Phèdre nó Delaunay
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- This article is about the fictional character. For the theatre play, see Phèdre.
The main character of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series, Phèdre nó Delaunay is an anguissette, a Servant of Naamah pricked by Kushiel's Dart. Her marque is of a very old design, a briar rose in stark black, with a few accents of scarlet teardrops to imitate the mote in her eye.
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[edit] Kushiel's Dart
[edit] Beginnings
Phèdre is born to Liliane de Souverain and Pierre Cantrel, fair-skinned, black-haired, with a cursed Hellene name. She is distinguished most by a red mote in her left eye, marking her as an anguissette, chosen by the angel Kushiel to have a special destiny. Phèdre is sold by her mother to Cereus House of the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers.
At the age of seven, Phèdre pricks herself with a pin and feels for the first time the pleasure associated with pain. As a result of this, the Dowayne of Cereus House calls on Anafiel Delaunay, who recognizes her as an anguissette. He then seeks to make an elite spy out of her. He buys her marque, fetching the highest price set in Cereus in her years. To make her fit for his service, Phèdre begins learning the Caerdicci tongue at age eight, and at age ten, begins her apprenticeship with Delaunay.
Under Delaunay's guidance, Phèdre learns further Caerdicci, along with Cruithne and the Skaldic tongue, and also receives physical training in gymnastics and tumbling. She meets and eventually befriends Alcuin nó Delaunay, Anafiel's first pupil. Her nature as an anguissette is kept secret from all of Anafiel's guests, to make her more valuable as she grows and learns. At age thirteen, Phèdre first meets Melisande Shahrizai, who is one of the few people to identify her as an anguissette at first glance.
At fourteen, Phèdre officially dedicates herself as a Servant of Naamah, in a sacred ceremony which involves releasing a white dove in Naamah's temple. She thus begins her apprenticeship a year later than she would have had she remained in the Night Court. She and Alcuin then witness a Showing, a sexual rite between two adepts of Camellia House, as their initiation into learning the arts of seduction. Phèdre's virgin-price is bought by Childric d'Essoms when she is sixteen, for four and a half thousand ducats. His patron-gift allows her to begin work on her marque, which Delaunay commissions from Robert Tielhard.
Because of Delaunay's position, Phèdre witnesses the trials of House Trevalion, wherein Lyonette and Baudoin are sentenced to death, Marc and Bernadette to banishment, and Gaspar is absolved entirely, partly through Delaunay's testimony on his behalf. It is at this trial that Phèdre first sees what she calls the steel beneath the fragile bloom of Ysandre de la Courcel in her cool response to learning of the treachery in her own family. She also notes Ysandre's keen interest in Delaunay.
When her bodyguard Guy is killed in an incident involving Alcuin nó Delaunay and the political intrigues of the Stregazza family, Delaunay contracts the Cassiline Joscelin Verreuil to protect his charges; an immediate discord strikes up between Joscelin and Phèdre. Joscelin does not approve of Phèdre's line of work or her nature as an anguissette, and Phèdre finds him dour and too imposing.
Melisande contracts Phèdre for herself for a midwinter masque held on the eve of what would be known as the Bitterest Winter. She parades Phèdre before the nobles of Terre d'Ange, having her wear a gown of only white gauze studded with diamonds, and a velvet slip-collar with a diamond teardrop suspended from it and a lead attached. Phèdre loses herself entirely to Melisande that night, and when Melisande uses flechettes on her, she gives her signale for the first time. Later, Melisande informs Phèdre that her master Delaunay and the deceased Rolande de la Courcel were lovers. She gifts Phèdre with the ruins of the gauze-and-diamond gown, providing her with enough money to complete her marque.
Joscelin accompanies her to the marquist's, but before the marque can be finished, they are interrupted by a sailor, bearing a message from Admiral Quintilius Rousse to Delaunay; he knows that Delaunay's house is being watched, and seeks to give the message to Phèdre instead. She only believes him when he gives a password, on the Prince's signet, his only born, which Phèdre believes to refer to a ring she saw Ysandre present to Delaunay. The message from Rousse is: "When the Black Boar rules in Alba, Elder Brother will accede.
