Plague of Lies (9781101611739) by Rock Judith

Author:Rock, Judith [Rock, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781101611739
Publisher: Penguin USA
Published: 2012-10-01T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

THE FEAST OF ST. ANTOINE, FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1687

The sun was barely up and, though Jouvancy had announced that he was well enough to travel, the day was already not going well. La Chaise had returned from the night’s vigil by the king’s bed. He was hardly through the door before he asked Charles where Lulu had gone from the gambling the night before. On hearing she’d gone to Bouchel’s room, he’d poured himself watered wine in a grim silence.

When his glass was empty, he said, “Well, it could be worse. Thank God she chose Bouchel. He’s good-hearted and absolutely trustworthy. He would never do anything to anger the king, no matter how much the girl offered him. But now that we know she’s done that, she must be watched every moment so that she doesn’t try it again—with him or anyone else. You will have to stay, Maître du Luc, and finish what you’ve begun.”

And that had landed La Chaise in a furiously polite argument with Père Jouvancy. Charles, the prize in the argument, stood at the window eating bread and cheese, and praying hard that the battle would not make Jouvancy relapse again, at least not before he won.

“I cannot return without him, mon père.” Jouvancy’s words were courteous, but his face was red with anger. “If you need a Jesuit to help you, you must send to the Professed House.”

La Chaise, whose eyes were hollow with exhaustion after a night at the king’s bedside, looked as though he’d like to make Jouvancy walk on his knees to Jerusalem. “But mon père, Maître du Luc knows the situation, and he has won the girl’s trust.” Ignoring Charles’s protest at that, he went on: “What’s more, she seems to like him. Could you not leave him here until Sunday afternoon?”

“I strongly object. You need an older man for this. You told me yourself how this girl behaves. And Maître du Luc is not only young and well favored, he is a mere scholastic. He should not be tangled in these matters.”

Charles chewed his bread and tried to look as mere as possible.

“He’s helped me all the while you’ve been ill,” La Chaise said, obviously clinging to his patience, “and has come to no harm. On the contrary, I imagine he has learned quite a bit that will one day be useful to him. I need him, I tell you. It is essential to prevent the girl doing anything to upset the Polish ambassadors and the marriage negotiations. The fear that the king has been poisoned already has them talking of withdrawing. I can see in their faces that they’re wondering if Poland wants a princess from a court that would poison its own king! Louis needs the marriage agreement to be quickly concluded and the marriage made.”

Jouvancy softened a little. “Is he very ill?”

“Very ill, during the night. He is a little better this morning.”

“And his doctors truly think he’s been poisoned?”

“Yes.” La Chaise leaned both hands on the table, which brought him eye to eye with the little priest.

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