Timestruck (17 page)

“No.” Fastrada tightened her grip on him. “I
want you, Charles. I need only you.”

“Very well, then.” Charles put an arm around
his wife’s slender waist, and at last Fastrada released his leg,
allowing him to lift her till she was on her feet. She leaned
against him as if unable to stand on her own.

With the weary air of a man who knows he has
barely managed to avert a wild emotional scene, Charles spoke to
his courtiers.

“My poor wife has overtaxed her frail
strength,” he said. “Her devotion to me and to her duties as queen
deserve our admiration. I will see her to her bedchamber and make
sure she is resting peacefully, and then I’ll rejoin you for the
remainder of the evening.” With that, he began to guide Fastrada
toward a door at the rear of the hall.

“I don’t believe what I’ve just seen,” Gina
murmured.

“I do,” Dominick responded. “But then, I’ve
seen it before.”

“She shames him,” said a voice from directly
behind Gina. “Fastrada quirks her little finger and bends the
greatest king in Christendom to her will.”

Gina spun around to confront the speaker, an
elegantly gowned, middle-aged woman with brown hair liberally
streaked with gray. Pale blue eyes regarded Gina with interest
before the woman turned her gaze on Dominick.

“My Lady Adalhaid. What a pleasure to meet
you again.” Dominick’s manner was polite, his bow impeccable, yet
Gina noticed the wary tension in him.

“Welcome back to court, Dominick,” said Lady
Adalhaid. “You are looking well.”

“Thank you,” Dominick said. “I am in perfect
health.” Despite his almost painful politeness, he did not ask
after Lady Adalhaid’s well-being.

“You always were in good health. It’s one of
your most attractive qualities.” Lady Adalhaid’s smile altered her
plain, lined face, giving Gina a brief glimpse of the pretty girl
she must once have been. “Would you like me to introduce Lady Gina
to some of the other women? She will want friends if she’s to
remain at court for more than a few days.”

“I would like that very much,” Gina said
quickly. Her curiosity was aroused by Lady Adalhaid’s manner toward
Dominick and by his odd response. More importantly, Gina saw in
Lady Adalhaid’s offer the ideal opportunity to gossip with the
noblewoman and perhaps find out whether the ladies of the court
knew about the plot to dethrone Charles.

Gina also saw her chance to make up to
Dominick for her mistake in speaking her mind to Queen Fastrada.
She was painfully aware that she had been foolish in not thinking
through what she wanted to say before she opened her mouth to the
queen. She couldn’t understand why Dominick was frowning and
looking so reluctant when she had an opening to the information he
needed.

“It’s quite all right, Dominick,” said Lady
Adalhaid. “I mean the girl no harm. Take yourself off to visit with
your male friends for an hour or two, and then rejoin us for the
evening meal. I doubt if Charles will return to the hall much
before then.”

“Gina,” Dominick began.

“I’ll be just fine,” she insisted, trusting
him to understand the hidden message in her words. Dominick had
investigative work to do, too. “Lady Adalhaid is right; you ought
to talk to your friends. You’ve been complaining that you haven’t
been at

court for a long time. Here’s your chance to
catch up on all the latest news.”

Still Dominick hesitated, looking as if there
was something he wanted to say to her. He was probably going to
warn her to be more cautious in her conversations.

“I promise to mind my manners and not offend
anyone,” she said, laughing to reassure him as she waved him
away.

Dominick looked from her to Lady Adalhaid.
Finally he left, taking Harulf with him.

“This is my companion, Ella,” Gina said to
Lady Adalhaid.

The noblewoman looked Ella up and down, as if
trying to decide her actual social status.

“Stay within sight of us,” Lady Adalhaid
instructed Ella. “Lady Gina or I will call if we have need of
you.”

Gina was annoyed by Lady Adalhaid s curt
order to a girl she clearly deemed no more than a servant – and
someone else’s servant, at that. On the other hand, Gina didn’t
want to antagonize a woman who could possibly provide vital
information, so she kept quiet, contenting herself with a quick
wink at Ella behind Lady Adalhaid’s back. Ella grinned to show she
wasn’t insulted and dropped a few paces behind, as Lady Adalhaid
had commanded.

“I am sorry the queen is ill,” Gina said,
hoping to elicit a remark or two about the royal marriage.

