Alienor was not the sole one who gasped.
An expectant silencefollowed his mother’s declaration.Dagobert looked up for the first time, easily spotting his mother’s commanding figure on the far side of the justice chambers.Why was she saying this?He had never known her to lie willingly and he could not comprehend her intent this day.
He studied her across the justice chambers.Her slim figure was draped in pastel blue, her back was rigid with determination, and he almost thought that he could see the flashing sapphire of her eyes.Her expression was defiant, and as much as he wished her safely home, a warmth stole through him that he had the opportunity to see her one last time.
His thoughts slipped to Alienor.Encouraged by his mother’s presence, he scanned the crowd for her now as he had been afraid to do earlier.His gaze seemed to light immediately upon his lady wife, despite the odd fact that she did not sit near Iolande.His heart swelled at the radiance of her complexion.Pregnancy became her, and he almost smiled at the knowledge that ’twas his seed taking root within her.
“Who are you?”an adviser demanded of Iolande.
She descended to the floor and strolled the length of the hall like a visiting dignitary, pausing in front of the king before she spoke.“I am Iolande de Goteberg, Countess of Pereille, wife of Alzeu de Pereille and mother of Dagobert,” she declared.
Those in the crowd jostled one another at this unexpected development.
“She speaks the truth?”a clerk demanded of Dagobert.
He nodded, still wondering.“Aye.”
Iolande did not look at him when he answered, and Dagobert guessed she was composing a falsehood before she spoke.
“You make a curious assertion,” the king said.
Iolande lifted her chin with pride, apparently insulted that he would challenge her word.“The boy is my son but not of Alzeu’s seed,” she explained.“He is bastard-born, but even knowing this, my husband had the grace to raise him as his own.”
“The grace or the selfishness?”demanded one of the seneschals.“I believe you have only one child, Lady Iolande, and Alzeu had need of a son.”
Iolande cast him a look that could have curdled fresh milk.
“Who was his sire?”the king asked.
Iolande looked back at him.“An ostler we employed at the time.”
“An ostler?”one of the king’s counselors echoed skeptically.
Dagobert almost agreed with him.She would call him the son of a mere ostler?
“He was a finely made man,” Iolande said tightly.The faint flush that stained her cheeks lent credibility to her tale.
Dagobert might have laughed aloud in other circumstance at the absurdity of this declaration.Even he knew that his mother had thawed for no man other than his own sire.The bustle between the ministers behind him told Dagobert that they believed her tale and he permitted himself to wonder whether her audacious ploy might actually work.
“Who else knows of this?”the skeptic demanded.
Iolande treated him to her most frosty glare.“For the sake of my husband’s honor, the tale never left our chamber.The ostler and even the boy had no inkling of the truth.”
“And where is this ostler now?”demanded another.
“It has been almost thirty summers since I have seen the man,” Iolande admitted.“My husband would no longer have him within the keep and he was dismissed.I know not where he went nor even the fullness of his name.”This answer was received less happily, but the king rose to his feet when he saw that there were no more questions.
“Indeed we must confer over this new development,” he told Iolande with a polite nod of his head.She curtsied in response.Excited chatter broke out amongst the observers as the king and his advisers filed into a small antechamber behind the court.
Dagobert was amazed by his mother’s lie, but remembered how she had asked him to abandon his quest.She would have him deny his sire to save his own life, instead.Despite any qualms he had about supporting an untruth and any shame that lie in denying his birthright, the prospect of survival was dangerously tempting.Unable to help himself, he stole another glance at Alienor.
His wife was obviously upset, perhaps uncertain what to believe, and he let the sight of her distress fill all the hollow spaces within him.He dared to hope that she truly cared for his welfare.
Years with Alienor were the only inducement that could have convinced him to endorse this lie and he felt his heart sway in favor of Iolande’s move.Alienor’s gaze was fixed on the door to the antechamber and Dagobert took the opportunity to survey her, realizing that his memory had done her an injustice.
’Twas a deep gold kirtle she wore that highlighted her coloring wondrously, so full in cut that the babe was easily hidden within its drape.Dagobert had not seen the garment before.He glanced to the man beside Alienor, having nary a doubt that ’twould be Eustache who cared for his wife.He was shocked to recognize Jordan de Soissons.
What was that black-hearted knight doing here?And standing alongside his Alienor as if he had every right in the world to be there?
