David held out his hands in appeal.
"You have seen me testify before the pope himself. How can you still be afraid?" He curled his fingers in toward himself, inviting Ugolini to go on. "Tell me about courtly love."
How graceful his gestures are.
"It was begun many years ago by a number of noble ladies of France, and especially Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who led an absolutely scandalous life," Ugolini said. "She married the King of France, accompanied him on crusade. Costumed as an Amazon, rode bare-breasted in Jerusalem. Jerusalem! Divorced the King of France, married the King of England. Had lovers uncounted besides."
If I had been born into the nobility, I might have been a woman like that, Sophia thought wistfully.
David shook his head as if buzzing flies circled it. "But what has this to do with Simon de Gobignon?"
"As His Excellency said, this Simon comes out of a world shaped by courtly love," Sophia answered. "There are many strict rules about how men and ladies should behave toward one another. One of the most important is that the woman rules the man."
David smiled thinly. She had rarely seen a full open smile on his face, but she remembered what a glorious sight it had been and wished he would smile that way now.
"So, by scorning the way he spoke Italian, you believe you are making yourself more attractive to him?"
"Far better than I would by letting him put his foot on my neck, the way your harem women do."