Phèdre and Joscelin rush to their home, only to find Delaunay already dead, and Alcuin dying. He reveals that the password was cygnet, not signet, a reference to Ysandre, whom Delaunay was oath-sworn to protect. In his final breaths, Alcuin tells Phèdre to tell Ysandre what has happened, to trust Admiral Rousse and the remaining Trevalions, that Thelesis de Mornay knows about Alba, and that the important figure is the Dauphine, not Ganelon.
Phèdre and Joscelin rush to the Palace, but is turned away both by Ysandre's Guard and Thelesis' servants. While attempting to reach a secret passage from the theatre complex to Ysandre's rooms, Phèdre and Joscelin encounter Melisande, who takes them to her own quarters. Melisande betrays them, drugging Joscelin and sexually tormenting Phèdre before drugging her as well. Phèdre admirably refuses to submit completely to Melisande again, withholding both her signale and the message from Rousse.
[edit] In Skaldia
Melisande sends Phèdre and Joscelin to be sold to the Skaldi as slaves, and they are taken past the borders of Camlach into Skaldi territory. Joscelin initially refuses to submit to the Skaldi, and most likely would have gotten himself killed, but that Phèdre steps in and persuades the Skaldi not to harm him. He is instead chained with their dogs until Phèdre can convince him that they will be best served by obedience, until such time as they can make an escape. She begins to teach him the Skaldic language. Phèdre becomes the bed-slave of Gunter Arnlaugson, the lord of the steading, and is not ill-treated. She is protected somewhat by Hedwig Arnildsdottir, the daughter of the previous lord, and spends some of her time learning songs and stories from the Skaldic women. In her time with Gunter, Phèdre comes to truly comprehend the sacrifices made by Naamah, who lay with strangers and the King of Persis for Elua's sake. The relationship between Phèdre and Joscelin first begins to change on the night Gunter and his men return from raiding a d'Angeline town. It reminds them of the severity of their situation, and forges truer compassion and understanding between them.
Gunter takes Phèdre and Joscelin to the Allthing held by Waldemar Selig, presenting them both as gifts to Selig. Phèdre becomes Selig's bed-slave, and learns of his plans to invade Terre d'Ange by betraying the traitor Duc Isidore d'Aiglemort. Her knowledge of the political machinations becomes even greater when she sees in Selig's room a letter to him from Melisande Shahrizai, who is helping Selig to betray Isidore. Knowing the trouble to be even more dire than she had originally thought, Phèdre comes up with an escape plan and persuades Joscelin to go along with it. Initially she means to take Melisande's letter with her, but decides against it, realizing that would let Selig know she knows his plans. Joscelin disguises himself as a Skaldic warrior, killing several guards so that he and Phèdre may escape from the camps.
It takes Selig's best riders four days to catch up with Phèdre and Joscelin; while Joscelin battles several of them, the young Harald the Beardless out of Gunter's steading attempts to recapture Phèdre; she kills him with her dagger in order to escape.
Several days out on their journey, Phèdre and Joscelin take shelter in a cave, where Phèdre patches his wounds, and the two end up having sex. The next morning, they find etched on the cave wall the sigil of Blessed Elua, and realize that he and his Companions rested in that same place during their wanderings.
Phèdre and Joscelin near one of the passes through the Camaeline Mountains only to discover the pass already blocked with Skaldi of the Marsi Tribe; this forces them to take the longer and much harder pass over the mountains, made more difficult when they lose both of their mounts to missteps.
[edit] Uncovering Treachery
Once back in Terre d'Ange, Phèdre and Joscelin encounter the men of the Marquis le Garde, one of the Allies of Camlach; she borrows names from Cereus House and tells them she is Suriah of Trefail, and that Joscelin is her cousin Jareth, refugees from a town that has been set upon by the Skaldi. When it looks as though they are going to be taken into custody, Joscelin holds their commander at knifepoint and demands horses for their escape. They proceed down a road called Eisheth's Way, until they encounter a Yeshuite wagon on the road. The Yeshuites give them shelter when they recognize Joscelin for a Cassiline, with whom their people share an affinity. They take Joscelin and Phèdre all the way to the City of Elua; in gratitude, Phèdre gifts them with the small grey pony that has come with her all the way from Skaldia.
