The Templar, the Queen and Her Lover - читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги автора Michael Jecks (Chapter Forty-Six) #45

Chapter Forty-Six

Friday following Easter ²⁶

Maubisson

Sister Blanche heard the knock and went to the door of her cell.

It was one of those soft, damp days, with a gentle drizzle falling that was a constant delight to her. In the past she would have avoided such weather, complaining that it was uncomfortable, grey, miserable. Now, it was one more of God’s pleasures. Never again would she moan and whine about the wet, or the excessive heat, the smells or sensations which He had sent. All were a pleasure to one who had been incarcerated with the fear of death for so long that the soul had grown to long for it.

‘My lady?’

She felt her stomach lurch, and almost collapsed. Bile rose in her throat at the sight of the King’s signs on the herald’s breast. ‘Yes?’

‘Lady, I have been sent to ask if you are well.’

She swallowed down her terror. ‘You may tell him that I am very well. I am dead — to the world and to him.’

The King inclined his head when the messenger approached, and listened with a stony countenance as he heard Blanche’s message. But when he understood that there was a gift too, a fleeting consternation passed over his face. And then, when he took the little draw-string bag and opened it, he saw the ruby rosary.

‘It is a pretty thing,’ he murmured to himself. He took it out and admired it for a moment. The messenger was staring with open admiration. ‘You like it?’

‘My Liege, it is so … so beautiful …’ the man stammered.

‘Take it. I gave it once to a whore. It is worthless.’

¹ The Death Ship of Dartmouth

² Saturday 2 February 1325

³ Sunday 17 February 1325

⁴ Monday 18 February 1325

⁵ Wednesday 20 February 1325

⁶ Saturday 23 February 1325

⁷ Thursday 28 February 1325

⁸ Monday 4 March 1325

⁹ Tuesday 5 March 1325

¹⁰ Saturday 9 March 1325