Timestruck (24 page)

“Come here.” He placed his hands on her hips
and sat her down on top of him, impaling her, holding her there
when she cried out in surprise as his hardened length filled her.
She knew what he was doing, but she had never experienced it
before, never sat astride a man who wanted her and who had made her
desire him. Like everything else about Dominick’s lovemaking, the
sensation was glorious, and the freedom he granted her to move as
she wished only intensified her response.

The sole complaint she could possibly have
made was that her climax came upon her too quickly. Ah, but with
Dominick to touch her in secret places, to rear upward and kiss her
with laughter on his lips, the incredible peak of pleasure
continued on and on, until Gina was limp and damp with
perspiration. She fell across Dominick s chest, weeping and
gasping. He held her that way until she was completely
recovered.

She wanted to say she loved him. Only a last,
lingering hint of insecurity left over from her previous life
prevented her from speaking the words. In the course of that long
and dangerous night she had been called courageous, and foolishly
brave, and she did trust him, yet still she lacked the courage to
open her heart completely.

At mid morning, while Gina and Dominick were
breaking their fast, Ella rushed into the hall, breathless with
excitement.

“I was at the market,” Ella said, “when I
noticed a boat tying up at one of the docks, and who do you think
was aboard? Pepin and Father Guntram. It certainly took them long
enough to get here, didn’t it?”

“I’m going to the palace. Pepin will need a
friend,” Dominick said, rising from the table. He gave Gina a
serious look and spoke with great firmness. “You are to remain at
home today.”

With that he was gone, calling to Harulf to
come with him, shouting at Benet to saddle two horses.

“Ha!” Gina said, setting her mug of watered
wine down with a thud. “If Dominick imagines I am going to remain
here and miss the next act of this drama while he is at the palace,
right in the middle of things, then he is sadly mistaken.”

“He didn’t even wait long enough for me to
tell him the rest of the news,” Ella said.

“You mean there’s more?” Gina grinned. “Sit
down and tell me. Here, have some wine and bread.”

“Just a little wine, thank you. I ate
earlier, with Harulf.” Ella gulped down a mouthful of wine, then
began talking. “A plot against the king’s life has been uncovered.
They are saying in the marketplace that more than a dozen nobles
have fled Regensburg, and that Charles has sent troops to find them
and bring them back for trial.” She paused, looking at Gina as if
expecting a comment.

“Oh, my,” Gina said as innocently as she
could manage. “Word does travel quickly, doesn’t it?”

“A man I spoke to told me the queen is
involved,” Ella said.

“I doubt that,” Gina responded. “Why would
Fastrada want Charles murdered, when her position depends on
keeping him alive?” She could understand how such a rumor would
start, though. A lot of people hated Fastrada enough to try to link
her to the plot. Fastrada must know it, too, which meant she would
be busy trying to direct suspicion away from herself and onto
anyone she considered an enemy.

“Dominick,” Gina said. “She won’t miss this
chance to do him harm.”

“What?” Ella gave her a puzzled look.

“I am beginning to think like a Frankish
noblewoman,” Gina said. “Finish your wine, Ella. We are going to
the palace.”

“But Dominick said for you to stay here.”

“Where I come from, women don’t obey men,”
Gina said. “I will wear my red dress this morning.”

“Ansa,” Gina said, stopping the young woman
in the center of the great hall, “have you seen Count
Dominick?”

“Always you ask the same question,” Ansa
responded. She looked around the hall, where the Frankish nobles
and their ladies stood about in groups, heads together, talking in
low voices. “Never have I heard so much gossip, or so many wild
rumors, either. No, I have not seen Dominick. Could he be with the
men Charles has sent to round up the traitors? That is where my
betrothed, Fulrad, has gone.”

“I don’t think Dominick is with Fulrad,” Gina
said. “Perhaps he is with Charles.”

“Fastrada is with Charles,” Ansa told her.
“Here comes Lady Adalhaid. She may have news, though if she has,
it’s surely bad. How serious she looks.”

Having noticed Gina, Lady Adalhaid made her
way across the hall. Her face was pale, and her mouth was set in a
hard line.

“I have been looking for you,” Lady Adalhaid
said to Gina without offering any polite greeting first. “Ansa, you
may leave us.”