“Fastrada is not ill,” Lady Adalhaid
responded in a voice so low that Gina was forced to lean close in
order to hear what she said. “She is a willful child who has been
given too much power at too young an age. After bringing forth two
daughters in three years, her dearest hope lies in bearing Charles
a son who will permanently secure her position.”

“I thought Charles already had sons,” Gina
said.

“He has four, all of them by Hildegarde.”
Lady Adalhaid added in a whisper, “There was a true queen. Did you
know Hildegarde?”

“Unfortunately, no. I only recently arrived
in Francia.”

“Ah, yes. Your journey was interrupted by
robbers who seized all your belongings. How sad for you.” Lady
Adalhaid sounded as if she didn’t believe the robbery story. “Where
were you before you came to Francia?”

“Northumbria,” Gina replied. “I was raised in
a convent there.” She thought that little detail was an
inspiration. If she had spent years inside a convent, she couldn’t
be expected to know much about Northumbrian life outside the
cloister. She reckoned without Lady Adalhaid’s determination to
learn all about her.

“Which convent?” asked Lady Adalhaid. “Where
was it located?”

“I beg your pardon?” How many convents were
there in Northumbria? Did Lady Adalhaid have actual knowledge of
any of them? Where was Dominick? Gina looked around frantically,
wishing he would suddenly appear to rescue her. She couldn’t see
him, which meant she was going to have to rescue herself. On the
spur of the moment she decided to adopt Fastrada’s method.

“Oh, dear.” Gina clapped a hand to her
forehead. “Would you mind if I sit down? It’s this awful dizziness.
It comes and goes, ever since the robbers hit me over the
head.”

“Certainly.” Lady Adalhaid led the way to a
bench at one side of the hall. There she sat and patted the wood
beside her. “Sit here, my dear. I do hope you were properly cared
for at Feldbruck. Perhaps you ought to ask Charles’s physician to
examine you. A bit of bloodletting can do wonders for almost any
illness.”

“Hedwiga is a very competent nurse, and she
says I will recover completely without any further treatment,” Gina
stated firmly. “It will just take a little while, that’s all.
Hedwiga says I’ll need to be patient.”

“Ah, yes, I remember Hedwiga. An overbearing
woman.”

“Have you been to Feldbruck?” Gina asked,
surprised.

“Once,” said Lady Adalhaid. “Briefly.
Dominick and I are old acquaintances.”

“Did you know his parents?” Gina couldn’t
resist the chance to learn more about Dominick and his family.

“My dear, in Francia everyone knows
everyone,” Lady Adalhaid said with a superior smile that suggested
Gina wasn’t anyone. “Dominick’s mother and I were friends as girls.
After she died, Dominick’s father and I were lovers for a time. You
look shocked.”

“Just surprised that anyone would admit a
love affair to a complete stranger.”

“Really? You are an innocent. I suppose that
means you won’t admit to me that you and Dominick are lovers.”

Gina could feel the blood rushing into her
face. She turned away from Lady Adalhaid, too embarrassed to meet
her eyes any longer. Lady Adalhaid uttered a soft, knowing laugh
and patted Gina’s hand.

“Let us speak of something else,” Lady
Adalhaid suggested.

“Yes, let’s.” Gina’s thoughts floundered
about for a minute or two while her companion regarded her
expectantly. The conversation wasn’t going at all the way Gina
wanted. She was supposed to be ferreting out information about the
plot against Charles. Instead, all she had done was embarrass
herself. She didn’t think Lady Adalhaid was capable of
embarrassment, which was a good thing, because it was time to get
down to serious information-seeking.

“You mentioned that all Charles’s sons are
the sons of Queen Hildegarde,” Gina said. “I thought he had another
boy, from his first marriage.” Did she only imagine it, or did Lady
Adalhaid’s spine stiffen a little at that remark? Certainly, the
lady’s smile was gone.

“You must be thinking of the hunchback,” said
Lady Adalhaid. “A pitiful fool, a creature of no importance.”

“Pepin is still a king’s son.” Gina repressed
the urge to snap out a few well-chosen words at the cold-hearted
woman. If everyone at court reacted to him the way Lady Adalhaid
did, it was no wonder Pepin was ready for all-out rebellion.

