Read Online The Reluctant Queen by Freda Lightfoot - Free Book Online

call him her little frog. To cover his disappointment, he threw himself into supporting the efforts of his sister and brother-in-law for peace. After many months of negotiations, the Treaty of Fleix was finally signed, so named because that was where the principal parties were staying at the time. Biron was deprived of his command, and six months of unnecessary war was brought to an end in September.
    Henri III was not happy, and continued to blame Margot for having started the war in the first place, now accusing her of deliberately provoking the conflict so that his younger brother could share in the glory of ending it and bringing peace.
    ‘It is always the same old story,’ Margot complained. ‘Jealousy and envy forever sour him and twist his mind.’
    Not that Margot cared what Henri thought, for in these last weeks while in the Dordogne helping to negotiate the peace, she had enjoyed having her younger brother with her. What was even more exciting, she had fallen in love.
    Jacques de Harlay, Marquis of Champvallon did not possess Guise’s confident swagger, nor was he the fine swordsman that Bussy had been, or have quite the je ne sais quoi of Turenne. Yet he possessed stunning good looks. It was generally accepted that not only was he the most romantic man at court, but also the most beautiful: a Greek god in very truth.
    Margot had always admired perfect beauty and, two or three years younger than herself, he became her coup de foudre . She was utterly smitten, calling him her Narcissus. No one but Guise had ever captured her heart, but here was the grand passion she had so longed for. If she was indiscreet before, now Margot abandoned all self-restraint and gave herself to him utterly.
    His family was not rich but neither was it humble, his father being the squire of Césy, and his mother related to the Scottish royal family of Stuarts. He was brave and had distinguished himself by serving the King before joining Alençon’s entourage as his master of horse.
    Champvallon was also intelligent, and the two lovers would sit in an arbour or stroll through the gardens conversing ardently together, discussing their shared passion for poetry or literature. Something of a poet himself, he would write verses to stir her heart.
    After leaving Fleix, the royal party spent some months in the Gironde. As spring approached, Navarre returned to Béarn but Alençon and Margot moved on to Bordeaux for a couple of months, where she devoted much of her time riding and walking with Champvallon, enjoying secret trysts, making love in dappled glades. Romance was very much in the air.
    Eventually a message came from her husband suggesting that it was time she return to Nérac, which Margot agreed to quite willingly, seeing no reason why this blissful happiness should not continue.
     
    Margot happily returned to Nérac, accompanied by Alençon and Champvallon. The elders, courtiers and ladies at her husband’s court did not immediately warm to the brother of their Queen. He was shorter and less handsome than they’d expected. They did not care for his pockmarked face, or his small, hard eyes that constantly cast darting glances about him, as if anticipating mischief, or perhaps seeking an opportunity to create it.
    Wanting to make her young brother feel welcome, Margot threw a fine ball in his honour, making herself look especially magnificent in blue velvet with her favourite diamonds at her throat and in her ears.
    Navarre too welcomed him, clapping him on the shoulders in brotherly fashion. There had been little time to speak of personal matters while at Fleix, now they did so, laughing together as they remembered past times and old rivalries; how they had almost came to blows over them both paying court to Madame de Sauves at the same time.
    ‘And how is dear Charlotte?’ Alençon teasingly enquired.
    Navarre laughed. ‘She returned with Queen Catherine to Paris, since she did not care to have her nose pushed out of joint by