“Yes, my lady,” the servant said and hurried out.
“Brush some oil of lilies into my hair,” Shifra instructed Tania who resumed brushing her locks. “You know how he likes the scent of it.”
“Ahh,” Tania said, “you want something of him.”
“Not just something,” Shifra replied with a small smile. “Lady Vilia is to marry Lord Jonah and she says that the emperor has offered to give the wedding. She asks that I give her my aid in the planning.”
“Of course he would offer to host such a wedding,” Tania responded. “It is a clever move on his part.”
“Why?” Shifra wanted to know.
“Because the people will see it as generous,” Tania said.
“To host a wedding for his ex-wife and his ex-slave?” Shifra remarked. “Does not the lady marry down, Tania? I was told her family is an ancient and proud one.”
“And so it is, my lady,” Tania replied. “But Jonah’s lineage is almost as good and the fact that he served ten years in this house as a slave cannot tarnish his line. His father was a well-known Crusader Knight and his mother is a Pleasure Mistress. In fact, rumor has it that when the lady Gillian retires, the lady Farah will be elected headmistress of the Pleasure Guild. She is a blood kin of Squire Darah,” Tania concluded.
“How do you know all of this?” Shifra demanded to know.
“I know because when Jonah first came into the House of Prospero he told me in a very rare moment of weakness and then swore me to secrecy. As such knowledge would not harm my lord Gaius I swore an oath to keep his secret. I could see then he would regain his freedom one day and be a great man. And so he has. This marriage is clever on his part for it allies him with some very important families.”
“Will that make him a danger to my dear lord?” Shifra asked astutely.
Tania shrugged. “I have never doubted Jonah’s loyalty and neither has the emperor, my lady mistress. You should not doubt it, either,” she warned.
Gaius Prospero came into Shifra’s chambers, beaming as his eyes lit upon her. “My darling,” he said and she went immediately into his arms to offer her lips. He kissed her and then his nose twitched. “Lilies! You smell of lilies, my darling. When you called me I came directly from the council, for your wish is my pleasure.”
Shifra took him by the hand and led him to a wide couch to sit by his side. “I have received a message from Lady Vilia. She said you have given your approval to a marriage between her and Lord Jonah.”
“I have,” Gaius Prospero replied. “And I have learned the most amazing thing about my good Jonah.” He went on to tell Shifra what he had learned and she listened, pretending to be amazed by his disclosure about Jonah. “I always wondered about his breeding,” the emperor said. “He has never had the look of a common Hetarian.”
“We are to plan their wedding,” Shifra said.
“Yes!” the emperor said enthusiastically. “Is it not brilliant, my darling? Together we will host this festive event.”
“Nay,” said Shifra. “I cannot.”
Tania stifled her gasp. What was the matter with the little fool that she would defy Gaius Prospero’s grandiose plans to appear the most benevolent and tolerant of rulers?
“Nay?” The emperor looked surprised. “Why would you refuse me, Shifra? You have never refused me anything, my darling. What is the matter that you would now?”
“You wed me quietly on the day your divorce was declared legal, my lord. There was no pomp about it yet I was happy simply to be your wife. But I have not yet been crowned your empress, my lord. Did you not promise me that I would be crowned empress of Hetar? How can we stand side by side to do proper honor to Lord Jonah, who has served you so faithfully all these years, and to Lady Vilia, who also served you with such devotion and gave you children, if I am nothing more than your wife and not Hetar’s empress?” Shifra wanted to know.
Tania’s mouth fell open with her surprise at her mistress’s words. She quickly closed it and her gaze went to Gaius Prospero.
The emperor digested Shifra’s words and then he said, “You are right, my darling! Before Jonah and Vilia can wed you must first be crowned Hetar’s empress. Then we will host this marriage and as Hetar’s supreme rulers, the honor we do those two will be considered incredibly generous.” He jumped up from her side. “I must go and begin making preparations for your coronation this very minute!”
