The Prince of Darkness (13 page)

Richard had been secretly pleased that the desire to possess La Marche kept those two powerful families suspicious of each other and therefore turned their thoughts from planning forays into neighbouring Anjou.

When Richard had died, Hugh de Lusignan, the eldest son of the House, had with great temerity managed to capture Queen Eleanor while she was out riding one day and with even greater daring had declared to her his intentions of keeping her prisoner until she gave him La Marche.

With Richard dead and all her tact and skill needed to put John on the throne, Eleanor had given way and had bought her freedom for the surrender of La Marche.

The Count of Angoulême was angry that Hugh de Lusignan had that which he had coveted; he had to be placated
and the Lusignans had had the clever notion that the best way of settling their differences was by a marriage contract.

Hugh was in his twenties – a young man of pride and strength, worthy to be the head of his house. The Count of Angoulême had a daughter. She was not yet twelve years old, it was true, but her lack of years could soon be remedied. With every passing week she grew nearer to maturity and it was only a matter of waiting a year or so before she would be ready for matrimony.

Isabella knew there was something afoot. Members of the Lusignan family rode over and at their head was Hugh. Isabella watching from a window saw him arrive and when he looked up, she smiled at him. He stood there, legs apart, watching her for a few seconds, and she was excited because she knew that he was thinking – as almost everyone else did – how pretty she was.

Her mother came to her room and dismissed the servants.

‘I have something to say to you, Isabella,’ she said. ‘Now listen carefully. Some very important gentlemen are visiting us. You will meet them and I want you to be very charming to them.’

‘Why?’ asked Isabella.

‘There is a very special reason.’

‘What reason?’

‘You will know all in good time.’

‘But if I am to be especially nice to them I want to know now.’

‘You are too young to understand.’

Too young! This was absurd. She was not too young for anything. She knew a great deal. She listened; she asked questions; she trapped people into admissions. She knew about
the maids who went out into the shrubbery when it was dusk to meet the menservants. She had hidden herself and been at first greatly astonished by their activities and although she had seen them repeated many times she always liked to watch. This excited her more than anything she knew. So she was certainly not too young to know why she had to be particularly attractive to the Lusignans.

‘Is it something to do with my betrothal?’ she asked slyly.

Her mother stared in astonishment. ‘How could you know?’

‘Because you said I was too young to understand. When one is considered too young it is usually something to do with men and women together.’

The child was astonishing, thought her mother.

‘What do you know of such things?’ she demanded.

‘Not as much as I should like to, I fear.’

‘It is nothing to be fearful about. Such knowledge will come in due course. When you have a husband you will know what is good for you to know.’

‘Am I to have a husband then? Who is it? Hugh de Lusignan?’

The Countess hesitated. Then she said: ‘Yes. You have guessed aright.’

Isabella clasped her hands together and said: ‘I like him.’

‘Then that is well.’

‘He is a beautiful man,’ cried Isabella. ‘He looked up at the window when he was entering the castle and smiled at me. I think he liked me.’

‘Of course he liked you. Did you expect him not to?’

‘Of course not,’ said Isabella.

‘Now you will be dressed in a gown I shall choose for you and I shall take you down to the hall and present you to Hugh.’

‘Will he take me away with him now?’ she asked.

‘Certainly not, my dear child. He will meet you and if he likes what he sees there will be a betrothal.’

‘And if I do not like what I see?’

‘You have already said you like him.’

‘But if I had not?’

‘Girls in your position must marry where their family wishes them to.’

‘So you wish me to marry Hugh?’

‘It will be good for our families if you do.’

‘Is that why Hugh wants it?’

‘He will only want it if you are charming to him and he thinks you beautiful.’

‘I will be charming and he will think me beautiful because everybody does.’

‘This betrothal will please your father. It is very important that there is friendship between our families.’

‘So I shall be a wife now.’

She was thinking of the servants in the shrubbery and she thought: I shall know now. Her observations had taught her that it was not only servants who behaved in such a manner. Her turn would come and something told her that she was going to find the exercise highly diverting and every bit as enjoyable as they clearly did. She couldn’t wait to indulge in such pleasures.

‘My dear child, it will not be for a year or two yet.’

‘Not for a year or two! Why should I wait?’

‘Because you are but a child.’

‘Bess the kitchen girl is but a few months older than I …’

‘What are you saying? Bess. Kitchen girl! My dear Isabella, you are not giving me your serious attention.’

But she was of course and she was very disappointed that she must wait for her marriage.

Now she set about the task of charming Hugh. He was tall and looked very strong. He was wonderful. He was very handsome and was, her mother had told her, a great soldier. He thought she was beautiful; she saw that at once by the way in which he kept looking at her. He laid his hands on her shoulders and she smiled up at him.

He said, ‘Your daughter is indeed a beauty, Count. Would to God she were but three years older.’

She wanted to shout: I am as wise as others who are three years older. I am not a child … except in years. I know about marriage and I don’t want to wait for it. Forget I am not yet twelve years old.

But even she dared not say that, with her father and mother looking on.

Her mother said she could go to her own chamber. She pouted a little and said could she not stay?

