Another exchange of glances took place between the Commander and the Captain.
Captain Leo waved at the nearby coast. ‘Ashfirth was asking why our course takes us so close to the coast…’
The coast? Katerina’s brow puckered. That was nonsense, she was certain they had been talking about Normans…and Apulia…and those vessels on the distant horizon.
They are hiding something from me! But what? She glanced swiftly from one to the other. Her next thought was not a pleasant one.
Could it be that Commander Ashfirth and Captain Leo were contemplating rebellion? Commander Ashfirth was a mercenary, after all.
No, no! He commands the Emperor’s personal guard. The Varangian Guard are loyal to the core; in truth, they are more loyal than many generals in the Imperial army…
Katerina’s knowledge of politics was weak; when she had been enslaved such matters had not touched on her life, her one thought had been for survival. During her time at the Rascian court, however, scarcely a day had gone by without news of some attempted coup against the Emperor reaching them. There had been so many rebellions, she had given up counting.
What do you really know about Commander Ashfirth? You assume that he is honourable, but better men than he have plotted against the Emperor—generals, admirals, courtiers. Princess Theodora’s new uncle is a weak ruler, he is not universally accepted. And Ashfirth Saxon is a mercenary, a hired warrior…
She smiled steadily at the Commander. ‘You were discussing our course, sir?’
Commander Ashfirth nodded. ‘I was under the impression that we would make more headway if we sailed farther out from the shore. There will be more in the way of wind, and less twisting and turning as we follow the land. Our passage back to the capital should be swifter.’
‘Yes, of course. Deeper water, fewer rocks,’ Katerina said, recalling the ride from the convent and trying to sound knowledgeable. She would follow Ashfirth’s lead even though she was certain that he and the Captain had not been talking about their course. They had been discussing the Norman fleet.
Why mislead her? It could only be that they were hiding some secret purpose. Katerina’s heart sank and she found herself wishing that she was not mistaken in her earlier assessment of Commander Ashfirth. Her role as the Princess might be a temporary one, and she did not understand this, but it mattered, it mattered a great deal, that her instincts about him as a man were sound. Commander Ashfirth must be an honourable man.
‘Quite so, my lady.’ The Captain was smiling at her.
Politely, she smiled back.
‘Hugging the coast has its problems,’ Captain Leo continued, ‘and it undoubtedly takes longer. But in this case there are advantages.’
‘And those are?’
‘These past few months pirates have been operating out there in the deeper waters.’
The bottom fell out of Katerina’s stomach. ‘Pirates? Here?’
In a heartbeat her head was filled with images of the slave ship—the smell, the fear. Heavy chains were chafing at her wrists and ankles, her throat was parched, and her ears were full of the whimpering of the other slaves, of screams. Knees weakening, she gripped the ship’s rail.
She tried to swallow and could not. ‘Pirates? Do you think they might be slavers?’
The Commander gave the Captain an irritated glance. ‘Not slavers, we trust, but pirates do sometimes operate off this coast.’
‘In truth,’ Captain Leo continued, ‘it makes little odds whether they be pirates or slavers, I would not want to encounter either.’
Katerina was beginning to shake. Pirates! Memory was a terrified cramping in her stomach, and she knew she had lost colour. Had Commander Ashfirth noticed? Releasing the ship’s rail, she backed away, somewhat surprised to find her legs still supported her. Pirates! Here?
With an effort, she found her voice. ‘I trust that we are in capable hands, Captain.’ Nodding a dismissal at them, she dived towards the pavilion.
Had she given herself away? Did Commander Ashfirth suspect?
Oh, Lord. Not only had she blundered by revealing a complete ignorance of Imperial affairs—that dark splotch on the horizon was Apulia and she should have known!—but then mention of the word ‘pirate’ had her all but swooning.
Had he noticed? Sweet Virgin…that blue gaze noticed everything. As Katerina stumbled across the deck, she could feel it boring into her shoulder blades.
