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Day Two
Philippe
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Philippe found himself awake at a far earlier hour than he would have preferred, given the events of the night. Many times during the last weeks, he’d wanted to bury his head in his pillow rather than rising. He would have done it this morning too if so much hadn’t been depending on his ability to prevaricate. He’d come to learn, for better or for worse, that he was quite good at it.
This morning found him standing before a full glass mirror, admiring the cut and stitching of his new blue robe. At least in his compliments to his tailor he could be sincere.
Then Nogaret walked in. “Sire, you gave us quite a scare last night when I couldn’t find you. And here you are now, up so early.”
Philippe raised his eyebrows without turning around, assuming Nogaret could see his face in the mirror. “Do I hear criticism in your voice?”
“No, sire. I wouldn’t dream of it.” Nogaret bowed deeply.
The façade that implied Philippe remained in charge of his own life had to be maintained. It appeared to suit Nogaret too, in that he always put forth the persona of adviser, rather than revealing himself to anyone—even Philippe—as the power behind the throne. It was a fine line they walked, pretending that Philippe still had control over his own kingdom, but at the same time knowing within themselves that he did not. Even in private, they were unwilling to pierce the veil of deception. This reluctance was, in fact, what had allowed Philippe to free David in the first place. As long as he pretended he didn’t know what his advisers were up to, he could get away with quite a lot.
Thus, whether or not Nogaret was scared should be of no concern whatsoever to the King of France, so Philippe continued to walk the line between haughty and accommodating. “I appreciate all you’ve done for me, Nogaret. Just the fact that you saved me from a humiliating situation with my wife deserves many thanks. But a man has the right to his private moments without anyone looking in on him.”
“My apologies, sire. I never meant to impose, but when I looked for you in your private quarters, you weren’t there, and I felt I must widen the search.”
Philippe bent his gaze on his adviser. “What did I just say?”
Nogaret blinked, as it took him a moment to realize what Philippe was telling him. Even then, he didn’t entirely give way. “For future reference, may I ask if the latrine I found you in is the one you think you might retreat to if similar conditions were to arise again?” He put out a hand as Philippe continued to look sternly at him. “Not that I would ever mean to disturb you. I merely would like to be aware of where you are if I can’t find you in any of your usual situations.”
Philippe was pleased to see that Nogaret’s neck was red. “It is possible.”
“Thank you, sire.” Nogaret bowed.
Philippe made a chopping motion with one hand. “That is quite enough about my bodily functions. We must discuss the situation with David and his family. Has he signed the document releasing Aquitaine yet?”
“Bishop Mornay was on his way with Flote to see to it when I spoke to him just now.” He cleared his throat. “The thought was that David might respond better to someone other than me. Besides, I’ve been busy with our plans to move him this morning.”
“You said last night you intended to.” Philippe stepped off the dressing stool. “I would have preferred David to have signed the document already. We should have done it in the hall with everyone watching.” He made his tone revoltingly petulant.
“All will be well, my lord. We felt it best to move him from the hall to someplace out of the way as quickly as possible so as to avoid a scene. He isn’t going anywhere. He will sign it.”
“And if he does not?”
“Then we will tell him his son is a hostage to his good behavior.” Nogaret canted his head. “It is distasteful, but necessary.”
Philippe nodded. “I said I would leave it to you, and I am grateful you have assumed the burden of the more unsavory aspects of the situation.” He had a moment’s fear he was being too commending, so he opted next for renewed petulance. “I do miss Joana.”
Nogaret was only too happy to change the subject. “I’m sure her time at Vincennes will convince her where her duty lies, and she will remember her attachment to your person.”
“I’m sure.” Philippe made one last adjustment to his robe. “It is difficult to wait.”
“Was not the girl I sent to your bed yesterday to your liking?”
Philippe curled a lip. “She was not my wife.”
“No.” Nogaret bowed again.
Most of last night, once Philippe achieved the peace of his own chamber and sent Nogaret’s doxy away, he’d lain awake, fearing David’s absence would be discovered too soon.
But even Nogaret had to sleep sometime, and the audience in the hall had gone on until midnight, making everyone glad to get to their beds when they did. Philippe had half-expected Nogaret to have burst into his room before his ablutions, but it seemed now that Nogaret had thought to let David stew in his own juices.
A mistake.
Not that Philippe was going to tell him so.
From the moment Nogaret had informed him that Mornay and Flote were on their way to David’s rooms, Philippe had found himself holding his breath, listening for a commotion in the corridor outside his room that would indicate David’s absence had been discovered.
He forced himself to breathe easily—and then the awaited news finally came in the form of Bishop Mornay himself, who threw open the door to the room and stood in the doorway, breathing hard. He might have run all the way from the other side of the palace. Running was not something Philippe had ever seen Mornay do before. Flote followed hard on his heels, much less flustered and far more angry.
“Sire!” Mornay bowed in Philippe’s direction, and then, after a moment’s hesitation and a strong look from Nogaret, Flote did too.
Philippe glided towards the bishop, ignoring Flote entirely. “What is it, my friend? You look extremely agitated.”
Bishop Mornay swallowed, glanced nervously at Nogaret, and then recovered some of his composure. “Excuse me, my lord.” He made a gracious gesture with one hand. “I have a matter to discuss with Guillaume here. It need be no concern of yours.”
Philippe wavered for a moment as he went back and forth in his mind between what would be the most ‘natural’ behavior for the man he used to be. In the end, he decided that the Philippe of old would have insisted he be told about any ‘private matter’.