“Not I,” said Ansa, her eyes gleaming with
anticipation. “Lady Adalhaid, have you heard a new rumor? Has there
been a battle between the traitors and Charles’s men? Was anyone
killed?”

“There was a battle?” cried a young fellow
who was standing near enough to hear what Ansa said. “And men
killed in it? Oh, I must tell my friends.” He rushed to a group of
boys and girls who looked as if they were barely into their teens
and began talking in an animated way.

“Now see what you’ve done, you thoughtless
creature!” Lady Adalhaid exclaimed, fixing Ansa with a cold glare.
“Take yourself over to those children immediately and explain to
them that there has been no battle, that you were merely asking a
question with no care for what you were saying. And do not let me
catch you engaging in gossip again!”

The instant Ansa was out of hearing, Lady
Adalhaid caught Gina’s arm and leaned close, speaking in hushed
tones.

“I am so glad to see you here. Fastrada is
with Charles.”

“That’s what Ansa said.”

“Did she tell you Fastrada’s declared purpose
for going to her husband? No, of course she didn’t. That foolish
girl doesn’t have a serious thought in her head.”

“Why are you so disturbed?” Gina asked.

“Because Fastrada is attempting to convince
Charles that Dominick is involved in this dreadful, treasonous
plot.”

“She won’t succeed. Charles knows better.”
But a cold chill crept over Gina. The fear that had driven her from
Dominick’s house to the palace became a hard knot in her chest,
making it difficult to breathe.

“Don’t you be as foolish as Ansa,” Lady
Adalhaid said, assuming a stern expression. “I took you for a more
intelligent woman than that. Fastrada is determined to ruin
Dominick, and she will use any opportunity that presents itself.
What better way to destroy the man who dared to criticize her to
her face than to see him convicted of treason? If she has her way,
Dominick will be executed and his lands confiscated. And those
lands will then very likely be handed over to Fastrada or to one of
her arrogant relatives.”

“Why do you care?” Gina asked, adding
suspicion to her fear.

“Fastrada’s first scheme against Dominick
spoiled my child’s life.” Lady Adalhaid’s whisper was harsh with
fiercely repressed emotion. “Were Hiltrude wed to any other
nobleman, what she did on Fastrada s orders would almost certainly
have meant her death. When Dominick learned that Hiltrude was
acting as the queen’s agent, he could have beaten her, could have
arranged an accident that killed her, but he did not. He never laid
a hand on Hiltrude. He let her leave Feldbruck, and he took upon
himself the blame for their divorce. For that, I owe Dominick a
deeper debt of gratitude than I can ever repay. I will do anything
to help him, so long as nothing I say or do endangers
Hiltrude.”

“You are saying that you don’t want to tell
Hiltrude’s story to Charles.”

“At the moment, his thoughts are entirely on
the plot to murder him,” Lady Adalhaid said. “That is perfectly
understandable. There will come a time when I can tell him about
Hiltrude, but it is not now. Gina, there must be something I can do
for Dominick.”

“First, we have to be sure of what Fastrada
is saying to Charles. We can’t counter her accusations until we
know what they are. By the way, have you seen Dominick?”

“Not this morning,” Lady Adalhaid said.

“Excuse me a moment.” Gina beckoned to Ella,
who was standing a short distance away. “Ella, I want you to ask
questions of the servants and the men-at-arms. Do it very
discreetly. Try to discover if anyone has seen Dominick and, if so,
where he is.”

“He said he was coming to the palace to see
Pepin,” Ella reminded her.

“Yes, I know, but no one has mentioned Pepin
to me. I wonder if the nobles here know he has reached Regensburg?
Find out as much as you can without arousing suspicion. Then come
and report to me in private.”

“I will. I’ll try to find Harulf, too. I
haven’t seen him here at the palace.” Ella started for the main
entrance of the great hall.

“Now,” Gina said to Lady Adalhaid, “we are
going to enlist a witness whose words on Dominick’s behalf no one
will doubt, and then we are going to join Charles and
Fastrada.”

“We cannot walk in on them when they are in
private together,” Lady Adalhaid protested.

“Just watch me,” said Gina. Grabbing Lady
Adalhaid’s elbow, she all but dragged the noblewoman out of the
great hall by the side door, then through the maze of rooms to the
garden courtyard, and thence to Alcuin s office.

