by Speer, Flora
“For the moment, let us concentrate on forestalling the plot against me,” Charles said. “That is the most urgent issue. Can either of you put names to any of those hidden faces?”
“I don’t know any of them,” Gina said, glad that she couldn’t speak the words that would condemn any man to certain death.
“Before tonight, as a result of all the questions I’ve been asking, I know the names of two of the men involved,” Dominick said, his face grim with the realization of what he was doing. “The gathering at the church altar confirmed what I had previously learned. One of the names mentioned was that of Count Gerold of Konz. The man who spoke Gerold’s name was his cousin and best friend, Lord Utred.”
“So.” Charles’s face was as solemn as Dominick’s, and his voice was steady. “Noblemen who have fought by my side, whom I counted as friends, men whom I have honored with lands and titles, now choose to betray me to my death. Dominick, find a man-at-arms. I have commands to give.”
Before Gina and Dominick left the palace near dawn, Charles had ordered his palace guards to surround the church of St. Peter, to keep it secure and to see that the priests were safe. A troop of men-at-arms who were directly attached to Charles, rather than to any of his nobles, was sent into the streets of Regensburg to maintain order. And Charles had sent a message to the church in which he stated that he would definitely be attending morning prayers.
“I must show myself,” Charles said when Dominick protested that last decision. “We cannot keep news of the plot secret for more than a few hours. You know as well as I do how quickly rumors fly. One of those rumors will certainly be that I have been slain. My public appearance will put an end to such speculation and reduce the fear of violence.”
With his calm insistence they had to be satisfied, for Charles refused to alter his decision.
“All will be well,” he said, bidding them good night.
“I am so glad this night is almost over,” Gina said when she and Dominick had returned to his house and were alone in his bedchamber. “When I realized what was going on in that church, I was sure we were both going to be murdered.
“We can rest easy now,” she said, putting her arms around Dominick’s waist. “Thanks to Fardulf, and to us, the villains will be caught.” She didn’t add what they both knew, that the villains would be brought to trial and those found guilty of plotting against Charles would be publicly executed. She wished she and Dominick could be on their way back to Feldbruck before the trial began. She certainly didn’t want to witness any executions. For the moment, all she wanted to do was hold Dominick tight and forget her earlier fears.
“I ought to be angry with you,” he said, laying his cheek against her hair. “It was incredibly foolish of you to follow me.”
“I know.” She snuggled closer to him. “But when I saw you sneaking out of the house, I was sure you were going into danger. I couldn’t let you go alone.”
“What a remarkable woman you are.” He put a finger under her chin so he could tilt her face upward and kiss her.
Passion flared suddenly, burning all the hotter after the peril they had been through together. The realization that they were safe after facing death added a special savor to the moment. Gina tore her mouth from Dominick’s and reared back in his arms to look at him. She caught his face between her hands, studying him as if she had never seen him before, seeing the molten silver of his eyes and the sensual longing in his parted lips. They were standing so close that she was immediately aware of the swift hardening of his manhood.
“Dominick,” she whispered.
His lips curved in a smile of understanding, a very masculine acknowledgment that she was his to take, when and how he wanted. He began to remove her clothing. It wasn’t done in haste, but he didn’t dawdle, either, and his smooth, deliberate movements intensified the desire that was building inside Gina.
Dominick’s attention was so intensely concentrated on her that she would have to have been a marble statue not to respond. Gina was not a piece of stone; she was a woman in a world that was still new and intriguing to her, and Dominick was the most fascinating man she’d ever known. He was a rare and heady combination of irreproachable honor and earthy passion, of practical common sense and breathtaking romance. He was also the one man she had ever been able to trust for more than a single hour.
Dominick caressed her breasts as he claimed her mouth, touching her as if he could not get enough of her, as if she was everything he wanted or needed, and as if he was determined to imprint himself on all her senses.
