by Speer, Flora
“As you can see,” he said, “I am alive, unharmed, and free.”
“For the moment. Have you been able to uncover anything of interest?”
“Several details,” he said. “We will talk later, at my house, where there is no chance we’ll be overheard. Here comes Lady Adalhaid. Gina, I warn you again, think twice before you speak.”
“I promise I’ll do better from now on.” She touched his arm in a quick caress. Dominick responded by smiling at her in the way that always left her feeling weak and warm inside. “I’ll stay awake tonight, too,” she added, and laughed softly to hear his deep chuckle.
“I intend to see that you do,” he said just before Lady Adalhaid reached them.
Chapter 12
Queen Fastrada s chambers were unlike anything Gina had ever seen in real life. In a scene of barbaric splendor straight out of a Hollywood historical epic, the walls were draped with silk, low tables bearing gold or silver bowls of berries and early apples stood about the room, and pillows in bright colors were strewn over the wooden floor. The oil in the lamps was scented with jasmine, adding heavy perfume to the fragrances of the ripe fruit. Gina coughed, tried to repress a sneeze, and hoped that none of the queen’s attendants suffered from severe allergies.
Fastrada lounged on a pillow-crammed bed that was pushed against one wall. She was wearing a blue silk gown with a red sash wound about her slender waist, and at least a dozen gold necklaces. Her feet were bare. She looked downright unhappy. Or perhaps she was sulking. Gina had the impression that Fastrada often sulked.
“Did you have to bring her here?” Fastrada asked when Lady Adalhaid appeared with Gina at her side. “Why should I be expected to receive a lowborn concubine?”
The other ladies in the room smothered giggles. Gina bit her lip and, true to her promise to Dominick, did not respond to the insult.
“My lady, you know that all unwed girls who come to court are placed under your protection,” Lady Adalhaid said. “I am merely doing my duty in bringing Lady Gina to you.”
“I’ve a mind not to receive her,” Fastrada said. There was a certain gleam in the queen’s sapphire eyes, a hint of malice that warned Gina to be on guard. “Then again, perhaps she will prove useful to me.”
“I am sure Gina will be happy to serve you in whatever way you desire,” said Lady Adalhaid.
It was on the tip of Gina s tongue to inform both Fastrada and Lady Adalhaid that she wasn’t the least bit interested in serving the queen in any capacity. She thought about what she wanted to say, thought a second time, and held her peace, for Dominick’s sake. As long as she had to spend time with Fastrada, she’d learn as much as she could about the plot in which Pepin was involved, as well as any schemes of the queen’s devising. That was what she was at court to do, after all.
“Bring me my fan,” Fastrada ordered.
There were three other noblewomen in the room, one of them Lady Ansa, and the instant the queen spoke they all began searching for the missing fan.
“Not you.” Fastrada made a lazy gesture to indicate that the others should move away. “I want Gina to find my fan.”
“Certainly,” Gina said as politely as she could manage. “What does it look like?”
“What do you mean, what does it look like?” exclaimed Fastrada. “Don’t you recognize a fan when you see one?”
“I meant, is it made of paper – er, parchment – or feathers, or silk, perhaps? Is it large or small? What color is it? Do you remember where you last saw it? Or when?” Gina began to look around the overstuffed room, trying to decide if she dared to toss a few pillows about or search behind the wall hangings or get down on the floor to peer under the tables.
“Your questions are rude,” Fastrada declared. “I want my fan now.”
“I’m very sorry, but I’ve never seen the fan before, and I have no idea where you could have lost it. My questions are not meant to be rude. They are aimed at trying to find your cursed – your fan.” Gina was close to losing her temper but not so close that she missed the way Fastrada’s petulant mouth twitched at her barely restrained response.
So that was it. Fastrada was deliberately trying to make her say or do something that would get her – and Dominick, too, no doubt – into trouble. Well, she wouldn’t give the spoiled brat the pleasure. She gazed at the luxurious furnishings, trying to think where in all the clutter a missing fan could be.
“Really,” Fastrada said to Lady Adalhaid, “this girl is too stupid to be of any use to me.”
