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Back Joan Save as PDF
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?

She could talk for hours on this subject: the need for a standing army, how future victories in battle will be attained not through cavalry attacks but through artillery.

“The best days are yet to come,” she says. “When we take Paris back.”

A space has opened between them. A long pause.

She stares into the Dauphin’s face, the light of the torch dancing over it, every eyelash and hair of his brow illuminated in the glow of the fire. The flame plays tricks. For a moment, his features blur, then grow vividly clear.

“But would that be your glory or mine, Joan?” he asks. His voice is cold as he meets her eye.

“It would be the glory of the kingdom,” she replies calmly. “And therefore Your Majesty’s glory.”

The light shifts his expression, melting the hard edges. Slowly, he gives in. He hesitates only a moment before stepping closer. His hand settles over her wrist, and she feels the dampness of his palm.

“I see how I have come to rely not only on your sword but also your counsel. Tonight I shall leave you here. I need some time to be alone, to think on the future and to pray.”

He turns. She hears his footsteps recede, though he is still talking. “I have decided. Tomorrow, you will stand on the dais with me when I am crowned, with your sword and banner. No one who attends my coronation shall say I am an ungenerous king who keeps all to himself. You have earned this honor.”

She bows. Joy makes her heart beat fast. But when she looks up again, the Dauphin is already gone.

II

A sleepless night. The Dauphin has been awake for hours, and Joan has remained at his side. At three o’clock, they attend a vigil. At nine, the ceremony of his coronation begins.

Certain items, normally requisite to the crowning of a king of France, are still missing. Among them: Joyeuse, the famed sword of Charlemagne, and his crown.

But these are only small obstacles. In the place of Joyeuse, another sword. And a new and shinier crown, courtesy of La Trémoille, has been presented as a worthy substitute for Charlemagne’s. What matters is that the Holy Ampulla is here, intact, the miraculous vial dropped from a dove’s beak into Saint Remigius’s own hand. Some say this is the sacred oil that baptized Clovis, King of the Franks, and his three thousand followers nearly a millennia ago. It is a self-filling vessel; its contents have never had to be replenished by mortal means—so the story goes.