The Burning Stone (Crown of Stars #3)

“Sanglant! You are not listening.”

It took him a moment to remember where he was. He bent, scooped up a long branch, and commenced snapping it in half, and the halves in half again. It was the only way he could keep his attention from wandering back to her.

“You will lead an army to Aosta. There, you will place Lady Adelheid on the queen regnant’s throne, and you will marry her. Once that is accomplished, and with my power behind you, the Aostan princes will not contest your election as king regnant. You will reign beside Adelheid, as her equal. No one can doubt your worthiness for the Aostan throne, since it is as often claimed by force as by inheritance. That is what the Aostan princes prefer, to keep their regnants weak and dependent on their power as queenmakers. Once you have established yourself in Aosta, with a royal wife and a child to prove your fertility, then it is only a small step for me to name you as my heir here in Wendar and Varre as well. Who will contest us then, if the prize is the restoration of the Holy Dariyan Empire? The Empire lies within our grasp at last. With you on the Aostan throne, I can march south and have myself crowned as emperor and you as my successor and heir.”

The branch lay in pieces at his feet. An osprey soared above, heading upriver. The river flowed steadily along behind him; he could almost hear each least grain of dirt being spun off from the shoreline and washed away downstream, caught up in an irresistible current that would drag it all the way to the sea. He was suddenly tired. Henry, like the river, was an unstoppable force.

“Liath,” he whispered. It was the only word he knew how to say.

Henry grunted in the way of a man prepared for the blow that strikes him. “As Villam warned me,” he muttered. “I swear that Wolfhere sent her to plague me and ruin you.”

Henry regarded the river with a frown, and Sanglant watched him, caught up without meaning to be in that strong attraction that a regnant must necessarily wind around himself, like a cloak. A regnant is no regnant without it. Henry had a strong profile, most often stern, with the dignity appropriate to the responsibility God had given him. He had as much silver as brown in his hair now, and a neat beard laced with white. Sanglant touched his own—beardless—chin, but the movement brought Henry’s attention back to him.

“Very well.” Henry could not conceal his annoyance, but he attempted to. “Take her as a concubine, if you must. You won’t be the first man—or woman—to keep a concubine. The Emperor Taillefer was known to keep concubines while between wives. But—”

“I don’t want to marry Princess Adelheid. I intend to marry Liath.”

Henry laughed as if Sanglant had made a jest. “A common-born woman?”

“Her father’s kin have estates at Bodfeld.”

“Bodfeld?” Henry had a capacious memory; he exercised it now. “The lady of Bodfeld sends only twenty milites when called to service. Such a family can scarcely expect a match with a man of your position, and it isn’t clear if the girl is of legitimate birth.”

“All the better,” said Sanglant sarcastically, “for one such as me. Why do you refuse to understand? I don’t want to be king with princes all biting at my heels and waiting for me to go down so they can rip out my throat. I endured that for a year. I want a grant of land, Liath as my wife, and peace.”

“Peace! What man or woman of royal blood can expect peace with the Eika plaguing our northern shores and Quman raids in the east? Since when have the princes of the realm allowed us to luxuriate in peace? Even the lowliest lady with her small estate and dozen servants must contend against bandits and the depredations of her ambitious neighbors. If we live our lives according to the teaching of the blessed Daisan, then we can expect peace when our souls ascend to the Chamber of Light. Not before.”

Henry paced to the river’s edge, where water swirled over a nest of rocks the size of eggs. Picking one up, he flung it with some impatience into the center of the current. It vanished into the slate-gray waters with a plop. He heaved a sigh; from this angle Sanglant could not see his face, only the tense set of his shoulders. He wore this morning a linen tunic of intense blue, its neck and sleeves and hem embroidered with gold lions curling around eight-pointed purple starbursts, the sigil in needlework of his wedding to quiet, cunning, luxury-loving Sophia, dead these three years.

“You have not yet recovered from your captivity,” the king said finally, addressing the streaming waters. “When you do, you will regret these rash words and see the wisdom of my plan. Sapientia is brave and willing, but she was not gifted by God with the mantle of queenship. Theophanu—perhaps—if she lives—” Here he faltered, one hand clenching. “She has a cool nature, not one to inspire soldiers to follow her into the thick of battle. And Ekkehard—” The shake of his shoulders was dismissive. “Too young, untried, and foolish. He belongs in the church so that he can sing praises to God with that beautiful voice. That leaves you.” Now he turned. “You wear the mantle, Sanglant. You have always worn it. They follow you into battle. They trust and admire you. You must be king after me.”