‘Your father and our guest have business to discuss,’ she was told.

She tried to linger but her mother had taken her by the arm and was leading her gently away, leaving the two men while her father and her husband-to-be talked together of the union between Lusignan and Angoulême, the dowry, when the wedding would take place and what was to happen in the meantime.

Her mother came to her chamber and sat on her bed. Isabella, rosy from sleep, raised herself. How lovely she was! thought the Countess. It was small wonder that Hugh had found her irresistible and deplored the fact that she was so young.

‘You are to leave us, my child,’ said the Countess sadly.

‘I am going to be married?’ cried Isabella.

‘In due course. But first you are to leave your home and go to that of your future husband.’

‘When, Mother?’

‘Within a few days.’ The Countess shook her head sadly. ‘It is always thus with daughters. They must leave the family with whom they have spent their childhood and go to that which will be theirs for the rest of their lives. You won’t forget us, Isabella?’

‘Forget you, Mother! How could I? And my dear father too. Oh no, I shall never forget you.’

She threw her arms about her mother’s neck but even then she was thinking of the strong body of Hugh de Lusignan and wondering what his embraces would be like.

‘You must not fret, my darling.’

Fret. She was all eagerness to go.

‘I shall see you and my father often, shall I not, Mother? We shall be near neighbours.’

‘We must make sure that comes to pass.’

‘We will, we will. I shall insist.’

Her mother smiled fondly. ‘It will be as your husband wishes,’ she reminded her.

Oh no, thought Isabella. It shall be as I wish.

She smiled complacently. She had no doubt that she would get her way with Hugh as she had with her parents.

‘Now we must busy ourselves with preparations for your departure. It is inconvenient that there is so little time.’

She was not inconvenienced at all. She was excited. She wondered how long she would have to wait before they considered her old enough to marry.

In a few weeks she left her father’s castle and was escorted by her parents and some of the men-at-arms to the castle situated in the heart of Lusignan country between Poitiers and Niort.

The stone walls of the castle glittered in the sunshine and although she had seen other castles there was a special quality about this one because it was going to be her home. Within those walls she would become the bride of Hugh de Lusignan who was also known as Hugh le Brun. He was rich, he was clever and he was strong. She was delighted with her bridegroom and as she rode towards the castle with her parents she was determined to prove to him that although she was not yet twelve years old she was ready for marriage; she might be innocent but she was not ignorant. She might be a virgin but she was anxious to cast off that not very exciting state; and because she was already aware that the arts of seduction would be second nature to her, she was going to set herself the task of making Hugh the Brown forget that she was only a child, and she had every hope of success.

The family of Angoulême were given a very warm welcome in the ancestral home of the Lusignans and those present marvelled at this since they had always been natural enemies – always fighting for possession of La Marche, always trying to take a little territory from each other, seeking, it seemed, reasons for quarrels. And now because of this beautiful child’s betrothal to the son of the clan all was peace.

It was certainly a time for great rejoicing.

Isabella was given a bevy of attendants only a little older than herself; and Hugh declared to her parents that in this household she would be treated with all honour. He would be absent for long periods, but his brother Ralph would take his
place in the household, and Ralph swore to the family that he would make it his personal duty to see that no harm came to his brother’s betrothed whose beauty and charm had already won all their hearts.

Isabella’s family, though sad to part with their daughter, rode away without misgivings knowing that the Lusignans were to be trusted on such a point of honour.

They comforted each other as they rode back to Angoulême.

‘It has to happen,’ said Count Aymer. ‘All parents must face it.’

‘If there had been others it would have been easier to endure,’ replied his wife Alice.

‘Alas, that we had but one child.’

‘It makes her a considerable heiress though,’ said Isabella’s mother, ‘and if we only had one, at least the one we had must be the loveliest girl in the world.’

‘You speak with a mother’s fondness which may obscure her vision slightly.’

‘Nay, I heard said by one of the Lusignans to another – not meant for my ears: “When did you see a more perfect creature? Thus must Helen of Troy have appeared to those about her.”’

Aymer laughed. ‘I hope our Isabella will not cause as much trouble as that woman did.’

‘Hugh delights in her already. I feel sure he will wish to hurry the marriage.’

‘He must needs wait. She cannot marry at twelve years.’

‘She is not as immature as some twelve-year-olds.’

‘No, my lady, I will not have her forced into the marriage bed before she is ready for it.’

‘You are right. There must be a few years’ wait yet. But
perhaps when she is fourteen.’

‘We shall see.’

And so they rode back to Angoulême. But the castle there had lost something with the departure of Isabella.

Isabella set out to charm her new family and succeeded admirably. Hugh was already in love with her and chafed against delay. This delighted her, but she did not want him to know this. She chose a hundred little ways of keeping close to him, of clinging to him, calling attention to her helplessness which she knew he found so appealing; she carefully chose ribbons for her hair which would be most becoming to her unusual colouring and enhanced her beauty in every way. Not that anything so obvious needed to have attention called to it. She exulted in her beautiful face, her perfect little body which irritated her a little because it seemed to her so slow in reaching maturity.