Ysandre de la Courcel
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Ysandre de la Courcel is the Queen of Terre d'Ange in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy saga, a member of House Courcel and thus a scion of Elua. Ysandre is the Dauphine, daughter of Rolande de la Courcel and Isabel L'Envers, the grand-daughter of reigning king Ganelon de la Courcel. She is an exceedingly lovely young woman, with pale blonde hair and violet eyes, and a voice like cool water. Most of her looks come from her mother's side of the family, but she has the traditional long, graceful neck of House Courcel. Ysandre proves an extremely capable leader, and also a woman of great intelligence, possessing a wry sense of humor. She becomes a lifelong friend of heroine Phèdre nó Delaunay.
[edit] Kushiel's Dart
Ysandre appears first in the series at the age of fifteen, during the celebrations of Isidore d'Aiglemort's and Baudion de Trevalion's victory over the Skaldic forces. She is betrothed at the age of sixteen to Drustan mab Necthana, the nephew of the Cruarch of Alba, though this engagement is kept secret, due to the difficulty of making the marriage actually happen. Their nations have been literally divided, unable to contact each other, for hundreds of years, and the Master of the Straits who controls the narrow channel between Terre d'Ange and Alba will only allow their marriage as part of a fulfillment of a prophecy.
As Ganelon is old and Ysandre his only heir, there arise in Terre d'Ange a great many plots to either overthrow the young Dauphine or marry her as a path to power. The first involves her aunt Lyonette de Trevalion, and Lyonette's son Baudoin de Trevalion. Both are executed on charges of treason. Lyonette's husband and daughter might have shared the same fate, but for Ysandre advocating banishment rather than death as their punishment for knowing of the plots but doing nothing to stop them. It is at their trials that Ysandre displays what Phèdre describes as "steel beneath a fragile bloom", asking Baudoin whether he would have wed her off to a foreign potentate or killed her outright; when he has no answer ready, she considers that answer enough, and votes for his death.
Ysandre trusts Anafiel Delaunay because her father did, and meets him secretly in the theatre in the Palace, using a secret passage from the Queen's quarters to steal away. Their conversation is overseen by Phèdre, who witnesses Ysandre ask for Delaunay's counsel. Ysandre trusts Delaunay because she knows he is oath-sworn to protect her, a vow made to her father when she was only an infant. When Delaunay is murdered and it looks as though Phèdre nó Delaunay and Joscelin Verreuil are the only suspects, Ysandre does not hesitate to have them tried and convicted in absentia; before learning the truth, she considers Phèdre's the greatest betrayal.
The second attempt to seize her throne begins with a bid by Isidore d'Aiglemort to marry Ysandre. When this is turned down, Isidore makes a bargain with Waldemar Selig, the ruler of Skaldia, to try and take the country by force. Phèdre discovers the plot, and that it has all been orchestrated by the Melisande Shahrizai, but is foiled in her attempt to warn the Dauphine. By the time Phèdre escapes from Skaldian clutches and is able to warn Ysandre and win her trust, Ganelon is on his death-bed, and the Skaldian invasion has already begun. When Thelesis de Mornay brings Phèdre and Joscelin to Ysandre, she is initially not inclined to trust them or their story, but is convinced by Phèdre's words, Hyacinthe's use of the dromonde, and the affirmations of Thelesis and several of the guards who had witnessed Phèdre attempting to reach Ysandre months earlier. Phèdre then sees again the steel she witnessed years earlier; Ysandre refuses to let her emotions get the better of her, bolstering herself to stare down the terror although she is young and untried as a leader. Once she has accepted the truth, Ysandre wants to clear Phèdre's and Joscelin's names immediately, but is persuaded by Phèdre that to do so would be to reveal their hand too soon, so she instead takes the two of them and Hyacinthe under the custody of the throne.
When King Ganelon dies, following the funeral, Ysandre gives out that she is retiring to a Courcel estate to mourn, when in actuality she is summoning a council of those few she can trust: Thelesis, Gaspar, Percy de Somerville, the Duchese Roxane de Mereliot of Marsilikos, her uncle Barquiel L'Envers, Tibault the Comte de Toluard of Siovale, the Prefect of the Cassiline Brotherhood, as well as Phèdre, Joscelin, and Hyacinthe. At this meeting, Ysandre reveals that at the age of sixteen, she was promised to wed Drustan mab Necthana of the Cruithne, a betrothal made between two young monarchs-to-be, in love with each other and with the dream of uniting their nations. Ysandre also reveals the truth of Delaunay's heritage: that he was the son of the Comte de Montrève, who disowned him for his unwillingness to marry and produce heirs, and an Eisandine woman named Sarafiel Delaunay; Anafiel Delaunay was working to fulfill the alliance because the Cruithne had come seeking not power, but a dream. Needing as many allies as possible, Ysandre decides to recall the exiled Marc de Trevalion and his daughter Bernadette, and to have the loyal Ghislain de Somerville wed Bernadette to cement the bonds. She also decides to send the Glory-Seekers of Prince Baudoin to Isidore, knowing that they will not be overjoyed at serving the man who betrayed their Prince.
It is Ysandre who decides to send Phèdre as her ambassador to Alba 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; Joscelin, loathe to leave her, asks to swear his sword into Ysandre's service and accompany Phèdre to Alba. Ysandre accepts his sword despite the protests of the Prefect of the Cassiline Brotherhood, stating that the Precept of Blessed Elua outweighs the dictates of the Cassilines.
In a demonstration of her benevolence, Ysandre declares Phèdre and herself bed-cousins, and 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. 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". She also gives Phèdre the diary of her father Rolande, as much was written there about Phèdre's master Delaunay.
In the following weeks, Ysandre has to face the Skaldi invasion. She travels to Battle of Troyes-le-Mont rather than remaining in the safer City of Elua, intending to stand or die with her country. She refuses, however, to let her handmaidens come with her, not wanting to be responsible for their deaths. Ysandre witnesses Phèdre nearly being skinned alive by Waldemar Selig, and as soon as Phèdre is brought within the city, brings her an Eisandine healer. Phèdre informs Ysandre that an army of seven thousand is approaching the city, half Albans and half the men of Isidore d'Aiglemort. Ysandre is highly skeptical at first, but is persuaded of Isidore's sincerity when Phèdre assures her he wants revenge on Melisande Shahrizai. Phèdre also assures Ysandre that Drustan is alive, has been crowned, and rides to war joyfully because he is riding towards her.
Ysandre spends the battle with Phèdre and Joscelin, watching out of an arrow-slit. When the battle is over, she allows the remnants of the Allies of Camlach to hunt down the fleeing Skaldi, and accepts ransom for those Skaldi that surrendered. She and Drustan meet before their armies as monarchs of equal standing, with dignity and respect, keeping their emotions and celebration behind closed doors. Ysandre then has to deal with the fallout of the war: she portions out the Skaldic ransoms, using some of the money to restore Troyes-le-Mont, some to pay off the army retainers, and some to restoring the rest of Namarre and the Temples of Naamah that were destroyed during the invasion.
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. She also rescinds her grandfather's edict against Delaunay's poetry.
At her wedding, Ysandre wears a gown of periwinkle silk and a crown laced with gold filigree entwined with blue forget-me-nots. She and Drustan are wed in the spring, and accompanied to the bridal chamber with good and bawdy wishes, pelted with flower petals.