Take care, Katerina, walk more slowly, keep your head up. Remember, you are the Princess. You are Princess Theodora…
Somehow she reached the pavilion and pushed inside.
‘Ka—Theodora!’ Lady Anna took one look at her, dropped the gown she had been folding, and hurried over. ‘Whatever’s the matter?’
‘P…pirates,’ Katerina managed. ‘The Captain says there are pirates in these waters. He and Ashfirth Saxon are discussing our route, hoping to evade them.’
Anna took her hand. Her eyes were kind and full of concern. ‘There are pirates in most waters, Theodora. It is only to be expected that they might be found here, where Imperial power is at its weakest.’
All Princess Theodora’s ladies knew Katerina’s story, or most of it. They knew that she had been saved from a life of drudgery and abuse when the Princess had bought her, but this was the first time one of the ladies had shown overt understanding of her plight.
Awkwardly, Lady Anna patted her hand. ‘I suspect you are thinking about the time your father sold you to the slavers…’
Eyes filling, Katerina nodded; this unexpected sympathy was almost her undoing. She swallowed hard.
Anna was shaking her head. ‘Theodora, you must not concern yourself.’ She lowered her voice. ‘Commander Ashfirth was hand-picked by your uncle, he will have everything in hand.’
‘I hope so,’ Katerina managed. ‘I confess it is the thought of slavers that upsets me.’ She was fighting to keep her wits, there was an ominous prickling at the back of her eyes. I must not dissolve into hysterics, someone might hear. The Princess Theodora does not dissolve into hysterics.
Anna turned back to the gown she had been folding, and stowed it carefully in its coffer. As Katerina watched the reverence with which Anna handled the fine silk, an idea began to take shape in her mind.
Yesterday, that gown had belonged to the Princess; today it was hers. As were the many other beautiful things that the Princess had given her for carrying out this pretence.
Moving to another coffer, Katerina pushed back the lid and drew out a veil. Even though the light in the pavilion was weak, it shimmered like a rainbow.
She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Are these things truly mine, Anna?’
‘Yes, they have all been gifted to you.’
Katerina looked thoughtfully at the Princess’s lady-in-waiting. Are they truly mine? What will Lady Anna do when I announce that I am considering selling them?
‘Anna?’
‘My lady?’
Heart beating hard, Katerina settled herself on a couch and folded her hands in her lap. ‘I should like us to conduct an inventory of the things that I have brought with me. The things—’ she looked hard at Anna ‘—that have most recently been gifted to me.’
Anna’s gaze was bright, intelligent. ‘All these things?’ Her wave took in the travelling chests Princess Theodora had pressed upon her.
Thanking God for Lady Anna’s quick wits, Katerina nodded. ‘Exactly. My most recent…acquisitions.’ With a glance towards the pavilion entrance, she cleared her throat and lifted her voice. ‘We forgot my ivory comb in the rush to leave, let us see what else we might have forgotten.’
Soon the two couches were lost beneath heaps of green silks and red damasks; beneath purple slippers and shoes; beneath belts studded with cornelian and lapis lazuli; beneath psalters with gems set into the covers. Finally, Anna unearthed the Princess’s enamelled jewel casket that up until this moment had been in her keeping. She unlocked it, and passed it over.
It was so h
eavy, Katerina almost dropped it. It was made from gold and had dozens of bright enamelled animals running across its surfaces. Her mouth fell open. ‘She gave me this too?’
Anna nodded. ‘Open it.’
Breathless with surprise, Katerina did so. Fingers unsteady, she drew out a gold diadem embellished with lapis lazuli. There was a miniature icon painted in gold and studded with mother-of-pearl; a dagger with a huge emerald set into its silver hilt…
Katerina shook her head. ‘Dazzling,’ she managed, extracting a filigree collar from a heap of jewels, it hung from her fingers like a golden cobweb. But the golden collar was not the finest piece. There were bracelets set with rubies and sapphires; there was a silver necklace set with amethysts…
She was stunned. ‘Anna, I had not realised she had given me so much—I cannot possibly keep these!’