Happily, he was there, sitting at his desk,
hunched over a sheet of parchment on which he was writing
industriously. He did not look up until Gina cleared her
throat.

“I have been expecting you,” Alcuin said. He
laid down his quill pen and got to his feet.

“I am sure you have sources of information
unknown to me,” Gina said, “so I won’t waste time telling you what
you already know. Are you willing to help us save Dominick from
Fastrada?”

“I am.” Alcuin responded without hesitation.
He looked at Gina’s hand on Lady Adalhaid’s arm and raised his
eyebrows.

“It seems I have no choice in the matter,”
Lady Adalhaid said with some asperity, answering Alcuin’s unspoken
question.

“What would you have us do, Lady Gina?”
Alcuin asked.

“Go with me to Charles’s apartments, and
speak the truth as you know it,” she said.

“That I will most willingly do.” Alcuin came
around the desk to join the two women. “Gina, I promise you, Lady
Adalhaid will not run away if you release her. I suspect she has
her own, long-delayed, reasons for joining us.” Alcuin gestured
toward the door.

With the king’s scholarly friend and Lady
Adalhaid flanking her, Gina passed the guards at the door to the
royal apartments without question.

“No need to announce us,” Alcuin said to one
of the sentries. “We will see ourselves in.”

The guard threw open the door, and they
entered Charles’s private reception room. At the far end of the
room Fastrada faced Charles, with her back toward the
newcomers.

“I tell you that while he was still at
Feldbruck, Dominick held a secret meeting with Pepin,” Fastrada
declared, sounding angry and completely confident of her facts.
“They held a long, private conversation during which Pepin set
forth his plan to remove you from the throne. The next day they
separated, and each man then traveled to Regensburg so as to be
present when their fellow conspirators struck at you.”

“I find it difficult to believe that Dominick
is involved,” Charles said. “He revealed the plot to me.”

His glance flickered from his wife’s face to
Gina, Lady Adalhaid, and Alcuin. Immediately, without indicating
that he had seen them, Charles returned his full attention to
Fastrada, who raised her voice and spoke again.

“Dominick’s revelations were a ruse, a clever
stratagem intended to allay your suspicions,” Fastrada exclaimed.
“Dominick betrayed you when he joined Pepin’s wicked scheme while
they were at Feldbruck together, and then he betrayed Pepin when he
came to you to tell you of the plot. Dominick is twice a deceiver.
The penalty for treason is death. Dominick must be executed!”

Silence fell while Charles stared at his wife
as if uncertain what to say next. He glanced toward Alcuin, and
Fastrada whirled around, gasping when she saw who stood just inside
the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded of
Gina.

“How can you possibly know what Dominick and
Pepin discussed in private?” Gina asked, for she had noticed the
flaw in Fastrada’s accusations.

“You have no right to question me!” Fastrada
exclaimed.

“Answer Lady Gina,” Charles said to her.

“Charles, you cannot doubt what I say!”
Fastrada cried.

“How did you know the content of a private
conversation?” Charles persisted.

“I – I was told by a reliable source,”
Fastrada said. “There can be no mistake.”

“’A reliable source,” Gina repeated. “That is
a phrase I’ve heard many times before, in my own – before I came to
Francia. It’s a phrase that is almost always used to mask a lie or
to distort the truth.

“In this case,” Gina continued, speaking
directly to Charles, knowing he’d already heard the story from
Dominick, “the truth is that Pepin and Dominick did speak together
at Feldbruck. I noticed Father Guntram eavesdropping on their
private conversation. He and I both heard what was said.”

Behind Gina, Lady Adalhaid gasped. Out of the
corner of her eye Gina saw Alcuin clasp his hands together as if in
prayer.

“Lady Gina,” Charles asked, “are you
admitting your own complicity in the plot against me?”

“No, sir,” Gina answered. “I am saying the
queen knew about the meeting at Feldbruck because Father Guntram
told her of it. That must have been what they were discussing when
I saw them in the courtyard, at a time when Father Guntram
supposedly hadn’t come to Regensburg yet.”

“That is a lie!” Fastrada cried. “Charles,
don’t you see that this woman is Dominick’s spy as well as his
concubine?”