In the Ruins (Crown of Stars #6)

In the Ruins (Crown of Stars #6) Page 115

“Ooof!” exclaimed Theophanu with an ironic smile. “A great deal of territory falls therefore into Austra’s hands and that of her descendants. I would not recommend it. Make Wichman lord of Eastfall and marry poor Theucinda to him! He’ll fight the barbarians and rape the local girls, and be happy, although his wife might not be.”

“That’s not funny,” said Ekkehard savagely. “Wichman is a beast! Theucinda doesn’t deserve to be forced to marry him!”

Ah. For the first time, there was real passion in Ekkehard’s voice.

“How much older is Gerberga than you?” Sanglant asked. “I trust she never leaves you alone with her younger sister.”

“I would never!” he cried in a tone of voice that betrayed he had thought often of just what it was he would never do. “It’s just she’s a third child, like me. She knows what it’s like …” He bit a lip and glanced sideways at his brother and sister, gauging their reaction. Like all of Henry’s children, he was a good-looking young man, although he would have been more attractive had his features not been marred by a perpetual expression of sullen grievance. “… to be a third child.”

“You are fourth,” said Theophanu.

“Third, if one counts only legitimate children!” he retorted.

Even in the dim light, Sanglant could see how his younger brother’s cheeks were flushed. His eyes had narrowed with anger, or resentment; in Ekkehard, it was hard to tell the difference.

“Do not forget,” Sanglant said in his mildest tone, “that you were shown mercy, Ekkehard. You fought and killed your own countrymen.”

“As did you! You rebelled against our father! Some say you killed him yourself and now pretend otherwise.”

The thrust had no force in it, not for Sanglant, so he wasn’t prepared when Theophanu slapped Ekkehard so hard that the blow brought tears to his eyes as he gasped. Leoba choked down an exclamation.

“I will have no fighting here to demean the memory of our father!” said Sanglant.

“Is this some poison Gerberga has been feeding you?” Theophanu demanded. “Who has said it?”

“No one.” He wiped his eyes, trembling. “No one. Gerberga doesn’t believe it. She told him so. She said only a fool would believe you killed Henry, and anyway, Liutgard and Burchard would never support you if you had, and they were there and they saw it all. It’s true about the daimone, isn’t it? It’s true?”

“It’s true,” he said, glancing toward Hathui, who despite her appearance of contrite prayer was no doubt listening closely. “Being true, as it is, I wonder that the margrave of Austra shelters the man who truly betrayed Henry.”

Ekkehard sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of a hand.

Waiting for his brother to speak, Sanglant realized that he, too, was trembling, that he had in him reserves of hatred he hadn’t known he possessed. Bloodheart was dead, and any power he had left to harm Sanglant resided in Sanglant’s heart and head alone. He had other enemies, of course, some of whom had not yet declared themselves. But he had only one man he truly hated.

“That’s the other thing she wants,” said Ekkehard, his voice shaky. He glared at Theophanu. Her expression was cool and distant, without trace of the anger that had flared.

“That who wants?” asked Sanglant, who had now stuck in his head the image of his enemy, to whom God had given exceptional beauty. Why did the wicked flourish and the innocent suffer? Why did God allow beauty to grow in a vat of poison?

“That Gerberga wants,” said Ekkehard irritably, “in exchange for her support of your claim to the throne and crown of Wendar.”

“Of course. Eastfall and Westfall must have strong margraves in these times. I am agreed to this, and I see no reason not to marry Lady Theucinda to a worthy man, a younger son, perhaps, who has not yet been claimed as another woman’s husband.”

“Or been killed in Henry’s wars!”

“Enough, Theo! What is the second request, Ekkehard?”

He smiled, but it wasn’t a kind smile. “There is something Gerberga wants very much, that she cannot have because of a promise she made to her mother when she was named as Judith’s heir. She can’t go against a promise sworn to her mother, surely you see that.”

“I see that. What is it she wants?”

Through the open doors, the graying of shadows heralded the approaching dawn. Birds cooed sociably. A creature scrabbled in the rafters. Then, once again, it was silent. Even the guards had ceased speaking in that undertone that had drifted at the edge of Sanglant’s hearing all night.