Mother smiles without opening her eyes. “Go and make yourself as handsome as you are brave. I will wait.”
“Sleep. When you next open your eyes, I will be beside you.”
Anjou motions for me and together we creep from the room. We are not two steps outside before his temper flares. “Do you see? Do you see how His Majesty treats me?”
“Charles is jealous.” I can understand how Charles feels, so surely Henri should be able to. “The King is not being styled the next Alexander. He will not be the talk of the Court as the gallant commander who led royal troops to a glorious victory.”
“Will I be so celebrated? Or will he see that Tavannes gets the credit?”
“Mother would never allow that.”
“Not if she were in full health…” He pauses and his face falls. “She looked so weak. Are you certain Castelan said we need not worry?”
“I am. I promise you I am with her constantly, trying to do every little thing for her so that she will not exert herself. The last two nights I slept beside her bed.”
“Charles is there a great deal too, is he not? Whispering to her.” His brow furrows.
“Is it not natural he should care for her as you and I do?”
“Natural or not, it gives him opportunity to discredit me. While I am away fighting, he has hour after hour to work against me with Mother.”
“C’est absolument ridicule! You always have Mother’s heart, even if Charles has her ear. Can you believe her devotion to you will be shaken?”
“No, because I will not allow that. Come, I have a proposition that will be of advantage to us both.”
Henri’s apartment is crowded. Men who rode in with him mingle with those who, hearing he has arrived, have come to share his wine and hear his stories. Several embrace him. Released from their arms, Henri puts up his hands. “Gentlemen, my time in Metz is short but not too brief for a mighty revel this evening. In the meantime I would be at Her Majesty’s bedside. Therefore, I must make myself presentable. Out, out.” My brother’s valet de chambre moves forward to help him but Henri says, “You too.”
When we are alone he says, “You do not mind playing the valet, do you? I know you have no experience undressing a man, but it is not hard.” He unbuttons his doublet and removes it. I hold out my hands. It smells of him. A scent as familiar to me as my own, and one I have missed.
“Here is the crux of the matter. Among our siblings, I trust you alone. You are my own Princess, as faithful to me as man can ask woman to be.”
I feel my cheeks warming at his praise, and turn to lay aside the doublet and pour water into his basin that I might hide my blush. Shirtless, he comes forward to use the basin.
“You see how it is?” He offers a blinding smile. “You anticipate me. I can rely on you.” He begins to wash, the muscles in his arms and chest showing with every motion. Battle, it seems, has further developed his fine, sportsman’s figure. “Will you assist me?”
“Only tell me how.”
“Be my eyes, my ears, and my voice. Send me news and seek ever to influence the Queen so that I retain my present fortune.”
I watch him sit down and remove his boots. While his eyes are thus turned, I find the courage to raise an embarrassing point. “I will write to you every day, but as for influencing the Queen, you credit me with a power I do not have. Why should Her Majesty listen to me?”
Looking up, he replies, “She will listen because I will tell her to do so. I will point out that you are no child but a woman grown—a woman of sense and as devoted to me as she is. I will advise her that I hold your opinions in highest esteem and weigh them heavily.”
“Do you?”
“Of course.”
“Oh, Henri…” That he should value me so moves me.
“Will you pledge yourself to be my partisan? Will you make certain that I am in our mother’s thoughts and favor though I be leagues away?”
“It will be my honor to serve you so.”
“Good. And I urge you to set aside your timidity and speak to Mother as you do to me.”
“I will try.”
“You will not find it hard, I assure you, once you apprehend that she will listen graciously. Mother has the ability to make one feel like the very center of the world.”
I doubt I will ever feel her regard to that extent, but do not say so, merely turning while Henri removes his trunk hose and puts on new ones. I fetch him a clean shirt, and as I hand it to him he says, “Such service shall not be without reward.”
“Your regard is enough.”
“But you will have more. As you have promised to safeguard my fortunes, I pledge to raise yours. Be assured that, as you are the person in the world whom I love most, you will always be a partaker of my advancement.”
He begins to button his fresh doublet. I push his hands away playfully. “Be still and let me do that. After all, I am the valet here.”
CHAPTER 9
May 1569—Metz, France