Gina was well past the time when she was shy of him. She returned every caress and handled his masculinity with tender firmness. It was wonderful to hear Dominick’s moans of pleasure as she stroked and fondled him, and it was wildly exciting to her to watch him grow larger and harder. His unashamed desire for her stirred a warmth deep within her, a yearning that left her weak and trembling. He knew it; he was attuned to her every wish, and he did not make her wait much past the moment when she began to fear she would go mad with wanting.
“Come here.” He placed his hands on her hips and sat her down on top of him, impaling her, holding her there when she cried out in surprise as his hardened length filled her. She knew what he was doing, but she had never experienced it before, never sat astride a man who wanted her and who had made her desire him. Like everything else about Dominick’s lovemaking, the sensation was glorious, and the freedom he granted her to move as she wished only intensified her response.
The sole complaint she could possibly have made was that her climax came upon her too quickly. Ah, but with Dominick to touch her in secret places, to rear upward and kiss her with laughter on his lips, the incredible peak of pleasure continued on and on, until Gina was limp and damp with perspiration. She fell across Dominick s chest, weeping and gasping. He held her that way until she was completely recovered.
She wanted to say she loved him. Only a last, lingering hint of insecurity left over from her previous life prevented her from speaking the words. In the course of that long and dangerous night she had been called courageous, and foolishly brave, and she did trust him, yet still she lacked the courage to open her heart completely.
At mid morning, while Gina and Dominick were breaking their fast, Ella rushed into the hall, breathless with excitement.
“I was at the market,” Ella said, “when I noticed a boat tying up at one of the docks, and who do you think was aboard? Pepin and Father Guntram. It certainly took them long enough to get here, didn’t it?”
“I’m going to the palace. Pepin will need a friend,” Dominick said, rising from the table. He gave Gina a serious look and spoke with great firmness. “You are to remain at home today.”
With that he was gone, calling to Harulf to come with him, shouting at Benet to saddle two horses.
“Ha!” Gina said, setting her mug of watered wine down with a thud. “If Dominick imagines I am going to remain here and miss the next act of this drama while he is at the palace, right in the middle of things, then he is sadly mistaken.”
“He didn’t even wait long enough for me to tell him the rest of the news,” Ella said.
“You mean there’s more?” Gina grinned. “Sit down and tell me. Here, have some wine and bread.”
“Just a little wine, thank you. I ate earlier, with Harulf.” Ella gulped down a mouthful of wine, then began talking. “A plot against the king’s life has been uncovered. They are saying in the marketplace that more than a dozen nobles have fled Regensburg, and that Charles has sent troops to find them and bring them back for trial.” She paused, looking at Gina as if expecting a comment.
“Oh, my,” Gina said as innocently as she could manage. “Word does travel quickly, doesn’t it?”
“A man I spoke to told me the queen is involved,” Ella said.
“I doubt that,” Gina responded. “Why would Fastrada want Charles murdered, when her position depends on keeping him alive?” She could understand how such a
rumor would start, though. A lot of people hated Fastrada enough to try to link her to the plot. Fastrada must know it, too, which meant she would be busy trying to direct suspicion away from herself and onto anyone she considered an enemy.
“Dominick,” Gina said. “She won’t miss this chance to do him harm.”
“What?” Ella gave her a puzzled look.
“I am beginning to think like a Frankish noblewoman,” Gina said. “Finish your wine, Ella. We are going to the palace.”
“But Dominick said for you to stay here.”
“Where I come from, women don’t obey men,” Gina said. “I will wear my red dress this morning.”
Chapter 15
“Ansa,” Gina said, stopping the young woman in the center of the great hall, “have you seen Count Dominick?”
“Always you ask the same question,” Ansa responded. She looked around the hall, where the Frankish nobles and their ladies stood about in groups, heads together, talking in low voices. “Never have I heard so much gossip, or so many wild rumors, either. No, I have not seen Dominick. Could he be with the men Charles has sent to round up the traitors? That is where my betrothed, Fulrad, has gone.”
“I don’t think Dominick is with Fulrad,” Gina said. “Perhaps he is with Charles.”
