Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett Read Free Book Online

of people in such a way that not only did they not know that I was taking something from them, but that they would be eager to give me what I wanted.
    “Negotiation, that’s the key,” she said. “Promise what you must, and keep only those promises that benefit you.”
    “My mother says that if I tell lies, I will go to Hell,” I answered.
    “Your mother has no knowledge of statecraft,” she retorted. “If the Ducas family knew how to rule, how did your father take over the throne from them?”
    “How did he, Grandmother?”
    Her stool was near the wall, so she leaned back and considered me thoughtfully. “Did you never hear how that occurred?” she asked. I shook my head. “I did it,” she said softly, seeming to look past me now.
    “
You
did it, Grandmother?” I asked, astonished. I knew that my father was a great general, that he had started his military career at the age of fourteen, and had never been on the losing side in a battle. I thought that he had merely ordered his soldiers to depose the old emperor, and that they had done so.
    “It is not simple to remove an emperor and take his place,” my grandmother said. “There is more to it than that. You need friends, allies, supporters. Your father is thegreatest general in the world, but like all soldiers, he is used to just taking what he wants. You can’t always do that. Sometimes you have to use diplomacy, as I have been teaching you.”
    “What did you do?” I asked.
    “I convinced the Ducas clan to support us, saying that Alexius would marry a Ducas princess—I did not care which one, and your father’s fancy was taken with young Irene, so I agreed—and that the Ducases would retain their importance in the court. They had lost the support of the people and were afraid for their very lives. I think the old emperor was actually relieved to have us approach him.
    “Once they saw that it was to their advantage to support us, they helped enormously. Your mother’s brother-in-law George Palaeologus bribed the guards at the gate of the city, and they opened the gate to your father and his forces.”
    “No need for a Trojan horse,” I said, struck by the similarity to the story told by Homer. How much easier to bribe, make promises, and form alliances, than to besiege a city for years and then be reduced to the stupid trick of a horse filled with soldiers!
    “Did the soldiers conquer right away?” I asked.
    “Indeed they did. Your father is a great leader. He allowed his soldiers their reward, and they ran through the city, taking whatever they liked, breaking into houses, taking women against their will, filling their pockets with coins, with jewelry, with whatever they could carry. In that way he assured their loyalty.”
    I was shocked. How could my father have allowed that? I pictured the terrified people running away from leather-clad warriors, knowing that wherever they went, they would encounter more. Surely this was not an honorable way to proceed.
    “And did he keep his promises to the Ducas family?”
    She gave the odd little snort that I had learned indicated amusement. “He had to keep some,” she said. “He married your mother, didn’t he?” I nodded. “But I convinced him that it would be foolishness to elevate her to the position of empress. She was only fifteen years old, and I was not besotted with her pretty face, the way your father was, in the way of young men. I could see through her, and I knew that there was little intelligence there, and no spirit.”
    I shook my head, trying to clear the confusion I felt. Everyone knew that my mother was as strong and wise as she was beautiful. But I did not dare contradict my grandmother, despite my indignation. I felt cold as I remembered the punishments that she had made me suffer in the past. She went on.
    “But it seems that some of the people of Constantinople still had a soft spot for the Ducas family, despite their ineffective rule, and they were unhappy when your