“Nonsense. I must know.”
Mornay glanced at Nogaret, who was actually starting to look concerned himself, for all that the man had the ability to remain expressionless under the most trying of circumstances.
“Sire, King David is not in his rooms.”
Philippe narrowed his eyes and said, as if he didn’t believe Mornay, “What do you mean he isn’t in his rooms? How can he not be in his rooms?”
“Pardon me, sire, but Flote and I were there just now. The door was locked, but when we opened it, the rooms were entirely empty.”
“That isn’t possible.” Nogaret’s nostrils flared. “You went to the wrong room.”
Mornay turned on him, an exasperated tone to his voice now and sounding more like himself. “It was the room with guards on either side of the door. They swore that nobody had been in or out since they arrived on duty at dawn.”
“Who was on duty before dawn?” Philippe said, delighted to muddy the waters, even if only a little. “You must question them at once! They must have let them out, or at best, fallen asleep while on duty and failed to stop them from leaving.”
Nogaret was still staring at Mornay. “I must see this for myself.” He set off for the door, Mornay and Flote—and a bit belatedly Philippe himself—at his heels. The four of them marched across the palace, up one corridor and down another and then up a flight of stairs until they reached David’s room. When they arrived, the guards’ commander was in the midst of dressing down his underlings verbally while both stared straight ahead. It was too little too late.
One of the guards attempted a defense: “We didn’t do anything wrong, sir. We just got here.”
“Did you open the door to the room when you arrived?”
“No, sir! We don’t even have a key, sir!”
Mornay was so agitated he was walking stiff-legged, but Nogaret seemed to have returned to his usual unruffled self because he strolled past the guard and into the room, at which point he stopped in the middle of the suite and turned slowly on one heel. Philippe hadn’t been in the room since he’d led David out of it, so he took a hasty look around too, fearful he’d left something of himself behind.
Fortunately, he saw nothing of immediate concern. His half-drunk goblet of wine was where he’d left it on the table, but Nogaret would have no way of knowing to whom it had belonged.
Philippe went to the window and leaned through it. “I suppose they could have climbed down?” He made his voice sound appropriately dubious.
Nogaret moved to stand beside him. “How, sire?” His tone was flat.
“He didn’t tie the bedsheets together, if that’s what you’re wondering, my lord.” The commander of the guard, a man Philippe didn’t know, having followed them into the room, spoke anxiously from behind them.
Nogaret snapped his fingers at him. “Where are the men who were charged with watching the door after I left?”
“They are on their way, my lord! I sent for them as soon as I learned Duke David and his family were gone.”
Nogaret sneered. “He isn’t a duke.”
The commander of the guard recoiled.
Philippe had swung around to watch the exchange, and then found himself horrified to see a piece of fabric caught in the bottom corner of the secret door into the wall. Possibly it had come from the hem of one of the women’s dresses or the tail of a cloak.
Before Nogaret could notice it, Philippe drew himself up to his full height and spoke in a haughty tone he hadn’t used since before his daughters’ deaths. “This is a monumental failure, Guillaume.”
“Sire—”
“I left you in charge. I allowed you to secure David because you told me you had it all in hand. But you did not, and you do not!” Philippe was thundering now, incredibly pleased that it had all worked out so perfectly. All along he had planned for David’s disappearance to fall on Nogaret’s shoulders, and to be able to chastise him in front of witnesses was too rich an opportunity to pass up. “I have had enough of your incompetence! I expect you to discover how this happened and find me in the chapel when you’re finished. If I am not there when you arrive, you will not seek me out elsewhere but instead will wait!”
He strode through the door and into the corridor. As much as he would have liked to gloat over his victory, he didn’t look back to see if Nogaret, Flote, and Mornay were still gaping at him or if, as soon as his back was to them, they’d turned on each other.
When he reached the end of the corridor, he did risk a single glance. Seeing that nobody was watching, not even a guard, he entered an empty room and accessed the passageway he knew to be there, making sure the door closed solidly—and quietly—behind him. Then he worked his way back to the room in which David had been kept. Once there, he put his eye to the peephole and had to clap his own hand over his mouth when Nogaret was only three feet away, though fortunately looking towards Mornay, who was walking away towards the door.
“I’m missing something, Pierre,” Nogaret said.
Philippe’s stomach clenched. Nogaret would figure out about the passages. It was a wonder he hadn’t already. He was the cleverest man Philippe knew. Really, he was too clever by half, and if Philippe hadn’t been so grief-stricken these past months, he would have realized it sooner.
“It was the guards, Guillaume, it has to have been.” Mornay spoke the words over his shoulder.
Nogaret shook his head. “I’m not so sure—” he was just turning around and could have been staring right into Philippe’s eye a heartbeat later, if the commander hadn’t returned in that moment with the two guards who’d had the responsibility of the late night shift. Nogaret broke off what he was going to say and, with Flote, who’d come out of the adjacent room, strode across the floor towards them.
Philippe took that moment of distraction to reach down and tug on the scrap of fabric, while holding tightly to the latch on his side of the door to prevent the door from swinging wide. A moment later, he had the scrap in hand and was hastening away. He didn’t leave the hidden passageway until he was two floors below, coming out in an entirely different privy from the one in which Nogaret had found him last night.
Then he strolled across the courtyard to his beautiful church, where Nogaret found him a half-hour later, on his knees, thanking God for his deliverance and praying with all of his heart that David could free his family.