“I will want the lady Vilia to serve me at my crowning,” Shifra murmured. “She must carry my train and then be my footstool as Jonah will be yours when we sit upon our thrones together before our people.”
He turned, his face wreathed in smiles. “What a perfect picture you paint, my darling. I knew there was a reason I could not choose either of my two former wives as my empress. They were not worthy of the honor. They had not your majesty or vision,” Gaius Prospero complimented her, then he left.
Shifra smiled, well pleased. But Vilia, when she learned why her wedding had been delayed, was furious.
“How dare she!” she almost screamed at Jonah.
He stepped quickly up to face her and clapped a restraining hand over her mouth. “Do not proclaim your emotions to everyone, Vilia,” he warned her. “I will see what I can do to mitigate some of this. But if the emperor wishes to crown his wife empress before he hosts our wedding, he can do it.”
Vilia tore his hand from her mouth. “I will not be her footstool,” she hissed low. “I will carry the little bitch’s train and I will smile broadly at all to see, but I will not serve as a footstool!”
“Nor will I,” Jonah answered her quietly. “Trust me, Vilia, I will get this changed before Shifra’s crowning day. I promise you that.”
“But I like the idea of you and Vilia serving as our footstools,” Gaius Prospero said to his right hand when Jonah brought up the subject several days before the coronation of Shifra. “It displays my ultimate power over all.”
“Indeed, my lord, it does but is it not just a bit vulgar, a bit obvious? And it could easily diminish my authority when I speak for you,” Jonah suggested slyly. “I know you would not want that. You do not need me beneath your feet to prove to Hetar that you are a great emperor or that I am devoted to you and your cause. And have you considered that putting Vilia beneath the feet of the young empress might appear cruel? The beautiful new wife swaggering over the older cast-off wife? Vilia is popular among the masses. She does not deserve such from you, my lord.”
“Why, Jonah,” the emperor said softly. “Are you coming to care for Vilia?”
“She will be my wife, my lord,” Jonah answered him. “I will always treat her with respect and dignity for it will speak well of me as her husband—and well of you as my master, for have you not been my example of what is right and correct?”
“I have, it is true,” Gaius Prospero answered him. “Oh, very well, Jonah, you shall have your way in this matter, for you are right. My passion for Shifra had blinded me to sensible behavior.”
“I would not be the cause of any breach between you and the young empress,” Jonah said softly.
“Nonsense!” the emperor chuckled. “Shifra will see reason.”
Shifra, however, did not see reason until her husband promised her a golden footstool studded with gemstones to replace Vilia’s silk-clad back. “But it will not be nearly as dramatic and meaningful as my suggestion,” she pouted.
“Even people like us must occasionally compromise, my darling,” the emperor told his young wife. “Vilia is quite thrilled to be carrying your train.”
“I shall bear the emperor’s scepter,” Jonah told Vilia afterwards when he returned to tell her of his success with Gaius Prospero.
She sniffed. “This young wife he has taken will cause Gaius Prospero more trouble than Anora and I together.”
“And is not that to our advantage, my dear one?”
“I suppose it is,” Vilia admitted. “As long as he is besotted by her he will make mistakes, he will not pay attention and
eventually he will bring about his own downfall.”
“Precisely!” Jonah said.
“But when will we move to attack Terah?” Vilia wanted to know. “The longer we wait the more dangerous these Terahns become to us. Or so the people must believe.”
“Our most advantageous time will be late next spring when the seas are favorable for our vessels to cross the Sagitta. Terah may be primitive, but it is a magnificent land. However, it is not like Hetar. Its people live along seven fjords which are arms of the sea. The fjords, called Dominus, Silk, Jewel, Ocean, Star, Green and Light, push up into the land. On either side of them are great green cliffs. And beyond those cliffs is a territory so vast even the Terahns do not know how big it is. And it is cut in two by a range of mountains called the Emeralds. Who knows what lies on the other side? If the Dominus knows, he certainly never shared that information with me.”
“And the faerie girl, Lara, is his wife still?” Vilia wanted to know.
