‘So – it was not Guise?’ Henri sounded disappointed. ‘But de Chartres was related to the Duchess of Montpensier. Who would he kill for, if not the League?’
‘I realised that the answer lay not in his League connections but in another attachment. De Chartres was rumoured to have a mistress. I found a letter from his lover in his cell at Saint-Victor. My friend the librarian there found another in the same hand among his other papers – a letter telling him that Lefèvre was going to denounce him as a spy and must be silenced.’
‘So…’ Henri frowned. ‘What does that have to do with Circe?’
‘Nothing. That is precisely the point. There is no mention of this conspiracy involving Circe, which makes me think that Joseph de Chartres did not know of it. His lover used him. Joseph thought he was getting rid of Lefèvre for a different reason – to protect himself against exposure as a spy.’
‘A spy for whom?’ Henri asked. ‘I am completely confused.’
‘Bear with me – it will become clearer. We must suppose that he was afraid his comrades in the League suspected him of fraternising with their enemy. The curate at Saint-Séverin overheard Lefèvre calling him Judas.’ I left a pause for him to work it out.
‘There seems to be an awful lot of supposition here,’ Catherine remarked, shifting her weight in the chair.
‘I prefer to call it logical deduction,’ I said.
‘You mean, this mistress was someone from my household?’ Henri stared at me as if the idea was preposterous.
‘It was someone with royal allegiances, certainly. And I also believe the lover killed de Chartres not long after. Presumably he couldn’t be trusted to keep quiet either.’
‘But—’ Henri shook his head as he struggled to make the necessary connections – ‘if she came from inside the royal households, then the original conspiracy, the one involving Circe—’
‘Also came from within the palace.’ I took a few paces in front of them, as if speaking to a public gallery. ‘Circe – Léonie – had confessed to a plot to harm Queen Louise. That made no sense if Guise was behind it – it would be no advantage to him to attack the Queen. Quite the reverse – it’s in his interest that you continue in a childless marriage, sire. If your wife were to die, you would be free to find a new one who might give you a son, and his hopes of the throne would crumble. In fact, the only people who would obviously benefit from the death of Queen Louise would be the House of Valois.’
Catherine brought her stick down sharply again as if she were the presiding judge. ‘I think we have heard enough of this nonsense. Banish this man, Henri. You have shown him too much familiarity – now he thinks he can speak to sovereigns as if he were their equal.’
‘For courage and intelligence he is the superior of every prince I have known,’ Henri snapped back, half-rising. He sounded unusually regal. ‘And may I remind you, madam, that there is only one sovereign in this room, and he commands Bruno to continue.’
I had never seen Catherine shrink before. She pressed her lips together and folded her hands over the top of her cane, her eyes fixed intently on me as if daring me to finish my accusation.
‘So you think Léonie was trying to kill my wife?’ Henri formed the words slowly and carefully, as if their meaning was only now beginning to penetrate. Before I could answer, he turned to face his mother, understanding spreading over his face. ‘You knew. Dear God – this was your solution?’
‘The man is raving, Henri. He is saying the first thing that comes into his head because he is desperate for your patronage again.’
‘With respect, madam, if I wanted to win royal favour this is not the story I would be inventing,’ I said quietly.
‘You spoke to me of a possible annulment, I remember that,’ Henri said, still addressing his mother with the same incredulous gaze. ‘I told you I would not countenance it. God knows Louise has endured enough – she does not deserve to be thrown aside so lightly. Then Ruggieri made his prophecy, which I took as a sign that everything would be resolved…’ He let the sentence trail into silence as he looked back at me. ‘Go on, Bruno. What further secrets has my mother been keeping from me?’
My eyes flicked to Catherine; I saw her give a minute shake of her head, her lips pressed so tight they had turned white. If I spoke now, I would make a lasting enemy of the most powerful woman in France, and despite the King’s present performance, I was not convinced he had the will to defy her for long. I paused, breathed hard and plunged in anyway.
‘One significant one, Your Majesty. Léonie de Châtillon was in the early weeks of pregnancy when she died.’
‘What?’ Henri leapt to his feet, throwing his chair over behind him. His nostrils flared as his gaze swung wildly from me to Catherine. ‘She was carrying my child? And you killed her, knowing that?’
‘Of course I didn’t kill her.’ Catherine smoothed her skirts. ‘Do you imagine, at my age, I go stalking through woods in the dark, garrotting young women?’
‘Why would you say she was garrotted?’ I asked, immediately. ‘I thought you believed she killed herself with cuts to the wrists?’
‘I do.’ She regarded me calmly; her expression told me I would have to
