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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 stares, but his face is smooth. “You are a liar,” she says, though she feels cold. “I know you are lying, and you tell me this now when he is not here to defend himself.”

“Why would I lie? When it concerns my own daughter?”

“Because you are jealous.” The words come out hollow. “You have always been jealous of Durand. He is a free soul, a wanderer. He has seen everything. Done everything, while you strut around your sad corner of the world, pretending you are a lord.”

It seems he is considering what she has just said. When he next speaks, his voice is thoughtful. “I was cruel to you. How could I deny this? I would have continued to beat you had you not grown too large for my fists. I had no love for you, though you were my child. But if any Englishman or Burgundian had tried to hurt you, I would have struck his head off. I would have chopped his liver under my heel and smashed his skull in.”

Her heart is beating fast. For the second time, she turns to go, but he crosses the room, barring her path with his thick arm.

“Get out of my way before I make you regret it,” she says.

He doesn’t listen. He takes her wrist and drops the purse back into her hand. She expects it to be empty, but it isn’t. There are coins inside.

“What does this mean?”

“You have given me too much. Do you want me to be robbed on the roads back to Domrémy? Well, knowing you, I suppose you might.”

She weighs the purse.

“Half,” he says, answering the question she doesn’t ask. “Don’t be a fool and give away all you have. You may be what you are now, but who can say what will happen tomorrow? Whether it will be for or against you. One minute, Fortune is blowing kisses into your ear. The next, she is pelting you with stones. Save your money, and don’t think you know everything, because you don’t.”

He opens the door for her, and his hand flicks toward the hall. Now you may get out.

She had not intended to look at him before she left. But at the last moment, she turns. “Next time the King issues an invitation, don’t bother. I never want to see you again.” She drops the purse at his feet. “Keep it.”

IV

PARIS, SEPTEMBER 1429

Before Joan: the walls of Paris. Behind her: an army of three thousand.