The Gathering Storm by Kate Elliott Read Free Book Online Page A

has Villam outlasted?”
    “Nay, it will be a test of the Hesbaye and Villam clans to see which one can outlast the other on fourth and fifth marriages,” retorted her sister.
    Leoba colored, but Theophanu drew her attention away, making room on the couch for Leoba to sit beside her. “How fares Gent?”
    “Well enough. A spring sowing of oats and barley was put in on the fallow fields. The winter wheat and rye crop has flourished. There are four excellent weaving houses. Each one produced enough cloth over the winter and spring that there is surplus for trade. The market brings in folk from three days’ walk away. Merchants have sailed in from as far as Medemelacha. They pay the regnant’s tax willingly enough. The year the city lay under Eika rule hurt their custom and their routes to the east. There’s to be a harvest fair that will likely bring folk from a week’s walk. Gent is a prosperous place. I have brought five chests of coin and treasure to give into your coffers.”
    “That is Saony’s tax!” cried Imma. “It belongs to our family.”
    “Nay, Imma,” said Theophanu mildly, “it belongs to the regnant, and to Saony. You have not been named as duchess, I think?”
    “Because I am the elder!” said Sophie triumphantly.
    “You are not!”
    “I pray you, Cousins, let us not hear this argument again. I have been left as regent while King Henry remains in Aosta. I must judge. As I have already told you, I mean to let my father decide who will succeed my aunt, may she rest in peace, as duchess of Saony. I have only been waiting for an experienced Eagle, one who has traveled before across the Alfar Mountains.”
    Every person in the chamber turned to look at Hanna.
    “Dare you send another?” asked Leoba. “You have sent all three of the Eagles left in your care south to Aosta and not heard one word from any of them, whether they lived or died or even reached the king.”
    “Do I dare
not
send one more? You did not hear the news, Leoba? My cousin Conrad the Black celebrated Penitire in Mainni as though he were king! He allowed the biscop to receive him outside the city and escort him into the palace as she would if it were my father who had come. The feasting lasted a full three days in the royal manner. He has taken Tallia of Arconia as wife and got her pregnant. She rides with Conrad rather than remaining in the custody of my aunt Constance, in Autun, as my father decreed. If this is not rebellion, then I don’t know what is.”
    “Conrad would support my claim to Saony,” said Sophie, her expression shifting with animal cunning, “if I offered to support him and Tallia. You forget that, Theophanu. You are not my only recourse.”
    “But Conrad is not here, you stupid cow,” said her sister, “nor is he king of Wendar, although it seems he would like to lay claim to the kingship of Varre by right of the body and blood of his new wife.”
    “Where is the king of Wendar?” demanded Sophie. “Can he be king if he has abandoned his people?”
    “Henry is king over Wendar and Varre,” said Theophanu, “and God have given their blessing to him. I trust you will remember that, Cousins.”
    “I remember seeing your troops ride in after your brother stripped us of half our mounted soldiers for his mad journey east! Yet you haven’t half the army Sanglant has, nor could you drive out the Quman invaders. And you can’t do anything to stop Conrad!” Sophie’s peevish expression vanished abruptly as she glanced at her sister who, like a cat, seemed ready to wash her paws with disdainful triumph, seeing that her enemy was about to fall into a trap of her own making.
    “Do not think I am unsympathetic to your plight, Theophanu,” Sophie went on quickly. “If Sapientia cannot rule after your father, then you are the rightful heir. You have not received what you deserve.”
    “But you’ll have honey poured on you now.” Imma sneered as she reached for her wine cup. “Whom do you mean to