While Fastrada was glaring at Lady Adalhaid, and the other ladies-in-waiting were huddled together as if they feared the queen’s displeasure would be visited on them, Lady Ansa made a quick, surreptitious gesture, pointing to a pile of green and blue pillows. Gina looked in the direction Lady Ansa indicated and saw a bit of carved wood sticking out from beneath the bottom pillow. She seized it and pulled, until a flat, round, wooden fan came loose from the pillows. The action unbalanced the pillows, which tumbled over, spilling against one of the many tables and upsetting a bowl of small green apples.
“What are you doing?” Fastrada screeched, swinging her feet to the floor. “Clumsy, stupid – Out! Get out!”
“I found your fan.” Gina made the best curtsy she could, which, since she’d never attempted one before, wasn’t very graceful, and handed the fan to the queen. The moment Fastrada snatched it from her, Gina began to pick up the apples. Lady Ansa grabbed one that had rolled across the room and tossed it to Gina, who grinned her thanks.
Fastrada’s high-pitched complaints ceased abruptly at a sudden movement behind Gina. Gina turned, her hands full of apples, and found herself face to face with the king of the Franks.
“What is wrong?” Charles asked, speaking to Gina, not Fastrada.
“I’ve been clumsy,” Gina said, indicating the spilled apples. “I am sorry,” she added to the queen.
“You miserable, impertinent—” Fastrada lifted the fan she was clenching and slashed out, plainly bent upon striking Gina across the face.
Before the wooden fan made contact with Gina’s cheek Charles caught his wife’s wrist and took the fan from her.
“How pretty this is,” he said, smiling at Fastrada. “Surely, my dearest, you don’t want to break it. After all, it was a gift from me.”
“I thought you planned to be busy all afternoon long,” Fastrada responded, as if accusing her husband of abandoning her. “If you will no longer allow me to sit with you while you meet with your councilors, then I must find some way to entertain myself.”
“It was concern for your health that led me to suggest you keep to your rooms this afternoon,” Charles said.
“Don’t expect me to believe such a flimsy excuse. The queen of the Franks has every right to involve herself with affairs of state. Indeed, that is my responsibility. I managed your kingdom very well while you were away at war.”
“Now that I am home again, I thought to lift some of the burden from your shoulders.”
“When I am not present, you permit your councilors to say whatever they please to you. I can think of several among them who ought to be tried for treason and executed – a long, slow death that spills every drop of treacherous blood.” Fastrada’s pale cheeks turned pink as she spoke, and she moved closer to Charles in a sinuous, undulating way obviously intended to catch and hold the king’s attention. Gina could see that the ploy wasn’t entirely successful.
“I have always ruled by allowing my nobles to express their opinions. Knowing that I have listened to them, they are usually willing to accept the decisions I make.” Charles hadn’t moved a single step, yet with his calm words he had distanced himself from Fastrada, and she seemed to recognize it. Her temper rose again.
“Did you discuss the hunchback?” she demanded, her lips curling in disdain. “Where is that laggard, Pepin? Why hasn’t he come to Regensburg as you requested? Requested, not ordered! But your slightest wish should be a command to him! How dare he not obey you at once?”
“Gently, Fastrada. Pepin is my son.”
“He is a disgrace! A bastard who shames you by his very existence. He ought to be grateful you allow him to continue to live. I cannot bear to look at him.”
“Then you ought to be happy he isn’t here, instead of complaining about his absence. In fact, I received a message this morning, sent ahead by Pepin to inform me that he and Father Guntram expect to reach Regensburg within a day or two.”
“I suppose he is using his deformity as an excuse to travel as slowly as possible, when the truth is, he doesn’t want to see you. The hunchback does not love you, Charles.”
Gina longed to exclaim that Pepin did love his father but feared his father did not love him. She could not help wondering whether Father Guntram had poured that particular poison into Pepin’s ears, while Fastrada created a similar belief in Charles’s mind. It would be a good way to turn the two against each other, especially since they didn’t see each other very often and thus had little chance to correct their mistaken assumptions.