Anna leaned close, running her fingers over an amethyst cloak fastener that went with the silver necklace. Imperial purple, a colour Katerina would never wear! ‘She wants you to have them.’
‘The friend who gave me these,’ Katerina said carefully, ever mindful of the possibility of listening ears ‘has a generous heart.’
‘Yes.’
Someone coughed outside. ‘My lady, may I come in?’ Commander Ashfirth pushed back the door-flap, and Katerina forced herself not to leap up. You are the Princess, she reminded herself.
Remaining firmly on the edge of the couch, she waved him in. ‘Please do.’
Ashfirth entered, stopping dead when he saw the turmoil.
What was she up to?
Princess Theodora’s pavilion had been reduced to chaos. There was scarcely anywhere for a man to put his feet, and there was certainly nowhere to sit, except the corner of the couch that she was perched on.
‘You are setting up a market stall, my lady?’ he asked, face as blank as he could make it.
It certainly looked like one, albeit a market stall that was being ransacked by the Vikings. Gowns spilled over the couch and on to the wooden deck, like a silken waterfall. Jewels winked; gold gleamed—a king’s ransom in gold.
Her cheeks took colour and her nose inched up, assuredly, she resented his question. What was she doing? ‘You are concerned that pirates may find your jewels, my lady?’
‘It had crossed my mind.’ Her voice strengthened. ‘Anna and I have been checking through the few trifles I have been allowed to bring with me.’ She picked up a silver headdress, turning it in her hands and examining it as though she had never seen it before. ‘We are sorting out the more valuable of my things, and were wondering how best they might be secured in the event of an attack. There is a particular reason I should like to be certain they reach Constantinople. Can you advise me?’
‘About the pirates, my lady, I very much regret that Captain Leo mentioned them. I have no wish for you to be alarmed and came to reassure you that we are taking the safer coastal route. I am fully expecting to avoid trouble.’
Ashfirth blinked at a bracelet studded with amethysts the size of pigeon’s eggs, at a dagger with a gold hilt, at a heap of golden coins. Even he had never seen such an ostentatious display of personal wealth in his entire life, though he had, of course, seen the Imperial Treasury with his own eyes.
The Imperial Treasury was hidden below the Great Palace, in a labyrinth of underground tunnels and vaults. Ashfirth was one of a select few who had seen inside it. Shortly after enlisting as a Varangian officer, Ashfirth had taken his turn at guarding the assembled valuables of seven hundred years of absolute power. It was true that the Imperial coffers were not as full as they had once been, but the rumours that they were empty were unfounded. However—his gaze ranged over the silken cloaks, the damask gowns, the jewels—never had he seen so much outside the Palace.
What is she doing—gloating over her wealth? Ashfirth’s spirits sank, the thought was distasteful, and—how ridiculous—it was disappointing. So what? The Princess is avaricious.
Nonetheless, disappointment sat cold and tight in his guts. He looked down at her, a small, beautiful, brown-eyed girl, a woman he was strongly attracted to, or he would be if it were not for the gulf between them. A woman he might like if she were not so obsessed, so gloating. Ashfirth tightened his jaw. She sat so demurely on that couch, trying on an earring here, a bracelet there—surrounded by the trappings of enough wealth to launch a thousand pirate ships.
If she were not the Princess, I would snatch her out of that pool of silks and shake some sense into her, I would kiss her and…
He set his jaw. He would kiss her? This must stop! If he were not careful, he was in danger of being bewitched—an indulgence Ash had sworn never to allow himself. When he had come into manhood in an alien land, he had made a firm decision. Never would he allow a woman that power, particularly if she was a lady of the Court.
Over the years, Ashfirth’s decision had been vindicated many times—he had witnessed more than one man fall when his noble lady tired of him. Vladimir, a Varangian captain, had had to flee the City after several suspicious bouts of food poisoning. And there had been young Sergeant Drogo, who had become all but suicidal when his lady passed him over for a more powerful lover with close connections to the throne. Money, power, prestige—these things were prized by Court ladies.