“Fastrada is with Charles,” Ansa told her. “Here comes Lady Adalhaid. She may have news, though if she has, it’s surely bad. How serious she looks.”
Having noticed Gina, Lady Adalhaid made her way across the hall. Her face was pale, and her mouth was set in a hard line.
“I have been looking for you,” Lady Adalhaid said to Gina without offering any polite greeting first. “Ansa, you may leave us.”
“Not I,” said Ansa, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. “Lady Adalhaid, have you heard a new rumor? Has there been a battle between the traitors and Charles’s men? Was anyone killed?”
“There was a battle?” cried a young fellow who was standing near enough to hear what Ansa said. “And men killed in it? Oh, I must tell my friends.” He rushed to a group of boys and girls who looked as if they were barely into their teens and began talking in an animated way.
“Now see what you’ve done, you thoughtless creature!” Lady Adalhaid exclaimed, fixing Ansa with a cold glare. “Take yourself over to those children immediately and explain to them that there has been no battle, that you were merely asking a question with no care for what you were saying. And do not let me catch you engaging in gossip again!”
The instant Ansa was out of hearing, Lady Adalhaid caught Gina’s arm and leaned close, speaking in hushed tones.
“I am so glad to see you here. Fastrada is with Charles.”
“That’s what Ansa said.”
“Did she tell you Fastrada’s declared purpose for going to her husband? No, of course she didn’t. That foolish girl doesn’t have a serious thought in her head.”
“Why are you so disturbed?” Gina asked.
“Because Fastrada is attempting to convince Charles that Dominick is involved in this dreadful, treasonous plot.”
“She won’t succeed. Charles knows better.” But a cold chill crept over Gina. The fear that had driven her from Dominick’s house to the palace became a hard knot in her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
“Don’t you be as foolish as Ansa,” Lady Adalhaid said, assuming a stern expression. “I took you for a more intelligent woman than that. Fastrada is determined to ruin Dominick, and she will use any opportunity that presents itself. What better way to destroy the man who dared to criticize her to her face than to see him convicted of treason? If she has her way, Dominick will be executed and his lands confiscated. And those lands will then very likely be handed over to Fastrada or to one of her arrogant relatives.”
“Why do you care?” Gina asked, adding suspicion to her fear.
“Fastrada’s first scheme against Dominick spoiled my child’s life.” Lady Adalhaid’s whisper was harsh with fiercely repressed emotion. “Were Hiltrude wed to any other nobleman, what she did on Fastrada s orders would almost certainly have meant her death. When Dominick learned that Hiltrude was acting as the queen’s agent, he could have beaten her, could have arranged an accident that killed her, but he did not. He never laid a hand on Hiltrude. He let her leave Feldbruck, and he took upon himself the blame for their divorce. For that, I owe Dominick a deeper debt of gratitude than I can ever repay. I will do anything to help him, so long as nothing I say or do endangers Hiltrude.”
“You are saying that you don’t want to tell Hiltrude’s story to Charles.”
“At the moment, his thoughts are entirely on the plot to murder him,” Lady Adalhaid said. “That is perfectly understandable. There will come a time when I can tell him about Hiltrude, but it is not now. Gina, there must be something I can do for Dominick.”
“First, we have to be sure of what Fastrada is saying to Charles. We can’t counter her accusations until we know what they are. By the way, have you seen Dominick?”
“Not this morning,” Lady Adalhaid said.
“Excuse me a moment.” Gina beckoned to Ella, who was standing a short distance away. “Ella, I want you to ask questions of the servants and the men-at-arms. Do it very discreetly. Try to discover if anyone has seen Dominick and, if so, where he is.”
“He said he was coming to the palace to see Pepin,” Ella reminded her.
“Yes, I know, but no one has mentioned Pepin to me. I wonder if the nobles here know he has reached Regensburg? Find out as much as you can without arousing suspicion. Then come and report to me in private.”