“Enough, Fastrada. I will hear no more on the subject of Pepin. Ladies,” Charles said, turning to the other women in the room, “if you will kindly leave us, I’d like to speak privately with the queen.”
As the women obediently filed out, Gina noted how informally they went. There were no bows, no curtsies, no walking backward out of the chamber as she had seen done in movies. Charles was a remarkably relaxed monarch, approachable and easygoing. If only his wife were half so pleasant.
“Ansa, thank you for your help,” Gina said as soon as they were all in an anteroom. “Without it I never would have found that fan.”
“It’s a game Fastrada plays,” Ansa said. “She loves to torment her ladies.”
“Would she really have hit me if Charles hadn’t arrived?”
“Oh, yes. We’ve all been struck at least a few times,” Ansa said.
“Charles is kind to her,” Gina murmured, hoping for an informative response.
“Kinder than she deserves,” Ansa responded. She nodded toward the door to Fastrada’s inner chamber. “We are free of all duties for the next hour or two. They won’t want us loitering about. They won’t be doing much talking in there, either. Fastrada is determined to present Charles with a son.”
“Ansa, mind your tongue,” said Lady Adalhaid. “An unwed girl ought not to speak of such matters.”
“I won’t be unmarried for much longer,” Ansa said, giggling. “Then I’ll say whatever I want. Gina, will you come with us? We’re going to stroll in the outer courtyard.”
“You mean, you intend to flaunt yourselves before the young men,” Lady Adalhaid said, disapproval written on her face. “I will keep Gina with me. She requires training in court etiquette.”
“I think Gina does very well,” said Ansa with a saucy grin. “Gina, we’ll meet again soon, I’m sure.” Ansa joined the other ladies in their merry but hasty departure from the queen s apartments.
“Let us walk in a more private place,” Lady Adalhaid said. She took Gina’s arm, drawing her out of the anteroom and along a corridor, then through an open doorway, stopping when they reached the same secluded courtyard where Gina had earlier observed Fastrada and Father Guntram in secret conversation. Gina looked around expectantly, hoping to see Alcuin again, but both courtyard and cloister were empty. The sun was lower in the sky, and the red and yellow flowers in the little gardens glowed in the late-afternoon light.
“How peaceful it is,” Gina said, feeling some remark was called for but not wanting to admit she had previously intruded on so private a place.
“I suppose so.” Lady Adalhaid shrugged as if flowers, blue sky, and sunshine meant nothing to her. “Ansa was correct when she said you did well in the queen’s presence. Fastrada can be exasperating. You must remember that she is still young. We hope she will learn to rein in her temper as she matures.”
“ ‘We’?” said Gina. “Who is ‘we’?”
“The other courtiers, and the ladies who attend her.”
“Hasn’t it occurred to any of you that, since she is so young, she may outlive her husband?”
“No! Oh, no!”
Lady Adalhaid turned her back to Gina, and Gina watched, fascinated, as the older woman’s shoulders shook as if she was weeping, then rose and fell with several deep breaths. Gina noticed Lady Adalhaid’s hands clenching and unclenching at her sides, and she recalled her first impression that this woman did not like the queen.
“What do you think Fastrada would do without Charles to quiet her tantrums and keep her in line?” Gina asked.
“I cannot bear to think of it,” Lady Adalhaid whispered. “Charles is so virile, so full of boundless energy, that I cannot imagine a time when he is no longer with us. Life was difficult enough when he was away on the Bavarian border, fighting those wicked, heathen Avar tribesmen and then battling against Duke Tassilo, but we all knew he would return and then life would go on as it has done since he was first elected king.”
“Dominick told me that you are Hiltrude’s mother,” Gina said, walking around her companion so she could look her full in the face.
“My poor girl.” Lady Adalhaid’s eyes filled with tears. “Fastrada insisted that Hiltrude marry Dominick. As you surely know, noble marriages are almost always arranged by the parents. In this case, Charles acted as one of the fathers. He had known Dominick since he was a boy and took an interest in him after he was disinherited. He granted Feldbruck to Dominick after the Bavarian war ended, so it was natural for Dominick to want
an heir, and when Fastrada put forward my daughter as bride, Charles agreed. Since my husband is dead, the decision on Hiltrude’s side of the family was mine to make. I foolishly acceded to Fastrada’s demand. I have regretted it ever since. I know my dear girl was miserably unhappy.”