Once inside the City, Phèdre decides that the only person she can trust is her old friend Hyacinthe, whom she and Joscelin seek out immediately. From Hyacinthe, Phèdre learns that she and Joscelin were tried and convicted in absentia for the murders of Delaunay, Alcuin, and the entire household. Some few spoke on their behalf, including Gaspar Trevalion and Cecile Laveau-Perrin. Deciding upon the best course of action to reach Ysandre, Phèdre sends a message to Thelesis de Mornay, written in Cruithne, that it might not be understood if intercepted. Thelesis comes to Hyacinthe's to fetch all three and bring them to Ysandre.
Faced with the ire of a Dauphine whose truest protector was betrayed, Phèdre's first thought is to deliver the message from Quintilius Rousse that she was charged with several months earlier. Then she relates the entire story of her enslavement and the plans of d'Aiglemort and Selig. Ysandre is initially mistrustful, but upon the words of several guards who saw Phèdre attempting to reach the Dauphine months earlier, realizes that she is telling the truth. Ysandre wants to clear Phèdre's and Joscelin's names immediately, but Phèdre persuades her that to do so would be to reveal their hand too soon, and would let Isidore know that Ysandre knew of his betrayal. Ysandre instead places Phèdre, Joscelin, and Hyacinthe into royal custody. Guilty over the role she unwittingly played in Melisande's game, Phèdre asks permission to visit the Temple of Kushiel for atonement.
Following the funeral for King Ganelon, Phèdre is present at a secret council of the new Queen's, tucked away in a Courcel estate. Ysandre reveals her betrothal to Drustan mab Necthana of the Cruithne, and indicates that as the matter Delaunay was working towards before his death. When Roxane de Mereliot suggests that the simplest solution would be to bind Isidore's loyalty by marrying him, Phèdre points out that even if the Duc d'Aiglemort could be brought to heel, the Skaldic forces would still be bent on invasion.
Ysandre decides to send Phèdre as her ambassador to Alba and Eire to convince the Dalriada to help Drustan reclaim his throne, and then to have Drustan bring his army to Terre d'Ange to help Ysandre secure hers before they wed. Phèdre agrees, if somewhat reluctantly, doubting her aptitude to serve in that capacity; Joscelin, loathe to leave her, swears his sword into Ysandre's service and is allowed to accompany Phèdre to Alba.
In a demonstration of her benevolence, Ysandre secretly brings the marquist Robert Tielhard to Phèdre so that her marque may be completed before her journey, allowing her to leave as a truly free D'Angeline citizen. When Phèdre tries to kneel to her, Ysandre dismisses it, declaring them bed-cousins. In a tender moment, Ysandre asks to see the completed marque, and then explains to Phèdre the importance of honoring her betrothal to Drustan mab Necthana, describing herself as "bond-slave to the throne". Phèdre tells Ysandre the story of the marque, and why the Servants of Naamah bear it. Ysandre then also gives Phèdre the diary of her father Rolande, as much was written there about Phèdre's master Delaunay.
Hyacinthe comes up with the idea to transport Phèdre safely to Admiral Quintilius Rousse by traveling along a Tsingani road that is unused by D'Angelines. He disguises Phèdre as his cousin, a Tsingani by-blow on a prostitute, and Joscelin as a Mendacent, a traveling bard from Eisande. At the horse fair in Kusheth, Hyacinthe is reunited with his grandfather and his extended family, unanimously accepted as one of them. However, they cast him out again for speaking the dromonde, which he does in order to assure Phèdre that Melisande will not find her when the Shahrizai turns up at the fair.
While traveling across Kusheth, the party is intercepted by Quincel de Morhban, the reigning Duc of the region; in exchange for safe passage to Quintilius Rousse and no questions asked about their mission, Phèdre offers herself to the Duc for one night. The Duc agrees, and Phèdre and the others reach Quintilius, who agrees to take them to Alba.
The Master of the Straits attempts to halt their passage to Alba, coming to them in a fierce storm, as a face in the waves, and demands a toll. Remembering the story of Thelesis de Mornay, Phèdre pays their passage with one of the Skaldic hearth-songs taught to her by Hedwig.
