by Claudia Dain
"Nay, Avice, it is only that I have won," Juliane said. "I do not need to cheat to win."
"You speak of Ulrich again," Avice teased.
Juliane grinned. "For some little time to come, all will be of Ulrich. I hope he is flattered by the hours I shall give him."
"From what they say of him, I think he will expect you to be flattered."
"Then he has many surprises coming to him, does he not?"
"I think our father will not be pleased," Avice said. "It could be said that you have carried this game of yours too far, too often."
Juliane moved the heavy chess pieces around on the board in a random pattern. "Can I do aught as to that? I did not create this game, I only find myself a player in it. And when I play, I play to win. If our father cares not for the game, then let him only forbid the players entrance into his hall. All games would cease then."
"You know he will not," Avice said.
"Nay, he will not," Juliane said easily. "Can he deny his wish to see me wed?"
"He only wants what all fathers want: to see his daughters set well within a good betrothal and a profitable marriage," Avice said, laying a light hand on Juliane's arm.
"I had my betrothal," Juliane answered, standing. "And my marriage. I did my duty as a daughter. Once. It will not happen again."
"You heard?" Lunete said as she ran into the hall. She was ruddy from running up the stairs to the tower. The pink in her cheeks was lovely against the cool, pale blond of her tumbling hair and the light gray of her eyes.
"Do not say it! Let me tell it!" Christine said, bursting in behind ten-year-old Lunete. Christine was all of fourteen and should have had more dignity, though there was no one in the hall of Stanora who would rebuke her for her outburst.
"I am certain it is known. There is no need to shout," Marguerite said, coming into the hall last. Of the three girls fostered at Stanora, it was Marguerite who claimed dignity and solemnity as her mantle, when she could remember it. At thirteen, determinations were fleeting things.
"Did you tell her, Avice?" Christine asked.
They stood, the five of them, in the high-ceiled hall of Stanora. The fire was soft and slow, heating stones that had not felt the cold of winter for months and yet were still cool to the touch. Much like Juliane, always cool, ever impenetrable.
"Aye, I told her," Avice said. "I could not wait for you to regain consciousness; the news was too wonderful to wait."
"Swooning is a sign of high birth," Christine said in her own defense.
"Then you are daily proven to be highborn," Avice said, laughing.
"What do you think of Ulrich's coming?" Marguerite asked.
"I think that," Juliane said slowly, pausing for effect, "he comes to Stanora with a name for prowess in the games of courtly love, and that he will leave Stanora with a new name altogether."
Christine laughed, as did Avice. Marguerite only smiled with polite dignity.
"Yet of all the men who have come against you," Avice said, "he is the most fearsome in games of love."
"Then it follows that he will fall the farthest," Juliane said.
The fire flickered as if in shared laughter as the light and playful voices of the women stirred the air. Even the stones of Stanora seemed to warm themselves in the easy confidence they exuded.
Juliane had been many times tested and as many times declared the victor in this oft-played battle of love. Could any man stand against the power of Juliane? Nay, none could. None had. Yet... Ulrich was a man with a legend of his own, and it was not for defeat in matters of love. Of all men, this one might challenge the legend of Juliane le Gel.
What a fall that would be.
The Fall
Mediveal Knights Series
Book Five
by
Claudia Dain
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The Fall
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Claudia graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in English. While there she became a member of Alpha Phi, one of the oldest sororities in America. A two-time Rita finalist, she has won numerous writing awards and honors since her first novel was published in 2000. She has lived most of her life in Los Angeles, called Connecticut home for a decade, and currently resides in North Carolina with her husband.