Susan Carroll - Cheney Of Faire Isle 02 - The Courtesan.pdf - BOOKS - SiriusBlack4

TheCourtesan

Also by Susan Carroll

WINTERBOURNE

THE PAINTED VEIL

THE BRIDE FINDER

THE NIGHT DRIFTER

MIDNIGHT BRIDE

THE DARK QUEEN

file:///D|/STORAGE/Brighteyes%20FTP/UPLOADS/EBooks/S...%20Courtesan%20(html)/Carr_0345484649_oeb_adc_r1.htm [11/14/2007 11:45:02 PM]

TheCourtesan

Author’s Note

Although the mercenary regiment of witch-hunters is a product of my imagination, sixteenth-century

France was rife with sorcery trials and burnings. The populations of some villages were entirely

decimated of their women. There actually was a Le Balafre, the charismatic and ambitious duc de Guise.

I found his nickname, “Scarface,” much more appropriate for my tormented witch-hunter Aristide and

so I shamelessly borrowed it.

Catherine de Medici herself was suspected by many French people of being a poisoner and sorceress.

She was known to have frequently consulted the French physician and astrologist Michel de Nostredame

during his lifetime. Michel, better known as Nostradamus, is said to have foretold both the death of

Catherine’s husband and the downfall of her line. The predictions in his book Centuries are still studied

to this day.

To what degree Catherine believed Nostradamus’s predictions is not known, but she certainly kept close

watch over other possible claimants to the French throne, most especially Henry of Navarre. Navarre

was held prisoner at court. He survived all the intrigue and hostility only by sheer nerve, adopting an

indolent manner that masked his keen intelligence.

After several elaborate escape plots that failed, he finally eluded his captors in the simplest manner.

During a hunting party at Senlis, Navarre and several trusted attendants galloped off, disappearing into

the woods. As soon as he had crossed the Loire and was well clear of any French pursuit, Navarre is

reported to have said, “God be praised who has delivered me . . . I’ll never return unless I’m dragged.”

Events proved otherwise for the man who was fated to become one of France’s most beloved kings,

known as the Evergreen Gallant.

file:///D|/STORAGE/Brighteyes%20FTP/UPLOADS/EBooks/S...%20Courtesan%20(html)/Carr_0345484649_oeb_aft_r1.htm [11/14/2007 11:45:03 PM]

TheCourtesan

About the Author

SUSAN CARROLL is an award-winning romance author whose books include The Bride Finder and its

two sequels, The Night Drifter and Midnight Bride, as well as The Painted Veil, Winterbourne, and most

recently, The Dark Queen. She lives in Rock Island, Illinois.

file:///D|/STORAGE/Brighteyes%20FTP/UPLOADS/EBooks/S...%20Courtesan%20(html)/Carr_0345484649_oeb_ata_r1.htm [11/14/2007 11:45:03 PM]

TheCourtesan

file:///D|/STORAGE/Brighteyes%20FTP/UPLOADS/EBooks/S...e%20Courtesan%20(html)/Carr_0345484649_oeb_bm_r1.htm [11/14/2007 11:45:03 PM]

TheCourtesan

Prologue

Mist rose off the Seine, the ghostly vapor drifting over the banks of Paris, obscuring streets that were

already a labyrinth in the fading light. But the woman stealing through the haze appeared oblivious to

both the perils of becoming lost and the damp chill of the autumn evening.

Shrouded in a hooded gray cloak that fell to her ankles, her face was hidden behind a black velvet mask,

the kind court beauties used to shield their complexions. It completely shielded her identity as well, only

the sparkle of her eyes visible and a few blond wisps of hair. Wooden pattens protected her brocade

shoes from the dirt of the streets as she marched forward with a sure step, unaware of the man who

followed her.

Captain Nicolas Remy hung back as far as he dared without losing sight of the lady in the misty evening.

He was clad in a dark jerkin and black venetians that blended with the oncoming night. His worn

garments and his dusty boots appeared to have seen better days, as had the captain himself. Tangled dark

blond hair spilled across his brown eyes, his lean features obscured by a heavy beard that had been

allowed to run wild. With both sword and dagger affixed to his belt, he was a dangerous-looking man,

even by the standards of Paris.

Passersby gave him a wide berth, making it difficult for him to lose himself in the crowd as he dogged

the footsteps of the lady in gray. The streets were swiftly emptying of all other company. Artisans and

street vendors scurried for home. Shutters of shop fronts slammed shut, all of respectable Paris retreating

behind locked doors.

Captain Remy would soon stand out like a lone soldier left surviving on a battlefield, but he could not

risk putting any more distance between himself and the woman. She had a distinct advantage. She knew

where she was going.

Any knowledge he had ever had of this cursed city, he had done his best to forget. Remy was not only

unfamiliar with the streets, he was not even certain he was following the right woman. He angled a

glance at his companion, a rangy youth of about eighteen years who went by the sobriquet Martin le

Loup.

A fitting name, Remy thought. The lad bore much of the aspect of a wolf with his mane of sable-colored

hair, sharp features, and green eyes. Although the Wolf styled himself as an “adventurer, a gentleman of

fortune,” he looked regrettably more like what he was, a scoundrel and a cutpurse. But Remy would

have trusted the boy with his life. He already had on many occasions.

However, this time he wondered if his clever Wolf had made a grave mistake. As the woman led him

file:///D|/STORAGE/Brighteyes%20FTP/UPLOADS/EBoo...ourtesan%20(html)/Carr_0345484649_oeb_c01_r1.htm (1 of 18) [11/14/2007 11:45:07 PM]

Susan Carroll - Cheney Of Faire Isle 02 - The Courtesan.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: