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Chapters (43)
  1. Cover
  2. Epigraph
  3. CAST OF CHARACTERS
  4. Map
  5. Part One
  6. I
  7. II
  8. III
  9. IV
  10. V
  11. VI
  12. VII
  13. Part Two
  14. I
  15. II
  16. III
  17. IV
  18. V
  19. VI
  20. VII
  21. VIII
  22. IX
  23. X
  24. Part Three
  25. I
  26. II
  27. III
  28. IV
  29. V
  30. Part Four
  31. I
  32. II
  33. III
  34. IV
  35. V
  36. VI
  37. EPILOGUE
  38. afterword
  39. Dedication
  40. acknowledgments
  41. By Katherine J. Chen
  42. about the author
  43. What’s next onyour reading list?

As he rises from his cushion, she rises with him. “Majesty, if I may give you some advice? The next time you pray, make demands. Bargain. Raise your voice to God and His angels. Tell Him what you desire most in your heart. You are the King of France, God’s appointed. Tell Him what you are owed: the throne that is your birthright. Say the debt must be paid, and He will listen.”

“Only you would dare speak so,” he says, though he is smiling again. From the folds of his robes, he produces a small object, a figurine. He holds it out to her. “This was a gift from my mother. Not Yolande. My other mother.”

The object passes from his hand to hers. “You see it is the image of my father. A gift from her when he was alive. He is praying. It is how I like to picture him still: in prayer, but his eyes are open as if he expects to see angels, to see God. So you must take this with you. It is a piece of me, just as my father is a part of me. You must take it for luck, and it will be as if I am with you and the rest of my army in spirit. And then…” Two spots of pink color his cheeks. “You will have to return, for I shall want it back.”

It does not seem to occur to the Dauphin that one does not bring to a battle delicate and breakable pieces of art. But our King is a scholar, a poet, a musician. His heart is soft. She will keep the figurine somewhere safe. And he has called her his friend. It is a warm feeling, like stepping in out of the cold: to know one has friends again, that there are people who want you alive, who would like to see you do well, grow rich, be better than you were before. My squire. My pages. Le Maçon. Yolande. La Hire. Dunois. Now His Majesty. These are my friends.

She tells him: The book of misery and its many chapters, they bind us in the same way the future is bound to the past, in the way a subject is bound to her king, in the way a king is bound to his God. It is a chain of sacred links; it is unbreakable.

Majesty, you have me, Joan, on your side. So put fear out of your heart.

III

LOIRE VALLEY, JUNE 1429

ONE MONTH LATER

At Jargeau, the English made Joan an offer. We will leave, they promised; no need for blood, no lives lost on either side. But give us a little time before we go.

She laughed, but stopped when she realized the messenger sent to bargain wasn’t joking.