In the Shadow of Midnight - By Marsha Canham Page 0,48
he knows, once he shows the barons of Brittany and the Aquitaine how little he is prepared to risk in order to hold their loyalty, the fleur-de-lys will fly from every battlement west of the Seine. Normandy will be under French rule by the spring and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent it once John removes himself across the Channel.”
“And the Princess Eleanor?”
Pembroke was silent a moment. “Because of Arthur, because he once renounced his claim in supposed good faith only to reappear some months later at the head of an army … Eleanor could pledge her oath of fealty from the highest rampart in the land, she could shout it before the largest court assembled, and John would not be inclined to believe her. As long as she is alive, there is another whose claim to the throne precedes his own. And as long as she is alive, he knows there will be men gathering in dark rooms to speak of civil war.”
“The king would not dare harm her,” Eduard declared evenly. “Every knight in the realm would turn their backs on him. He would be spitting in the eye of chivalry itself, and no amount of guilty penance, no weight of holy relics strung about his scrawny neck, would redeem him.”
“You place more faith in his concern over public opinion than I do,” Pembroke remarked. “In any case, she is a danger to him and he would not contemplate returning to England without her. As his prisoner or his hostage—call it what you will—the Pearl of Brittany will never be allowed to walk free again, not so long as John sits upon the throne.”
Eduard, standing in the silence and shadows, steeped in quiet fury. He raised a hand unselfconsciously and pressed it over his breast, feeling the bite of the tiny gold ring. Eleanor had given it to him the day he had won his spurs; the same day he had vowed, with drops of his own blood, to perform all deeds of bravery and honour in her name, and to serve and protect her unto the death as her champion.
He had not trusted John’s motives from the outset and had wanted to go, by himself if necessary, to bring her away from Mirebeau. But his father and the dowager had both worked to cool his temper. Eleanor herself had assured him she was being treated well and was quite certain her uncle meant her no harm. At the time, she had also been quite certain Arthur would be set free again, and had even gone willingly to Rouen in the hope of being closer to him. As recently as a fortnight ago, she had held hope Arthur was somewhere in the castle donjons being kept in isolation and darkness until his Angevin stubbornness could be broken.
If John had given the order for Eleanor to be moved to England, she must be aware by now that the rumours of her brother’s death were founded in truth. She would be frightened. Alone. She would know she could no longer trust her uncle’s promises and assurances.
William the Marshal was watching Eduard’s face closely. “I would hasten to add that if any overt force was brought to bear against the king to win her release, it would invite upon her the same fate her poor brother suffered. Nay, even the threat of force would turn John’s hand against her.”
Eduard met the marshal’s eye. “Do you suggest we do nothing to correct this travesty?”
“I suggest we do the only thing we can do.” William drew a breath through his teeth and looked at each man in turn. “I suggest we steal her back.”
“Steal her back?” Alaric exclaimed.
“Aye. And the sooner the better. The farther from Brittany she is taken, the deeper into John’s domain she travels, the less likelihood there will be of wresting her from the king’s grasp.”
“You have obviously ruled out appealing to the dowager for help,” the Wolf assumed.
“For all of his faults, his past treacheries, and for all that he bestows upon her the affection of a moulting snake, Eleanor of Aquitaine has always favoured John among her sons. She would not knowingly intercede if it meant threatening his position on the throne. As much as she loved Arthur, she ordered a hail of arrows be delivered upon his head when he sought to take Mirebeau. As much as she loves her granddaughter, she would not condone any act that might lead to putting her on