"No, it was Jaffa Gate." Out of caution, Cesar did not say that if someone were to fulfill the identity foretold in the prophecy, the price would inevitably be enormous—far beyond what a slave could pay. "The king also explained to me why Jaffa Gate had been built in the shape of a carpenter's square."
"He must have liked you quite a lot back then," Geoffrey said.
You really seize every chance to sow discord, don't you? Cesar thought helplessly. On the way back, he turned and cast a distant glance at the Golden Gate.
Amalric I had rejected the Byzantines' demands, but to placate the princess, he generously promised that, beginning with himself, every noble in Jerusalem would wear Byzantine-style finery at the welcoming ceremony. The banquet afterward would likewise be Byzantine in style, so that the princess might feel entirely at home.
Some nobles grumbled over the order. They usually wore loose robes and turbans themselves, but being made to do so to cater to "the Eastern Emperor's daughter" left them rather unwilling.
But then they considered that Amalric I had already secured, during the negotiations, that the wedding ceremony would follow the sacred standards of the Latin Church rather than those of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Compared to that, clothing and food were trivial details—no one who had climbed to such a position was a fool, so naturally they held their tongues.
"I think the princess will be pleased," Bohemond said.
At a glance, even in the flowerless early spring, the road from Jaffa Gate to Holy Cross Castle was already ablaze with color. Actors had taken their places upon wooden platforms, dressed as figures from every era of history, surrounded by all manner of props. Beside the silver manger of Christ's birth stood the Virgin