In the Ruins (Crown of Stars 6)

“So it is, as terrible as the pit. Stinking with sulfur and completely uninhabitable. Now. Listen. You have done me a favor in the past, and I shall return it, although I am not sure you are what I had at first hoped.”

He smiled, but she could not tell what he was thinking. He was beautiful, indeed, and weary, and she did not yet know where he had come from and what story he would tell her, but it did not hurt her eyes to watch him as she related all that had happened in the last six months and the plight confronting this remnant of Aosta’s royal court. He never once flinched or exclaimed or cried out in horror. Little surprised him, and that only when she revealed what prisoners they had in hand.

“Truly?” he asked her, and repeated himself. “The daughter of Sanglant and Liath? Truly?” He flushed.

“Be careful, Lord Hugh, else you reveal yourself too boldly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do not think I do not know.”

That caught him, because exhaustion made him vulnerable.

“I have an idea,” she added, “but it will take time, and plotting, and patience.”

He lifted a hand most elegantly to show that he heard her, and that he was willing to let her proceed.

“What prospects have you, Lord Hugh? Why are you come here, to Aosta, when you were sent north by Anne into the land of your ancestors to work your part in the weaving?”

He smiled, but did not answer.

“Where have you come from?”

“From Wendar. I survived Anne’s sorcery, as you have surely already understood. I set another in my place and in this manner I am living and he is dead.”

“In this manner,” she noted dryly, “did Sister Meriam sacrifice herself in favor of keeping her granddaughter alive.”

“I am not Sister Meriam.”

“Indeed, you are not, Lord Hugh.”

“What do you want of me?”

“Queen Adelheid needs a husband. Why should it not be you?”

He rocked back, almost oversetting the bench, then steadied it. “I am a presbyter, as you see me, Holy Mother. It would be impossible. I cannot marry.”

“If I gave you dispensation to leave the church, you could marry. There was often talk among the servants and the populace about what a handsome couple you and Adelheid made. Henry being older, and you so young and beautiful and beloved by the Aostans of Darre.”

“I am faithful to God, Your Holiness. I do not seek marriage.”

“You lust. Can you say otherwise?”

His lips thinned. His hands curled into fists. His eyes were a cold blue, as brittle as ice. “I am faithful, Your Holiness.”

“To God?”

He shut his eyes.

“To a woman you can never have.”

That fierce gaze startled, when he opened his eyes so abruptly. “I had her once!” He slammed a fist into the bench, then set his jaw and shut his eyes again and took in three trembling breaths before he quieted himself. “I am faithful to her. To no one but her. And after her, to God. And after God, to Henry.”

“Who is dead.”

“I did my best to save him!”

“I do not doubt it,” she said, to mollify him. “What of Henry’s son? Is she with Prince Sanglant?”