“You are not!”
“I pray you, Cousins, let us not hear this argument again. I have been left as regent while King Henry remains in Aosta. I must judge. As I have already told you, I mean to let my father decide who will succeed my aunt, may she rest in peace, as duchess of Saony. I have only been waiting for an experienced Eagle, one who has traveled before across the Alfar Mountains.”
Every person in the chamber turned to look at Hanna.
“Dare you send another?” asked Leoba. “You have sent all three of the Eagles left in your care south to Aosta and not heard one word from any of them, whether they lived or died or even reached the king.”
“Do I dare not send one more? You did not hear the news, Leoba? My cousin Conrad the Black celebrated Penitire in Mainni as though he were king! He allowed the biscop to receive him outside the city and escort him into the palace as she would if it were my father who had come. The feasting lasted a full three days in the royal manner. He has taken Tallia of Arconia as wife and got her pregnant. She rides with Conrad rather than remaining in the custody of my aunt Constance, in Autun, as my father decreed. If this is not rebellion, then I don’t know what is.”
“Conrad would support my claim to Saony,” said Sophie, her expression shifting with animal cunning, “if I offered to support him and Tallia. You forget that, Theophanu. You are not my only recourse.”
“But Conrad is not here, you stupid cow,” said her sister, “nor is he king of Wendar, although it seems he would like to lay claim to the kingship of Varre by right of the body and blood of his new wife.”
“Where is the king of Wendar?” demanded Sophie. “Can he be king if he has abandoned his people?”
“Henry is king over Wendar and Varre,” said Theophanu, “and God have given their blessing to him. I trust you will remember that, Cousins.”
“I remember seeing your troops ride in after your brother stripped us of half our mounted soldiers for his mad journey east! Yet you haven’t half the army Sanglant has, nor could you drive out the Quman invaders. And you can’t do anything to stop Conrad!” Sophie’s peevish expression vanished abruptly as she glanced at her sister who, like a cat, seemed ready to wash her paws with disdainful triumph, seeing that her enemy was about to fall into a trap of her own making.
“Do not think I am unsympathetic to your plight, Theophanu,” Sophie went on quickly. “If Sapientia cannot rule after your father, then you are the rightful heir. You have not received what you deserve.”
“But you’ll have honey poured on you now.” Imma sneered as she reached for her wine cup. “Whom do you mean to flatter and cozen, Sophie? Conrad, or Theophanu?”
“It’s true enough, nor can any of you admit otherwise!” said Sophie. “Theophanu was left to be regent for King Henry but given no support. Henry has an army in Aosta, and Sanglant rides east with the army that defeated the Quman. What are you left with, Cousin?”
“My wits.” With an enigmatic smile, Theophanu gestured toward the windows. “It seems the rain has passed. I intend to ride today. My head is quite stuffy from all this chattering. Eagle, you will attend me.”
In this way, Hanna found herself back on a horse and riding beside the princess along the verge of muddy fields where, last autumn, battle lines had been drawn and armies had clashed. Beyond the western shore of the Veser lay the hills where the Quman army had made its camp and where Bulkezu’s prisoners had huddled in those last desperate hours. To the east she recognized the ragged band of forest that concealed the Veserling, where Ingo and the others had rescued her.
“Where are the Lions, Your Highness? They came to you early in the spring, did they not?”
Theophanu nodded. “I keep them in the city to remind my cousins of my authority. These days, they work on the wall. It was let fall into shameful disrepair by my aunt, may she be at peace. I think she must not have been at all well these past few years.”
Together with two stewards, three servants, and a half dozen of the princess’ noble companions, they skirted several ditches half full of rainwater, an attempt to drain off the excess water collecting on the fields, and approached a low hill that rose out of the plain like a bubble. Theophanu waved her companions back but beckoned Hanna forward with her, and with some difficulty the two women urged their mounts up the slippery rise to the top. Alder and oak had been cut back here only recently, and they had to be careful of burned out stumps laying traps for their mounts’ hooves. Wood rush and bramble bush proliferated. Dill had taken root, flowering in yellow clusters alongside cream-colored bells of comfrey. Yet at the height of the hill, in one man-sized spot, the lush greenery turned to blackened ground, as bare as if salt had been sown on the earth.
