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“It will be good for Lady Sabella to see the conditions of the lands hereabout, which have suffered greatly over the last winter and into this summer,” she said. “Is there any other message, Captain?”

“That is all, Your Grace. Otherwise, as you know, I am under orders to make no communication with you or any of those residing under your care.”Advertisement

“I understand the terms of my confinement well enough. It seems a long journey to come here all this way merely to bring me a single message.”

He looked at Tammus before risking further comment. “I have escorted a new complement of guardsmen to replace the levy that has been here for three months.”

“Will you replace Captain Tammus?”

Tammus snorted.

Ulric shrugged. “Nay, Your Grace. Lady Sabella has named him as your keeper. So he will remain as he has served well and faithfully these past two years.”

“So he has,” agreed Constance without a glimmer of sarcasm. “I hope you will accept some wine, Captain, after such a long journey in these hot days.”

“That I will, gladly and with thanks.”

“Captain Tammus will show you the way.”

Ivar remained where he was as the two captains retreated to the doors and filed out with Ulric’s escort behind them.

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All but one.

As they passed through the doors, Ulric asked Tammus a flood of questions, while behind him the second of his hooded attendants sidestepped without missing a beat and by Ulric’s misdirection managed to remain inside the chamber when the doors were shut behind the other men.

The stranger cast back his hood and strode forward to kneel before her chair, the movement accomplished so decisively that Ivar had no time to respond before it was done.

He could have knifed her, but instead he grasped her hand as a supplicant.

“Your Grace, I have only a few moments to speak with you. I pray you, heed me.”

She studied him, gaze shifting over his face and figure, and nodded to indicate that she recognized him. “Lord Geoffrey of Lavas. How does your daughter, the young countess, fare?”

“Ill, Your Grace. Lavas county and all the western lands fare ill, and have done so ever since you were deposed. God are angry. This is our punishment: we suffer drought and untimely rains. Refugees fleeing north from the Salian wars confound us. Bandits have made the roads unsafe. There will be famine this winter. We hear tales of plague and murrain, although thank the Lord and Lady we’ve seen none of that in our lands, pray God that we be spared. There’s even talk that my sweet Lavrentia is not in truth the rightful heir!”

“How can that be?”

“Nay, nay, I make no mind of it. It’s only the idle talk of desperate folk.” With a shaking hand he drew the Circle of Unity at his breast. “Another scourge strikes at us from the sea. The Eika have returned! They harry in Salia along the coast. We hear rumors that they are moving inland and north. I pray you, Your Grace. Lady Sabella usurped your rightful place, granted to you by King Henry, the true king. We will support you.”

“Do I understand that Captain Ulric is your ally in this?”

“As well as he is able. He was always your true and loyal servant, but he must protect his men.”

“Yes, he cannot fight Sabella and Conrad with only a single troop of skirmishers. Yet my position is weak, Lord Geoffrey, as you must observe. I am crippled. I rest here as Sabella’s prisoner. It will prove difficult to throw off this yoke. Conrad is a powerful ally, and his ambitions do not accord with mine.”

Geoffrey had not yet let go of Constance’s hand. “So you see us, Your Grace. My wife’s kinfolk have remained loyal to Henry through many difficulties, but now Lady Sabella has taken my wife’s two children as hostage in Autun.”

“Even Count Lavrentia?”

“She remains in Lavas because of the rumors—”

“Which rumors?”

He clenched his hands, jaw tight; voice cold. “That the rightful heir lives and waits, wandering in the wilderness until all Lavas cries out for his return. It is said there were miracles—but it’s all lies! Even Lady Sabella sees how precarious the situation is, so Lavrentia remains with me in Lavas while Aldegund and our sons serve Sabella in Autun. Yet Varre suffers under Sabella’s rule. Lavas suffers. And I dare not act against Sabella or Conrad unless we are certain we have sufficient backing to win.”

She considered him somberly. “I have no means to communicate with those who might support me, and I have no army—only bands of faithful soldiers who need a commander in order to act in concert. What news of Princess Theophanu?” pqdm.com