“You cannot think Dominick was a cruel husband,” Gina protested.
“I do not. But Hiltrude had taken a fancy to another man. At first she refused to marry Dominick. But the queen talked to her and changed her mind.”
“I’ll just bet she did,” Gina muttered. “Fastrada sucked Hiltrude into a nasty plot to ruin Dominick.”
“You know about that?”
“Dominick told me.”
“I believe Dominick sent Hiltrude to Chelles for her own safety,” Lady Adalhaid said. “Even Fastrada cannot touch her as long as she remains in that secure convent. But the thing is, Hiltrude does not have a religious vocation. She would far rather marry and have children.”
“What about the man she loved before she was married off to Dominick?”
“Audulf has always refused to wed. And whenever we meet, he inquires about Hiltrude in great detail.”
“What a mess. There’s your daughter, stuck in a convent where she doesn’t want to be, and there’s a man who cares about her, but they can’t be together as long as the queen is alive.”
“Hush! Never say such a thing aloud,” Lady Adalhaid whispered urgently. She stared at the columns of the cloister as if she expected to discover someone lurking behind one of them, listening.
Gina wasn’t worried. She knew, from trying to eavesdrop earlier that day, how difficult it was to hear anything spoken in the courtyard, and she and Lady Adalhaid had been talking very quietly.
“You haven’t told me Hiltrude’s sad story as a way of idly passing the time,” Gina said. “What do you want of me?”
“I thought we could work together,” Lady Adalhaid said. “Fastrada is involved in many plots. That’s not unusual for a queen. Women married to powerful husbands are frequently asked to use their influence to help bring various projects to fruition or to promote the advancement of friends and relatives. But Fastrada’s schemes tend to be particularly vile in nature. She cares only for herself and two or three of her male relatives. She will do anything to advance her family.”
“Is that where Duke Tassilo’s treasure went?” Gina asked. “To Fastrada’s relatives?”
“Only some of it. Mo
st of the treasure she kept for herself. The men who went to war with Charles deeply resent that none of it was distributed to them.”
“It always comes down to money, doesn’t it?” Gina said, recalling Dominick’s remarks on the subject.
“I care nothing for Tassilo’s treasure,” Lady Adalhaid said. “I care only for my daughter, who is, in effect, a prisoner, as she dare not leave Chelles. And I believe you care as much for Dominick’s welfare as I do for Hiltrude’s.”
“So you think we should join forces in hope of exposing Fastrada for the conniving, cold-hearted creature she is? And then what?”
“I know several young noblewomen who would make excellent queens. In the past, Charles has divorced two wives.”
“Won’t the Church object to a third divorce?”
“If Charles can be impressed with the extent of Fastrada’s evil deeds, he will find a way to be rid of her.”
“I hope you aren’t talking about beheading,” Gina said with a shiver. “I don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s death. Not even hers.”
“Certainly not,” Lady Adalhaid said. “Charles is too kindhearted ever to hurt a woman who has borne his children.”
“That aspect of his character may prove to be our biggest obstacle.” Gina began to laugh.
“What do you find so amusing?” demanded Lady Adalhaid.
“Doesn’t it strike you as funny for the woman everyone thinks is Dominick’s concubine, and the woman who was his mother-in-law and his father s lover, to work together as you’ve suggested?”
“It seems to me that we are natural allies,” said Lady Adalhaid, “since we both have loved ones whom the queen hates.”
“There is something you should know about me. Dominick has scolded me several times because I can’t keep my mouth shut. I’m used to speaking my opinion without weighing the consequences. That doesn’t make me a good candidate for secret work.”
“Perhaps your concern for Dominick will lead you to exercise greater discretion.”
“I can try to curb my tongue.” Gina didn’t actually agree to work with Lady Adalhaid. Nor did she mention that she would be discussing the conversation they’d just had with Dominick as soon as he and she were alone in private.