“She has become a great lady,” Jonah replied.
“A child raised in the Mercenary quarter? A halfling with a faerie for a mother?” Vilia said scornfully. She had not liked the sound of admiration in Jonah’s voice.
“You have not seen her in many years, Vilia. She has grown in beauty, as well as magical skills. Like you, she is beloved of her people. She is wise and the Dominus depends greatly upon her, my dear. But she will not use her magic against Hetar unless Hetar strikes out at Terah. I think you know as well as I do that Terah presents no real threat to Hetar, Vilia. This war the emperor plans is but a means to an end for us. And when he fails and the young men of Hetar are killed, the people will turn against him and cry out for a new leader,” Jonah said. “They always do. Remember when he blundered into the Winter War with the Outlands? It took him five years to regain the trust of the Hetarian citizens. But this time he will have no second chance.”
“But the High Council was stronger then,” Vilia reminded her lover. “And they had always governed Hetar well. What if the people demand a return to the High Council? Remember, Jonah, that you are called the emperor’s right hand. You are very much identified with him and his policies. How can you gain the trust of the people under those circumstances?”
“You must leave that to me, my dear,” Jonah told her softly. “I will not fail.”
Vilia looked into his face and then she smiled. “No,” she said. “I do not believe that you will, my darling. Now tell me, when is this coronation of Shifra to take place?”
“Are you so anxious to see her crowned then?” he asked.
“Nay, but I am eager to be wed to you and if that cannot take place until she has been crowned then aye, I am impatient to have it over and done with, my darling,” Vilia told him with a small smile. “You see, I would like to have a child. Your child. Your heir, my darling. And I do want his birth to come as soon after our marriage as possible. I want us to have an heir before Shifra may give the emperor a son. I want people to think Gaius was a fool for casting off a fecund wife to marry a barren girl.”
She had surprised him and briefly, Jonah was speechless. He had always intended to wed her, for her family connections were important to him. But he had not stopped to consider that he would eventually need an heir. But of course he would! “Vilia, my dear!” He took her into his arms. “This is most generous of you and I thank you for considering this. Yes! We must have a child.” Jonah’s mouth took hers in a hard kiss.
His reaction to her determination delighted Vilia. She had not been certain at all how he would take her plans. She knew that she might prevent conception for she was now in her thirties and had not borne a child in almost twenty years. And she did not intend to spend the rest of her life out of the limelight. She had been born for greatness, as her mother had promised her from birth. Vilia kissed him back and then, pulling away, said, “I will do whatever I have to so you may attain your goals, my love.”
“Is it safe for you?” he asked, finding he was actually more concerned for her well-being than her family ties. “I should not want to lose you, my darling Vilia.”
“I married Gaius when I was thirteen and had our son, Aubin, when I was fourteen,” she answered him. “He is a man now and my daughters are wed. But I am still young enough to be seeded and bred, my love. I could give you our son—for it shall be a son—by late next year.” Vilia smiled at him, pleased by his caring.
“Then I shall convince the emperor that Shifra’s crowning must be done before the coldest months set in, in order to bring the people into The City to see it. I shall then plan our wedding for the week after. Our union will be a great event which will be remembered far longer than the crowning of that insipid girl,” Jonah said.
“And when you overthrow Gaius Prospero, my love,” she purred at him, “when will I receive my coronation?”
“We will be crowned together, my dear,” he told her. “I would not have it otherwise. And it will be a far grander affair than either of our predecessors has had. That I promise you, my clever and fertile Vilia.”
Vilia smiled up into his face. She had known from the first time she had seen Jonah that he would be great one day. By binding them together with a child, Vilia instinctively understood that this man, unlike Gaius Prospero, would never cast her off. Jonah looked at the larger picture. He looked ahead. And while he enjoyed pleasures, he enjoyed power far more, as she did. They were really the most perfect couple. Perhaps even as perfect as the Dominus and Domina of Terah.