[edit] In Alba
The Master of the Straits lets them pass, and they come to the far western shore of Éire, where a delegation is waiting for them; Moiread, Drustan mab Necthana's younger sister, saw their coming in a prophetic dream.
Phèdre and her companions are taken to meet the Dalriada; they enter the hall through the Sun Door, a great honor, as it is the second-highest in rank. Here Phèdre informs Drustan that the price of marrying Ysandre is helping her secure her throne from invasion, and that the Master of the Straits will only allow the Albans to cross to Terre d'Ange after Drustan wins his own throne back. The joint Lords of the Dalriada, Grainne and Eamonn, greet the D'Angeline delegation and become part of the discussion on whether or not to go to war; Grainne wishes to give aid in restoring Drustan to his throne, but Eamonn does not consider that this is their fight, thinking that the D'Angelines bring only trouble. They are eventually reconciled only when Phèdre has sex first with Grainne, and then says she will only sleep with Eamonn as well if he proves his courage by going to battle; he agrees.
Phèdre spends the battle with Necthana and her daughters, and thus is witness to Moiread's death. After the battle is over, she knights those of Quintilius Rousse's men that survived to fulfill a promise he made to them. She bequeaths the title of Chevalier on some twenty soldiers, whom Rousse thereafter names "Phèdre's boys". That night, she sleeps with Hyacinthe, to comfort him over the sorrow of Moiread's death, and thus comes to understand the view of Naamah expressed by Balm House.
When the Master of the Straits interferes with the party's crossing back to Terre d'Ange, Gildas, the servant of the Master of the Straits, calls Drustan, Rousse, Phèdre, and Hyacinthe to come ashore on his island; Joscelin insists on accompanying Phèdre, to which Phèdre replies that she will kill him herself before letting anyone else die for his vow, but Gildas lets him come along because he is Companion-Sworn to her.
When the Master of the Straits asks the group to solve the riddle of his curse, Phèdre guesses it, along with Hyacinthe. She offers to be the one to take his place, feeling the world would not suffer for being short one anguissette, but Hyacinthe insists on her returning to Terre d'Ange. That night, she sleeps with him again, as a last tribute to their friendship.
Once they are back in Terre d'Ange and near to Troyes-le-Mont, Phèdre comes up with a plan to trap the Skaldi between the walls of the city and an advancing army. The forces of House Somerville, House Trevalion, and the Albans would not be enough, however; Phèdre wants to persuade Isidore d'Aiglemort to turn against Selig and back to his own country. Ghislain de Somerville takes Phèdre under a banner of truce to parlay with Isidore. She brings to his attention the fact that he will be a dead man no matter what, but offers him the choosing of the manner of his death, proposing that he regain his honor and die a hero by fighting for Terre d'Ange. What eventually persuades him is the revelation that Melisande was the one to betray him to Selig; Isidore agrees to the plan not to help Ysandre, but to spite Melisande.
Knowing this plan will work most effectively and give the D'Angelines the greatest advantage if those inside the city know of it beforehand, Phèdre decides to make a suicidal attempt to sneak through the Skaldi lines and warn those on the battlements not to fire on Isidore's troops. She slips out of the Alban-D'Angeline camp in the dead of night, and manages to gain the wall and shout a message to be delivered to Ysandre before the Skaldi drag her down. When Selig learns what she has done, he begins to skin her alive as a message to Ysandre; he is interrupted almost immediately by Joscelin, who followed Phèdre from the camp, and who challenges Selig to the holmgang. When Selig refuses, Joscelin goes into the position of terminus, making it look as though he is going to kill both himself and Phèdre, but then kills her captor instead and in the following confusion, hauls her towards the fortress. They are brought inside by Barquiel L'Envers; Ysandre brings a healer to Phèdre immediately, and Phèdre informs her that an army of seven thousand, half Albans and half Isidore's men, is approaching the city. She also assures Ysandre that Drustan is alive, has been crowned, and rides to war joyfully because he is riding towards her.
Phèdre watches the rest of the battle with Ysandre, looking out an arrow-slit on the battlement. When the battle is over, she goes out to the field to give comfort and aid to the wounded and dying soldiers. She finds Isidore d'Aiglemort, not yet dead of the seventeen wounds he took in battle with Waldemar Selig, and gives him water before witnessing his death. Phèdre spends much of the next few weeks as Ysandre's personal aid, translating between Cruithne and Skaldi. She also writes letters for the Albans and Dalriada who are dying to send home to their kin.
