Yet he allowed it. Some part of him hungered for the overwhelming emotion, even if it was so threaded through with pain. Yet its reality eluded him. She knew that when he turned to her, only for an instant she saw it in his eyes.
Then, as if by mutual agreement, he walked away, back toward the main gallery, and she was ashamed of having intruded, even though it had been unintentional.
She heard a noise of swift footsteps and swung around sharply, as if she had been caught somewhere she should not have been. Why should she feel so exposed? Because she had experienced a moment's empathy with the Roman?
This was the immediate razor edge of the Schism, not arguments about the nature of God; it was the poison in the nature of man, where the lines of enormity were drawn in the ground and one was afraid to stretch out the hand across them.
Forty-four
FROM MAY TO NOVEMBER, THERE WAS ANOTHER LONG VOID in struggle between Rome and Byzantium until Pope Nicholas III was elected toward the end of November. He was Italian, passionately so. He dispossessed Charles of Anjou of his position as senator of Rome, so he could vote in no future papal elections, thus considerably reducing his power. He packed the high offices close to him with his own brothers, nephews, and cousins, gaining a stronghold on Rome.
He also required yet another affirmation of the union between Rome and Byzantium. This time it was not Michael and his son who should sign the promises of the new restrictions, it was all the bishops and senior clergy in what remained of the empire.
Anna found Constantine in despair.
"I shouldn't have done it!" he said hoarsely. "But how could I have been wrong?" He seemed almost on the edge of tears, his eyes hot, beseeching escape from a reality he could not bear. He flung out his hands in a gesture of pleading. "Pope John forced the emperor into signing the promise to obey Rome, and a month afterward-just a month-the ceiling of his palace fell in on him. It was an act of God, it had to be."
She did not argue.
"I told the people so," he went on urgently. "Even the cardinals in Rome must have seen it. What more do they need as a sign? Do they not believe it was God who brought down the walls of Jericho on the sinners within?" His voice was rising in a wild plea. "I told them it was the miracle we had waited for. I had promised them that the Blessed Virgin would save us, if only we had faith." He choked, gagging for breath. "I have betrayed them."
She was embarrassed for him. This was the sort of crisis of faith one should have alone and afterward be able to pretend had not happened. "No one said it would be easy," she began. "At least no one who tells the truth. Or that it wouldn't hurt, and we would always win. The crucifixion must have looked like the end of everything."
He breathed out heavily. "We must keep on fighting, to the death, if necessary. We must find new heart somehow. If we haven't the truth, then we have nothing at all." The faintest flicker of a smile touched his eyes, and he moved absently to straighten his robe. "Thank you, Anastasius. Your faith in me has given me strength. This is a setback, it is not a defeat. Tomorrow will see the resurrection, if we have faith." He straightened his shoulders. "I shall begin immediately."
"Your Grace..." She reached out as if to touch him, then dropped her hand at the last moment. "Be careful," she warned, thinking of his arrest, perhaps worse. "If you speak out too clearly against the union, you will be thrown out of office," she said urgently. "And then who will minister to the poor and the sick? You will end up in exile, like Cyril Choniates, and what good will that do?"
"I have no intention of being so impractical," he promised her. "I shall walk quietly and keep the faith."
Constantine was on the steps of the Church of the Holy Apostles. A crowd was pressing forward anxiously, looking to Constantine, waiting for him to speak and reassure them, tell them that their ancient comforts were not empty. He was not aware of Anna in the shadow a few yards behind him. His eyes and his mind were on the eager faces in front of