“Since you are new to court,” Lady Adalhaid
remarked, unperturbed by Gina’s irritation, “I will pretend you did
not say what you just said, and I will offer you a piece of
valuable advice. Never repeat those words, or anything similar to
them, within Fastrada’s hearing. She cannot bear the sight of Pepin
or even to hear his name spoken. In fact, if you are wise, you will
never say anything that might upset Fastrada.”

“Not even if what I want to say is the
truth?”

“I can see you have much to learn. There are
many subjects that displease Fastrada. Those who incur her
displeasure suffer dreadful punishments.”

“Yet Charles seems like a good man.”

“He is.” Lady Adalhaid’s voice took on
genuine warmth. “A wise and generous king.”

“But he can’t control his wife?”

“When Hildegarde died and Charles married
Fastrada, he exchanged an angel for a devil. I am not the only
person who thinks so. Fastrada exerts an evil influence on
him.”

“Because she is young and beautiful, and he’s
going through some kind of mid-life crisis,” Gina mused aloud.
“Relations between men and women never seem to change, do they? I
suspect that Charles needs Fastrada to prove to himself and his
friends that he’s still the virile man he used to be. Meanwhile,
Fastrada makes a habit of pawing him in public and then dragging
him off to bed to keep his attention focused on her.”

“Perhaps you are not as innocent as I first
thought.” Lady Adalhaid’s serious expression gave way to a faint
smile. “Walk carefully here at court, Gina, for your own sake and
for Dominick’s. Always think before you speak. And stay as far from
Fastrada as you can.”

“I will take your advice. Now, weren’t you
going to introduce me to some of the other ladies?”

“Is there anyone special you’d like to
meet?”

“I don’t know anyone at all, so I’ll leave
the introductions to your discretion.”

“There’s a clever girl. Are you quite
recovered from your dizziness? Then come along, and I’ll present
you to the ladies you ought to know.”

“Well?” Dominick asked. “Were you able to
learn anything about the plot?”

It was after midnight, and he and Gina were
alone in his bedchamber, speaking softly in case any of the
servants were still awake. After helping Gina to remove her court
gown, Ella was in her bed – or with Harulf – and Gina was clad only
in a soft woolen robe that opened down the front.

“Lady Adalhaid introduced me to at least a
dozen women, and they chattered for hours while I listened,” Gina
said. “They were all young unmarried girls. I guess Lady Adalhaid
assumed I’d have something in common with them. Anyway, I don’t
think those ladies are involved in anything more serious than
deciding which gown to wear. If they’ve overheard their parents
plotting, they either disregarded what they heard or they aren’t
interested. They remind me of the butterflies in the garden at
Feldbruck, pretty, thoughtless things fluttering from blossom to
blossom.”

“The blossoms being the unwed noblemen who
frequent the court?” Dominick said, chuckling at the comparison.
“Those girls aren’t as heedless as they appear. Most of them have
been brought to Regensburg specifically to be married off, or at
least betrothed. Their parents are busy in the background,
arranging the marriages, and the more intelligent girls are
dropping hints to Mama or Papa about which men they prefer.”

“I was hoping Lady Adalhaid would introduce
me to some of the older women who might have husbands involved in
the plot, but every time I suggested I’d like to meet someone other
than a giggly girl, she changed the subject.”

“She’s a clever woman. She is also one of
Fastrada’s closest companions.”

“You must be joking! She warned me against
the queen, told me to be careful of anything I say to her. I got
the impression she doesn’t like Fastrada.”

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she
dislikes the queen,” Dominick said.

“She doesn’t like Pepin, either. She called
him a fool. And she thinks Hedwiga is overbearing. Yet I don’t
think she’s the kind of woman who just criticizes everyone
indiscriminately. There must be a purpose behind the remarks she
made to me. Dominick, why are you staring at me that way?”

“I am marveling at your insight,” he said.
“Did Adalhaid reveal how well she knows me?”

“Actually, it was more a revelation about how
well she knew your father.” Gina felt herself beginning to blush.
“I didn’t ask. She told me. Now that I think about it, I wonder why
she did that.”

“You may be sure there was a reason.”
Dominick drew a long breath. “Did Adalhaid mention her
daughter?”

“No. I didn’t know she had a daughter. Come
to think of it, she didn’t say anything at all about her family,
though she certainly did ask a lot of questions about mine. I
followed her advice and guarded every word I spoke. Dominick, what
is it? I can tell something is wrong here. We are supposed to be
working together, so you’d better start talking.”