might balk, most of the men who’d taken the cross would not, for they could then visit the Holy City and its shrines, fulfill their vows, and go home.”
Joanna had listened intently, her eyes narrowing. “So,” she said, “you offer al-’Ādil a crown, Saladin refuses it, al-’Ādil feels cheated, and they begin to regard each other with suspicion. Is that how it is supposed to go, Richard?”
“More or less,” he agreed. “Needless to say, this cannot become common knowledge. By the time Burgundy and Beauvais got through with it, they’d have me converting to Islam and launching a jihad to set all of Christendom ablaze.”
Joanna waited until he’d kissed them both and made ready to depart. “Just out of idle curiosity, Richard, what happens if Saladin and al-’Ādil accept your proposal ? What will you do then?”
He paused, his hand on the tent flap. “I’ll think of something,” he said with a grin and disappeared out into the night.
Once he was gone, Berengaria sat down wearily on Joanna’s bed. “Sometimes I fear Richard can be too clever for his own good,” she confessed. “I see the value in sowing suspicions between Saladin and his brother, but if word of this got out . . .” The mere thought of that was enough to make her flinch. “I expected the war against the Saracens to be so much more . . . straightforward. Instead it is like a quagmire, poisoned with petty rivalries, personal ambitions, and shameful betrayals. The French hate Richard. The poulains are at one another’s throats. Guy is not fit to rule, but Richard supports him anyway because of his feuding with the French king. Philippe not only abandoned a holy war, he is likely to launch attacks on Richard’s lands in Normandy in utter defiance of the Church. And Conrad is the worst of the lot, for he is actually willing to side with the infidels against his fellow Christians. It is all so ugly, Joanna.”
Joanna wondered if she’d ever been as innocent as Berengaria, as trusting of men and their motives. Most likely not, she decided, but then it would have been difficult to cling to innocence in a family known as the Devil’s Brood. She sat beside her sister-in-law on the bed, thinking about her father and brothers. It was not just Richard; they’d all been too clever by half, so sure they could outwit their enemies and get their own way by sheer force of will. And where had it gotten them? Papa died alone and abandoned, cursing the day he was born. Hal had been no better than a bandit in his last weeks, raiding churches to pay his routiers. Geoffrey’s plotting with the French king had brought suffering upon his wife and children, for his untimely death had made them pawns in the struggle between Brittany and its more powerful neighbors. Johnny had already proven that he could not be trusted, betraying the father who’d sacrificed so much for him. As for Richard, not only did he have his full share of the Angevin arrogance, he had a reckless streak that she found deeply disturbing, for what could be more reckless than contemplating a marital alliance with an infidel prince? Why was it that Maman seemed to be the only one to learn from past mistakes?
“Joanna . . . you look so troubled.” Berengaria reached over and squeezed her sister-in-law’s hand. “Not that I blame you for being distraught about this scheme of Richard’s. He ought to have found another way, ought not to have entangled you in it. Even knowing that he never intended for you to wed Saladin’s brother, it still had to be disturbing . . .” She did not finish the thought, faltering at the skeptical expression on Joanna’s face. “Surely you do not think he was lying? I cannot believe he’d ever coerce you into a godless marriage. He loves you dearly, Joanna.”
“I know he does. I never feared that he’d try to wed me to al-’Ādil against my wishes. Mind you, most men are all too willing to accept female sacrifice for the greater good, but my happiness does matter to Richard. Yet you are deluding yourself, Berengaria, if you think this is merely a sleight-of-hand to deceive Saladin and al-’Ādil. Had I reacted differently, had I been excited at the prospect of becoming Queen of Jerusalem—and there are women who’d wed the Antichrist if there was a crown in the offing—I’d wager Richard would have