Isabella: Braveheart of France by Colin Falconer Read Free Book Online Page A

heard that I have ordered the arrest of a dozen more Templars?”
    “My father will be pleased to hear it. So will the Holy Father in Rome.”
    “You will write to your father again? I would value his support.”
    “Your grace, however it pleases you. But do you think it wise to bring my Lord Gaveston back so soon? You are just winning the barons back to your side.”
    “They should never have left it. I am their king!”
    “But we have worked so hard to court them. We should strengthen the bonds before we test them.”
    The sun slips behind a cloud; the king’s good mood evaporates. “I cannot live without him, Isabella. You don’t understand.”
    She feels this like a slap. She draws herself up, composing herself. “Is Gaveston to return then?”
    “It will be different this time, Isabella. He will be more circumspect. You have nothing to fear from him. You are my Queen. When you grow up, you will understand.”
    He hurtles from the room, all energy; he wishes to hunt and calls for his falconer and his grooms and his dogs. When you grow up, you will understand.
    I know there is much to understand about men and women. But I already know this much; that I will not rest until you love this thin, pretty girl as much as you love Gaveston.
     
    ***
     
    “He says it will be different this time,” she tells Rosseletti. “He gives his word.”
    Her spy stares at the floor. He looks gloomy.
    “I have been at his side constantly these last nine months. Things have changed between us, I am sure of it.”
    “He has written to his Holiness in Rome, asking for the threat of excommunication to be lifted. It is all that is keeping him from bringing this Gaveston back from Ireland today.”
    “Let him come. He is no longer a threat to me.”
    “But he is a threat to the King. The barons will not abide him any better now than they did before. Will he not learn?”
    “He wishes my father to support him in this.”
    “Your father will not be drawn into a civil war in England; he has problems enough of his own. He wishes only that Edward keep his own house in order.”
    “And meanwhile he lets Edward arrest the Templars and make more concessions in Gascony.”
    Rosseletti shrugs. “Edward offers to do these things. Your father is of no mind to make him relent. Having Edward malleable suits his purpose well enough. But if your king thinks your father will intercede with his barons, he is quite misled.”
    “What shall I do?”
    “Only what you are doing now. Be patient, Isabella. Your time will come.”
    His sad grey eyes meet hers for a moment, then look away. They both can see what will happen; everyone but Edward can see it.
    In the spring, Parliament meets at Westminster and refuses his request to bring Gaveston back to England. Archbishop Winchelsea repeats his threat of excommunication. She thinks he will be furious, but he returns from the parliament quite calm.
    They remove to Kennington Palace, on the other side of the river, and she is there that day in June when two emissaries from the Pope arrive. He meets them behind closed doors, and she does not know what is said. But she is present the next day when he reads the Pope’s bull to the assembled barons and bishops of the Parliament. The Holy Father has overruled Winchelsea.
    The Archbishop is humiliated. He listens white-lipped and leaves without a word.
    The barons know they have been bested. Some of them look at Isabella and wonder if she has had a hand in this. They give her too much credit. She does not want the barons to hold sway over her husband and king, but neither does she want Gaveston back in England.
    Edward has outmanoeuvred them all. He is more adept at this game than any of them believed.
     
    ***
     
    They remove to York, that cold and godless place, where not even the devil could get warm. A fire burns in the central hearth but they might as well be standing naked on the moors for all the warmth that comes from it. A moan of wind raises the