Light on Lucrezia: A Novel of the Borgia - By Jean Plaidy Page 0,26
of Brittany quickly.
Cesare’s fingers itched to seize his sword and attack the royal pair there and then. They were his enemies; they had arranged this. And to think that it was he who had brought them the Bull which enabled them to marry! They were deliberately insulting him, telling him that the King of Naples did not object to a Breton nobleman of no great importance, whereas he would not accept Cesare Borgia, son of the Pope, as his son-in-law.
It was unendurable. They were asking him to suffer too much humiliation.
Perhaps Louis realized this, because he said quickly: “Ah, my lord Duke, there are other ladies at our Court. Perhaps they would be less capricious.”
“Holy Mother,” prayed Cesare, “keep me calm. Stop this mad racing of my blood which bids me murder.”
He managed to say: “What lady has Your Majesty in mind?”
Louis smiled pleasantly. “This is a bitter disappointment. But I have a good match in mind for you. My kinsman, the King of Navarre, has a fair young daughter. What say you to marriage with young Charlotte of Navarre?”
Cesare felt his heartbeats quicken. He had set his heart on Carlotta, but Charlotte was no mean alternative.
“Alain d’Albret,” went on the King, “come forth, cousin, and tell us what you would say to a match between our good friend the Duke of Valentinois and your little Charlotte.”
The King of Navarre came and stood before the King of France. His looks were sullen. He said: “It does not seem meet to me, Sire, that a Cardinal has a right to marry.”
“The Duke is no longer a Cardinal,” the King reminded him.
Cesare cried: “I have been freed from my vows. I am as fit and able to marry as any man.”
“I should need to be sure that a man who had once been a Cardinal was free of all ecclesiastical ties, before I gave him a daughter of mine,” said Alain d’Albret stubbornly.
Cesare cried out: “You are a fool! The whole world knows I am free.”
There was silence all about him. Louis’ looks were cold. This foreigner had forgotten the strictness of Court etiquette in France.
Cesare said quickly: “I crave pardon. But these matters could be proved to you.”
“They would need to be proved,” said rough Alain.
“You must forgive his caution,” added the King, looking from Alain to Cesare. “He is a father with a father’s feelings.”
“Your Majesty can explain to him that I am free.”
“We will give him full proof,” said the King. “But this will take a little time.”
“I shall need the utmost proof, Your Majesty,” declared Alain.
The King rose and going to Alain put his arm through his; then he turned and beckoned to Cesare, and linking his other arm through Cesare’s he walked with the two of them to an embrasure where he spoke in whispers while those who had watched the previous scene talked among themselves, respecting the King’s wish for privacy.
“The proof will come,” said the King to Alain. “His Holiness will lose no time in supplying it.” He turned to Cesare. “Charlotte’s brother Amanieu will be your brother, my lord Duke. He has long desired his Cardinal’s hat. A Cardinal’s hat, Alain! I feel that, if you saw your son in possession of that, you would hasten your decision, would you not?”
“Proof, Sire,” said Alain. “I must have proof … proof for myself, and a Cardinal’s hat for my son; and then … I should not be averse to accepting a husband for my daughter.”
Cesare was silent. He must have a bride. He could not face the humiliation of returning to Rome without one. And Charlotte d’Albret was the daughter of a King, even as Carlotta was.
He saw in this marriage a means of saving his face, but at the same time he was wary.
Was it true, that which was being whispered throughout the Court: “The King keeps Cesare Borgia here as a hostage”?
Had he suggested this marriage to delay Cesare’s departure from France, to make him a willing visitor rather than an unwilling one? Cesare believed that Louis was even now planning an attack on Milan. Was he, the great Cesare, to be put in the humiliating position of hostage once more?
Yet marriage with a kinswoman of France would serve him well.
He determined then to marry Charlotte as quickly as possible.
The Court of France was at Blois, and the occasion was the wedding of Cesare Borgia, Duke of Valentinois, and Charlotte d’Albret.
The King was delighted. He was invariably delighted to be in this beautiful