“You’ve been here less than a day. How do you know so much? I’ve been here forever and listened and cajoled and I would have bribed everyone if I’d had any silver. I don’t know anything.”
He smiled in the darkness, pleased that she couldn’t see his face. He felt the paste cracking around his mouth. “The queen decided that the babe you bear will be a better future ruler if he’s not from Ragnor’s seed. I understand she questioned Kerek about what sort of man I am. She didn’t care in the least that you, not a real princess at all, and I, a former slave who has no future as of yet, would give the Danelaw its future ruler.”
“That’s brilliant. She’s a ruthless woman.”
“Aye, and a very clever one. I’ve heard your threats about how you will yell the roof down if they try to make you wed Ragnor. The queen isn’t stupid. She wants this marriage. She plans something. I just don’t know what it is yet.”
“I’ll find out. I’ll use guile with her and she’ll confess what she plans to me.”
He laughed, he couldn’t help himself.
“By all the gods, Cleve, you’re here. That means Kiri is starving herself. Did you bring her? Is she on theSilver Raven?Is she safe?”
“She is at Hawkfell Island. She is eating because I swore to her that I would bring you back. She’s not even counting sticks, at least she’d better not be.”
She very slowly eased herself against his chest, only to feel what seemed to be very big breasts. He just laughed and pushed her away. “Don’t ruin my paint. This face is desired by Ragnor. Don’t hug me again. My breasts aren’t all that stable at the moment.”
“After you rescue me, Cleve, will you make me pregnant? I meanreallypregnant? I’m very close to getting all the fathers of this babe confused.”
“I suppose I must, otherwise only the gods know what poor fellow you will choose as your next victim.” He paused a moment, and she wished she could see his face. She felt his fingers lightly touching her mouth, her jaw, her nose. She wanted to kiss him, but she didn’t want to smear his face. She felt his warm breath against her ear as he said, “I’m pleased that Ragnor didn’t force you. A woman who is forced by a man isn’t usually eager to have another man bed her, even if she thinks she wants him.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve seen it. Forget not that I was a slave for fifteen years. I saw everything.”
“Ah, but everything is different now. You have me.”
“It appears so,” he said, and laughed. He patted her cheek and rose from the box bed. “Sleep and don’t try to come up with your own plans. I don’t want to have to follow after you and put out fires. I will decide what it is we will do. Obey me in this, Chessa, or it will not go well for you.”
Everyone treated her with great deference, including the guard that trailed after her everywhere she went. In two days she was to marry Ragnor. She’d seen Isla flirting with Ragnor, giving him mead, but he’d made no move to see her.
Cleve had told her to leave everything to him. Why? She wasn’t stupid or helpless. An entire day had passed and nothing had happened. She had to do something. If she managed to save herself, why then, she could save Cleve too. She was whistling when she was shown to the queen’s garden.
It was just beyond dusk, at that shadowy moment before darkness came. The beautiful garden, with its brilliant flowers, didn’t look as wildly glorious as it did in full sun. There were shadows in the corners. Everything seemed dull and lackluster, as if every flower, every shrub, every tree, would crumble into dust the moment darkness fell.
Was she being fanciful because she was pregnant? She laughed as she remembered Sira would defend her tantrums by claiming the babes were making her fanciful.
The queen said, “Ah, you’re here at last, Chessa. Do come and sit down and let’s enjoy the quiet of the evening. Then you will dine with the king and Ragnor, as I think I’ll do this evening as well. One of my people told me that the king is displeased with the concubine who stands at his left hand. It appears he forgot to have her taste something for him and thus could have been poisoned. It is her fault, of course. Aye, I’ll go dine with the king and the court and see what’s happening. I don’t want him to hurt her. Now, sit down, my child.”
“I’m not a child and I’m not yours.”
“You soon will be mine, but enough. You will learn that life doesn’t always give you what you want it to. Just look at me.”
“I’m looking, lady, and I see a woman who has everything she could possibly want. I see a lady who rules and meddles to her heart’s content. I see a lady who dislikes her only son so much she wants to wed him to a woman who loathes him, a woman who would never let him touch her, a woman pregnant with another man’s child. I think I prefer my stepmother, who is truly rotten. At least she’s honest in her rottenness.”
Turella felt a stab of anger. No, she thought, the girl was just trying to enrage her. And she was succeeding because what she said was true. She sighed. “Here is some lemon ale that is very good. Would you like some?” As she spoke, Turella calmly poured herself a goblet of the ale and drank it down.
“Aye,” Chessa said after Turella had swallowed all of it.
They sat together on the stone bench as the shadows deepened, Turella telling her about the Bulgar and the immense stretches of barren land that lay between settlements, the trade routes that were jealously guarded and fought over, the Swedes who controlled Kiev and were even now extending their rule to the south and to the east.
Chessa listened to her words. They were becoming more distant and were so very soft. Merrik had brought Laren, her little brother, Taby, and Cleve out of Kiev. She would like to visit such a strange city. It sounded magical. She listened to the gentle buzzing of insects that flew near but never touched her. She began to smell the hyacinths and Turella’s magic roses though she wasn’t close to them. The flowers didn’t die when it was night. That relieved her. When the darkness fell, she felt the softness of the night, the sweetness of the air around her. She was smiling when she slowly fell off the bench onto the ground.
Turella rose and looked down at her. “When I was your age, Princess, I would have fallen into the same trap. You will think yourself stupid to have been duped, but you aren’t. I wouldn’t ever wait to the last minute to take action. If I had, you would have never touched that lemon ale even after watching me drink it.”
The queen called to her guards. One of them wrapped Chessa in a warm blanket and hefted her over his shoulder.
“Follow me,” the queen said.
