could change it.’

‘You attribute too much power to her.’

‘You say I am obsessed by her. She is obsessed by power. And if Henry of England should come against us … and she his mother …’

‘Henry is a boy yet. We must be prepared for action, yes. That is why we are here in Lusignan. If I can be sure of Hugh I can feel reasonably confident.’

‘To be sure of Hugh, yes …’

‘He is a man I trust.’

Blanche sighed wearily. What was the use of trying to explain to Louis? When he looked at Isabella he only saw the most fascinating of women. He did not see the calculating schemer who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

They left during the next day. Louis had promised Hugh possession of Saintes and Oleron, and had discussed plans with Hugh for the capture of Gascony and the whole of Poitou and promised Hugh the town of Bordeaux when it was in their hands.

Hugh and Isabella watched the royal cavalcade depart. Hugh would make ready for war to carry out his part of the bargain. He was gratified that the King had realised the wisdom of strengthening their friendship. Louis was pleased too. He was sure it was a move of which his father would have approved.

Only Blanche was uneasy as they rode away.

It was rare that Henry and his brother and sisters were gathered together and this seemed to him a very special occasion. Richard, who was not quite two years younger than he was, had come to court from Corfe Castle where he was being brought up under the stern tutelage of Peter de Mauley, for Hubert de Burgh had said: ‘It is getting near the time when something must be done about your brother.’ Richard was at that time fourteen years of age. ‘For,’ went on Hubert, ‘if something is not done for princes they have a way of attempting to do something for themselves.’