[edit] After the Battle
Before Ysandre leaves Troyes-le-Mont, the Duc de Morhban brings in Melisande Shahrizai, who has been sold out by her kinsmen Marmion and Persia Shahrizai. Initially Melisande denies all the charges put against her, until Ysandre surprises her with Phèdre, who steps forward to accuse Melisande. Ysandre sentences Melisande to die at dawn; Melisande requests for Phèdre to visit her in her cell during the night. In that conversation, she reveals that rather than allowing Selig to rule Terre d'Ange, she had every intention of seizing control of Skaldia. Phèdre leaves her and spends the night alone on the battlements of the city, only to discover later that Melisande somehow escaped her cell before daybreak. Ysandre interrogates everyone, even Phèdre, but then apologizes for casting any suspicion on her.
Ysandre clears Phèdre's name entirely, and bestows all of Anafiel Delaunay's estates onto her. Phèdre insists that the house in the City of Elua be sold, as she could not bear to live there after all that had happened. At this point, Phèdre officially becomes the Comtesse de Montrève, inheriting Delaunay's mother's estate in Siovale as well.
After the wedding of Ysandre and Drustan, Phèdre travels to Montrève with Joscelin and her three new retainers, the Chevaliers Remy, Ti-Philippe, and Fortun, lately of Phèdre's Boys. To help her accustom herself to country life, Cecile Lauveau-Perrin sends her Purnell Friote and his wife Richeline to be the estate's seneschals. After settling in, Phèdre and Joscelin travel to L'Arène to find Taavi and Danele; they return with Seth ben Yavin, a Yeshuite scholar who agrees to teach Phèdre the Yeshuite language, that she may find the secret to freeing Hyacinthe from his island.
Phèdre stays in Montrève for several months, before Gonzago de Escabares comes to visit her, bearing a gift of his own, and one from Melisande, relayed to him by another: Phèdre's sangoire cloak. From this, Phèdre learns that Melisande escaped to La Serenissima, and has to decide how to respond to her challenge.
[edit] Kushiel's Chosen
[edit] Kushiel's Avatar
[edit] Kushiel's Scion
[edit] Phèdre's Patrons and Lovers
Childric d'Essoms buys her virgin-price and subjects her to a whipping post. He also gives Phèdre the first patron-gift towards her marque.
Pepin Lachet is Phèdre's second patron, who makes use of pincers on her.
Solaine Belfours contracts Phèdre for a two-day assignment, setting her impossible tasks and then punishing her for not completing them. It is during this assignment that Phèdre learns Lyonette de Trevalion was attempting to enlist Solaine's aid in her plots.
Jean-Louis is an adept of Cereus House who sleeps with Phèdre at the behest of Melisande; he disappoints Phèdre by being gentle with her.
Rogier Clavel is a lordling in the entourage of Barquiel L'Envers, who has Phèdre enact a hareem fantasy.
Melisande Shahrizai contracts Phèdre for the Longest Night, uses flechettes on her, and is the first person to coax Phèdre's signale from her.
Gunter Arnlaugson, a Skaldic lord, buys Phèdre as a bed-slave and later makes a gift of her to:
Waldemar Selig, the self-made King of the Skaldic, surprises Phèdre with his sexual education.
Joscelin Verreuil becomes Phèdre's long-term lover; they first have sex in a cave while on the journey back from Skaldia to Terre d'Ange.
Quincel de Morhban trades a night with Phèdre for her safe passage across Kusheth. He uses a lash and flechettes with her, and bestows upon her a patron-gift of a black pearl ring.
Grainne mac Conor is one of the Twins, the leaders of the Dalriada, who sleeps with Phèdre during her first night in Innisclan. She gifts Phèdre with a gold bracelet.
Eamonn mac Conor is one of the Twins, the leaders of the Dalriada, who is goaded to go into war by Phèdre in exchange for a night with her.
Hyacinthe is Phèdre's longtime friend; they sleep together twice: once after the battle to regain Drustan's throne, and once before he is left as apprentice to the Master of the Straits.
