Sheen on the Silk - Anne Perry [87]
He would go to Charles of Anjou himself, not wasting time and words with someone like Masari. He would see if his interest was still alive in the possibility of backing Palombara for the throne. He would decide before he got there exactly what he would offer the king of Naples and what he would not.
Thirteen days later, he was in Charles’s presence in his huge villa on the outskirts of Rome. He was a man of immense physical power, barrel-chested, pulsing with energy like the fires of a forge. He seemed unable to stand still, moving from one place to another in the room, from one pile of papers of his compulsive triplicate of orders to a scribe making notes, then on to another. On a table were his own pen and ink, where he corrected what he considered mistakes. His broad brow was sheened with sweat and his heavy face high-colored.
“Well?” he inquired. “What have you come to see me for, Your Grace?” There was amusement in his face and a penetrating intelligence. Palombara was sharply aware that he could not manipulate this man, and only a fool would try.
“As a senator of Rome, you will have a powerful vote to cast on the papal conclave, sire,” he replied.
“One vote,” Charles observed dryly.
“I think more than that, my lord,” Palombara answered him. “Many men care what your judgment might be.”
“For their ambition.” It was not a question but an answer.
“Of course. But also for the future of Christendom,” Palombara pointed out. “More hangs in the balance now than perhaps at any time since the days of Saint Peter.” He smiled, not hesitating. “And possibly hanging over it all, can we unite Byzantium with us in any sense that has value, not a source of constant strife?”
“Byzantium …” Charles repeated the word, rolling it on his tongue. “Indeed.”
The silence prickled in the room.
“You’ve been legate to Constantinople,” Charles observed, continuing again to walk around the room, his leather-clad feet slapping on the marble floor. He passed from shadow into the sunlight falling from the high windows and back into shadow again. “You told the Holy Father the Byzantines would not yield to Rome.” He swung around in time to catch the surprise in Palombara’s face before he could mask it. “Is that tide of resistance strong enough to last, shall we say, another three years or so?”
Palombara understood immediately. “That might depend upon the terms on which Rome insisted, sire.”
Charles breathed out softly. “As I assumed. And if you were pope, what sorts of conditions would you feel could not be abandoned, even to secure such a prize as the submission of the Orthodox Church and the uniting of Christendom?”
Palombara knew exactly what he meant. “We are speaking of political unity,” he said carefully, but his tone was light, as if it were well understood between them. “Unity of intent was never a possibility. Obedience, perhaps, but not belief.”
Charles waited, smiling slowly.
“I see no virtue in facilitating such a union if it means giving away any of the tenets of faith that have kept the loyalties we have elsewhere,” Palombara answered. It was a nicely sanctimonious speech, but he knew Charles would understand it. Charles needed a pope who would delay any act of unity by making demands to which he knew Byzantium would not yield. Who better to judge that precisely than Palombara, who had argued the case with Michael?
“Your understanding matches my own.” Charles relaxed and moved away, walking easily, the tension drained out of him. “I can see how it might very well be God’s will to have a pope with such perception of the true nature of people, rather than some ideal which does not conform to reality. I shall use such influence as I have to that end. Thank you for sparing me your time, and your knowledge, Your Grace.” His smile broadened. “We shall be able to be of service to each other—and to the Holy Mother Church, of course.”
Palombara excused himself and walked out through the shadow of the arches and into the blistering sun. Even the cypresses,