The Breath of the Rose. Andrea Japp

      

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      THE BREATH OF THE ROSE

      ANDREA H. JAPP

      Translated by Lorenza Garcia

      Gentle Pye,

      go to your brother,

      with no pain

      CONTENTS

      Title Page

      Dedication

      Author’s Note

      Summary Book One

      Main Characters

      The Breath of the Rose

      Appendix I: Historical References

      Appendix II: Glossary

      Appendix III: Notes

      About the Author

      Copyright

       AUTHOR’S NOTE

      Words marked with an asterisk are explained in the Historical References and Glossary starting on page 294.

       SUMMARY OF BOOK ONE SEASON OF THE BEAST

      Winter 1294, Comté du Perche. The recently widowed Agnès de Souarcy takes under her wing Clément, the newborn infant of her lady’s maid, Sybille, who has died in childbirth.

      Cyprus, 1304. The Knight Hospitaller Francesco de Leone is sent to France. His official mission is to gather information that will help the Hospitaller order anticipate the political machinations of France’s monarch, Philip the Fair. However, Leone is guided by a secret quest.

      Paris, 1304. Philip the Fair aims to free himself of the Church’s authority. Pope Benoît XI is fatally poisoned, and the Pope’s personal guard – the twin orders of the Knights Templar and Hospitaller – comes under threat. Philip the Fair, with the help of his most influential counsellor, Guillaume de Nogaret, advances his pawns. He needs to find a docile pope.

      Souarcy-en-Perche Estate, 1304. Clément has grown into a young boy with a lively intelligence. He gains entry to a secret library at Clairets Abbey. There he devours all the ancient texts forbidden by or unknown to the Church, and stumbles on a journal belonging to the Knight Hospitaller Eustache de Rioux, which refers to a mysterious Vallombroso treatise, two birth charts and a series of incomprehensible runic symbols … Is there a link between these discoveries and the Knight Hospitaller Francesco de Leone’s extraordinary quest?

      The body of a man lies in Souarcy Forest. It appears to have been burnt and yet there is no trace of any fire in the vicinity. An emissary of the Pope delivers a message to the Abbess of Clairets, Éleusie de Beaufort. The message contains a reference to the divine blood that washes away all sins. More corpses are discovered, as well as a series of clues pointing to Manoir de Souarcy and Agnès.

      On her estate, Agnès, Dame de Souarcy, must also cope with the incestuous desires of her half-brother Eudes de Larnay, who dreams of forcing her to submit to him and is quick to throw her into the clutches of the Inquisition and the bloodthirsty Nicolas Florin. The only person who might save Agnès is Artus, the Comte d’Authon, who has fallen in love with her …

       MAIN CHARACTERS

      Agnès, illegitimate recognised child of Baron de Larnay, widow, Dame de Souarcy, aged twenty-five.

      Clément, ten years old, posthumous ‘son’ of Sybille, the lady’s maid to whom Agnès gave refuge, unaware that she was a heretic.

      Mathilde, Agnès’s only daughter, eleven years old, shallow and capricious, frustrated by the harsh life at Souarcy.

      Eudes de Larnay, Agnès’s half-brother and overlord.

      Francesco de Leone, member of the order of the Knights Hospitaller, which has retreated to Cyprus.

      Artus, Comte d’Authon, Eudes de Larnay’s overlord. Agnès is his under-vassal.

      Éleusie de Beaufort, Abbess of Clairets and Francesco de Leone’s aunt.

      Honorius Benedetti, the Pope’s camerlingo (treasurer and secretary)

      Nicolas Florin, Dominican friar, Grand Inquisitor in the Alençon region.

      Esquive d’Estouville, a young girl who crosses Francesco de Leone’s path without his suspecting that she is his protector.

      A unknown figure, perpetrator of base acts, but in whose interests?

       The Breath of the Rose

       On the road to Alençon, Perche, September 1304

      NICOLAS Florin was adamant that Agnès de Souarcy should be installed in the stout wooden wagon that gave the impression of a tomb on wheels. Minute arrow slits on each side allowed the occupants a limited view of the outside world. These were covered by leather curtains so that in the event of an attack no arrow could pierce the narrow openings. Four Perche horses were needed to draw the wagon.

      The five men-at-arms requested by Nicolas Florin sat beside the driver or were jostled about on a cart trundling along behind. Agnès’s belongings were contained in a small chest while, in an astonishing display of extravagance for an inquisitor, those of Nicolas filled an enormous trunk. An escort of five men-at-arms for one woman seemed an exaggerated precaution, but the Dominican was fond of such excesses. He saw them as visible proof of his newly acquired power.

      His eyes were glued to Agnès, watching for the slightest sigh, the merest tensing of her jaw. Indeed, it was the reason he had given the order for her to travel with him in the wagon instead of in the cart. Did she regard the gesture as a mark of respect for her social status? Florin could not tell, and the thought had irritated him from the outset of their journey. Things were not going according to plan and had not been since the day of their first encounter when he had gone to notify her of the beginning of her period of grace. Did she really think she could get the better of him? Or that he would show her mercy? If this were the case, she would soon be disappointed. He lifted the leather flap and peered out at the sky. Night was falling. Since sext* they had been advancing at the horses’ slow but steady pace. She had not once raised her eyes from her hands clasped upon her lap, or uttered a single word, or even asked for water or a halt in order to relieve herself – something Nicolas would have been only too glad to agree to in the hope that she might be humiliated into wetting her shoes or the hem of her skirts in the presence of one of his guards.

      A vague feeling of unease crept into the Grand Inquisitor’s irritation. Had his victim received guarantees of protection? If so, from whom? From Comte Artus d’Authon or the Abbess of Clairets* or someone more highly placed? But who could be more powerful than the man behind the imposing figure who had paid him a visit at the Inquisition* headquarters in Alençon? No. He was behaving like a scared child. The bastard was adopting the haughty air of the sort of lady she aspired to be, nothing more.

      She raised her blue-grey eyes from her hands, which were joined in prayer, and stared at Nicolas.