Sadly, Princess Theodora was no different from the rest. She was looking thoughtfully at him, and those gut-wrenchingly beautiful eyes gave no hint of what was really going on in her mind. She was worrying about her jewels. Money, power, prestige…
‘Sir?’
‘My lady?’
‘I have made a new resolve and I should like your advice because I do not know how to proceed.’
‘Yes?’
‘When we reach Constantinople I am going to try to do something for the slaves there. Slavery is unchristian and barbaric, human beings should not be treated like so much cargo.’
‘You wish to help slaves, my lady?’ Ashfirth managed to keep the surprise out of his voice.
‘Indeed. When we reach the Palace, I shall need your advice.’
‘What is it you want to do, set up a hospice?’
She shook her head. ‘I want to free them, sir.’
‘What, all of them?’ He held down a laugh.
‘I would if I could.’
Her intensity surprised him, but the Princess couldn’t be serious. But even if she was, Ash did not have to be a soothsayer to know how matters would proceed—court ladies were all the same.
This would be yet another in a long line of charitable ventures that was abandoned even before it had begun.
Chapter Six
Mindful of the need for tact, Ash chose his words with care. ‘My lady, you cannot free all the slaves—slavery is part of the fabric of the Empire. Too many people have made fortunes by trading in human flesh, they will not take kindly to your interference.’
The Princess lifted her nose. ‘You refuse to help me?’
‘No, of course not. I am simply saying it will not be easy.’
‘I appreciate that, but I would be glad of your help.’
‘You might be best to discuss this with your uncle, the support of His Imperial Majesty would undoubtedly help far more than mine.’
‘Ask my uncle?’ Her eyes widened, her fingers clenched on the gold filigree collar. ‘Oh, no, I am sure the Emperor has enough on his mind without my importuning him.’ Her gaze lifted. ‘But perhaps you might accompany me to the slave market?’
Ash bowed his head. ‘If that is your wish.’ It was easy enough to agree, this was but a whim, it would be forgotten before they made landfall.
‘My thanks.’ She tipped her head on to one side. ‘Sir, you came here with something particular to say, I think?’
‘I came to ask if, until we reach friendlier waters, you might prefer to make your quarters below.’
A plucked brow rose. ‘You would put me in storage with the Venetian glass?’
Ashfirth spread his hands. ‘It is safer below, my lady. You could
sleep near my men and—’
‘I will not go below decks.’
Holding down a sigh, Ashfirth gestured at the filigree collar and gorgeously enamelled box. ‘Well your most precious jewels would be better secured there. We could put them in a strongbox and bolt it to the hull, if you wish.’
‘Sir, the—’ her voice wavered ‘—the thought of being confined in any way, even below deck, is abhorrent to me. I cannot…I cannot…’’
Impatience was a breath away, but those brown eyes were holding his, as though she were pleading with him. The Princess? Pleading with the officer sent to guard her? What a tangle of contradictions she was.
‘My lady, in my view this ship will be safe if we keep to the coast. But if you are concerned about your valuables, I strongly advise you that you let me have them stowed below in secret. It would be safer for you if you were out of sight below decks too.’ A wave of his hand took in the pavilion. ‘Rudimentary though this shelter is, I admit we may have made a mistake in putting it up—it draws attention to you. And I am not speaking of the pirates here. Until I saw that little fleet, I had no idea that Frankish units were quite so…active in these waters. But you can rest assured that my men are at your disposal. If you were threatened, they would fight as vigorously for you as they would for the Emperor.’
How does one impose one’s will over a spoiled princess? In all probability her slightest whim has been catered to since she left the cradle. ‘They should have sent a courtier,’ Ash murmured, lifting a brow at her lady-in-waiting.
‘A courtier?’
Ashfirth shook his head, there was nothing more he could say. This commission was turning out to be far more complicated than he had anticipated. Not only was he concerned, very concerned, about the Norman fleet that was gathering off the Apulian coast, but it was becoming painfully clear that he was not the best man to deal with the Emperor’s niece.
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