“I will. I’ll try to find Harulf, too. I haven’t seen him here at the palace.” Ella started for the main entrance of the great hall.
“Now,” Gina said to Lady Adalhaid, “we are going to enlist a witness whose words on Dominick’s behalf no one will doubt, and then we are going to join Charles and Fastrada.”
“We cannot walk in on them when they are in private together,” Lady Adalhaid protested.
“Just watch me,” said Gina. Grabbing Lady Adalhaid’s elbow, she all but dragged the noblewoman out of the great hall by the side door, then through the maze of rooms to the garden courtyard, and thence to Alcuin s office.
Happily, he was there, sitting at his desk, hunched over a sheet of parchment on which he was writing industriously. He did not look up until Gina cleared her throat.
“I have been expecting you,” Alcuin said. He laid down his quill pen and got to his feet.
“I am sure you have sources of information unknown to me,” Gina said, “so I won’t waste time telling you what you already know. Are you willing to help us save Dominick from Fastrada?”
“I am.” Alcuin responded without hesitation. He looked at Gina’s hand on Lady Adalhaid’s arm and raised his eyebrows.
“It seems I have no choice in the matter,” Lady Adalhaid said with some asperity, answering Alcuin’s unspoken question.
“What would you have us do, Lady Gina?” Alcuin asked.
“Go with me to Charles’s apartments, and speak the truth as you know it,” she said.
“That I will most willingly do.” Alcuin came around the desk to join the two women. “Gina, I promise you, Lady Adalhaid will not run away if you release her. I suspect she has her own, long-delayed, reasons for joining us.” Alcuin gestured toward the door.
With the king’s scholarly friend and Lady Adalhaid flanking her, Gina passed the guards at the door to the royal apartments without question.
“No need to announce us,” Alcuin said to one of the sentries. “We will see ourselves in.”
The guard threw open the door, and they entered Charles’s private reception room. At the far end of the room Fastrada faced Charles, with her back toward the newcomers.
“I tell you that while he was still at Feldbruck, Dominick held a secret meeting with Pepin,” Fastrada declared, sounding angry and completely confident of her facts. “They held a long, private conversation during which Pe
pin set forth his plan to remove you from the throne. The next day they separated, and each man then traveled to Regensburg so as to be present when their fellow conspirators struck at you.”
“I find it difficult to believe that Dominick is involved,” Charles said. “He revealed the plot to me.”
His glance flickered from his wife’s face to Gina, Lady Adalhaid, and Alcuin. Immediately, without indicating that he had seen them, Charles returned his full attention to Fastrada, who raised her voice and spoke again.
“Dominick’s revelations were a ruse, a clever stratagem intended to allay your suspicions,” Fastrada exclaimed. “Dominick betrayed you when he joined Pepin’s wicked scheme while they were at Feldbruck together, and then he betrayed Pepin when he came to you to tell you of the plot. Dominick is twice a deceiver. The penalty for treason is death. Dominick must be executed!”
Silence fell while Charles stared at his wife as if uncertain what to say next. He glanced toward Alcuin, and Fastrada whirled around, gasping when she saw who stood just inside the doorway.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded of Gina.
“How can you possibly know what Dominick and Pepin discussed in private?” Gina asked, for she had noticed the flaw in Fastrada’s accusations.
“You have no right to question me!” Fastrada exclaimed.
“Answer Lady Gina,” Charles said to her.
“Charles, you cannot doubt what I say!” Fastrada cried.
“How did you know the content of a private conversation?” Charles persisted.
“I – I was told by a reliable source,” Fastrada said. “There can be no mistake.”
“’A reliable source,” Gina repeated. “That is a phrase I’ve heard many times before, in my own – before I came to Francia. It’s a phrase that is almost always used to mask a lie or to distort the truth.
“In this case,” Gina continued, speaking directly to Charles, knowing he’d already heard the story from Dominick, “the truth is that Pepin and Dominick did speak together at Feldbruck. I noticed Father Guntram eavesdropping on their private conversation. He and I both heard what was said.”