True to his word, Jonah cajoled Gaius Prospero into an immediate coronation for Shifra. And in the next few weeks he also negotiated a marriage contract with Vilia’s uncle, Cubert Ahasferus. The wealthy magnate was a canny man not easily brought to a settlement.
“She’s a wealthy woman in her own right now,” Cubert said slowly as he sat with Jonah over goblets of wine from the Outlands vineyards. “What can you offer her in exchange for her fortune and her blood ties?”
“What can any man offer such a woman?” Jonah replied carefully.
Vilia’s uncle smiled broadly. Then he said softly, “Power. You are no fool like our beloved emperor, who believes as all old-fashioned men believe that women are of little use but for pleasures. You appreciate my niece’s intellect.”
“Of course, she will have a certain amount of respect as my wife, and aye, I do value her wisdom,” Jonah replied quietly.
Now Cubert Ahasferus laughed aloud. “You do not fool me, my lord,” he said. “You have ambition. Do you think I cannot see it?”
“The emperor once had ambitions,” Jonah answered.
“To be emperor, to take pleasures with beautiful women.” His companion sneered. “But you, my lord, see beyond the end of your nose. You want more, and if you would wed my niece I must be certain that when you get what it is you want she will share equally in your glory. Guarantee me that and I will draw up the marriage contracts between you,” Cubert Ahasferus said.
Jonah considered his request and then he said, “How is it possible for me to do such a thing, my lord? Anything we put in writing, no matter its innocent intent, could easily be misinterpreted as treasonous. Such a covenant between us could endanger not just my life and Vilia’s, but the entire Ahasferus family, as well.”
“You are cautious and right to be so,” Cubert Ahasferus said approvingly. “Your reputation proceeds you, however. It is said you rarely give your word, but when you do that word is as good as gold. Take my hand and swear to me a blood oath.”
“Whose blood would we swear upon if indeed I decided to take you up on your proposal?” Jonah asked curiously. The answer stunned him.
“Swear to me on the life of your unborn child,” Vilia’s uncle said.
“What child?” Jonah replied, hiding his surprise.
Cubert Ahasferus smiled again. “Why, the one you will put in her belly, dear boy,” he said. “I know you will keep your word to me if you swear on his young life. You will not endanger your heir. He will, I suspect, be your one w
eakness.”
“Nay,” Jonah said. “I have no weaknesses.”
“But you will swear, will you not?” came the reply. “You will give me your blood oath and Vilia will be yours along with all her wealth and the favor of the Ahasferus family. We have many friends, my lord, but then you already know that.”
Jonah was silent for a short time as he considered what Cubert Ahasferus had proposed to him. He wanted Vilia. She was as pleasant a bed companion as he had ever enjoyed. He wanted her wealth. He valued her advice. Her connections were important to him. When he became emperor he would crown her his empress. Did all of that not make her his equal? If it reassured her family to have him swear a blood oath on the life of his unborn son that she would be that equal, then where was the harm in it? He considered the suggestion from all angles, but it always came back to the fact that without Vilia Prospero, born Ahasferus, his plans would not come to fruition.
“I will have my secretary write up the contracts with the necessary dower portion. Did you know that my niece has a quarter share in our trading company?” Cubert Ahasferus said.
“Aye, I knew,” Jonah replied. But he had not. He could see he was going to have to speak to Vilia about keeping things from him. “Have the agreement drawn up between us, and set a day for the signing. If I decide to accept your terms I will swear my oath on that day, my lord.” He arose from his seat. “I must leave you now. I hope you will forgive me, but the empress’s coronation is in just two more days. I have a great deal to oversee for the emperor.”
“Of course, of course,” Cubert Ahasferus responded jovially, offering Jonah his hand. “I will have the contracts ready the day after the coronation.”
Jonah shook the pale white hand, which was surprisingly strong. “Excellent!” he said and hurried off.
Jonah had hardly departed the chamber before Vilia entered the room by means of an inside passage.
“Were you listening?” her uncle asked. “Of course you were.”
The Twilight Lord Page 23