Crown of Stars (Crown of Stars 7)

“He’s a great grandson of Stronghand,” said Fulk.

“Are you so?” she said with renewed interest.

Henry was leaner and shorter than most of the Eika, with a pure golden color of skin, although he wore Wendish clothing that mostly covered his body and limbs. His claws were politely sheathed, and he had such an easy seat on a horse that Fulk had a difficult time believing that in the old days all horses had shied from the Eika smell.

“Yes,” Henry added. “Some say I resemble him, but of course I never met him. Originally I was to become a cleric in the queen’s schola.”

“A cleric?” She seemed about to sputter, as if she found the notion of an Eika male praying and kneeling quite funny, but then caught herself. “But not anymore?”

Henry shrugged. It was a gesture that looked both strange and familiar in him, but he had been raised as much among humankind as among his Eika brothers.

“My sister’s husband died of the lung fever this past spring,” said Fulk quickly, eager to draw attention. “So now it seems the queen has remembered the old contract between Queen Theophanu and Lord Stronghand, and she’s talking of marrying Henry to Constance to fulfill the agreement that an Eika prince be married into the royal family once in every generation, to renew the alliance.”

“It will happen only if the succession is secure,” said Henry calmly.

“Well!” she said. And then, “Well!” She looked keenly at Fulk. “Is the succession secure?”

He grimaced. He couldn’t help himself. “I’m still the horse kept in reserve. Constance is pregnant—was already, of course, when Thietmar died—but we’ve heard nothing yet. Pray God nothing happens to her! She’s near her time.”

“Surely the queen has some alliance in mind for you, Fulk.”

Henry chuckled. Fulk slapped at him, but then the captain called up, “You’ll never throw a good blow, my lord, if it all comes from the arm.”

Henry looked away to hide his amusement—he had a particular way of squaring his shoulders when he was trying not to laugh! Chabi snorted. Fulk found refuge in babbling.

“Now there’s talk of marrying me off to some Alban princess in the western counties, the ones that are pushing into Eika territory. But that’s better than the plan they were talking of all summer, sending me to Ashioi country to marry the new Feather Cloak!”

Chabi considered this. Most likely she had ridden recently through those lands, and had a better idea of the troublesome situations there than he did. “Had you a choice, what would it be?”

You! You! You!

He smiled tightly. “I am an obedient son. I do as I’m told.”

“I’m sorry to hear that!”

Henry laughed.

She added, “You might become a phoenix, as I am.”

Spoken out loud, the words seemed harsh.

“A prince cannot fly,” he said bitterly. “Though I would if I could.”

“Any person with a willing heart and a stubborn mind can learn to weave sorcery and walk the crowns.”

“These are easy words from your mouth! You are a third child and thereby freer than the rest of us. Anyway, your mother was a powerful shaman, and your father—”

“Her pura, nothing better than a slave, and about whom the less is said the better,” she said in a tone that cut him.

“We’re there,” said Henry, lifting a hand to warn him. “And I fear me that your mother the queen is waiting for you, Fulk.”

They rode free of the forest to see the walls and sentry fires of Thersa, where Queen Blessing and her progress had rested these past four days. The palisade and palace were old, but the estate had grown and spread in recent years with the shift of population out of the south after the great earthquake. Now, of course, the guesthouse was full and the inner pasture covered with tents and wagons.

The lamps held over the gatehouse revealed a party loitering under the still-open gate: the queen and her Dragon guardsmen. She had not the generous affection that had made her father so beloved, but she was respected. And she was fiercely possessive of all that was hers.

As he was hers. Her only surviving son.

First she had married Benedict, son of Conrad and Tallia, and by him produced her heir, Constance, and two boys. More recently, she had married for a third time, allying herself to the royal family of Karrone because of the incursions out of Aosta.