"He's gone!" she cried. "Vanished!"

Only the peers of the realm or his intimate servants dared storm in without announcing themselves. After Gerberga came Theophanu, expression so blank that he marveled, wondering if she were furious or joyful.

"This is not the first time Ekkehard has acted rashly," Theo said to Gerberga as if continuing a conversation begun earlier. "Do not forget that he stole Lord Baldwin from your mother."

"Damn him!"

“And that he then debauched himself in Gent while pretending to be an abbot in a monastery founded by his own father," added Theophanu with such a look of composure that Sanglant imagined her actually laughing inside—if Theophanu ever laughed. 'And after that betrayed his own countryfolk and rode with the Quman monster."

"When I find him ..." Gerberga glared at Sanglant as if he had spoken and, without addressing another word to him, departed in the same manner as a summer squall, leaving a moment of sparkling clarity behind.

"Hathui," he said, "go see that horses are saddled."

She nodded and left.

"When you find him, then what?" asked Theophanu coolly. "I am surprised you allowed the marriage to Gerberga to take place without making it clear to Ekkehard that he must respect your wishes. By this act, he challenges your authority."

"Theo," he said mildly, seeing how everyone else there had gone very quiet indeed, "I do not for a moment suppose that Ekkehard has anything in mind other than his own gratification, since he has never appeared to have more than one thought in his head at a time."

She watched him with an expression of calm consideration that made him stand to alert as though she had a knife she might pull.

"They love you," she said.

"Who loves me?"

“All of them. These servants. The Eagles. The soldiers. The common folk. It's you, the bastard, they look to, to save them, although I am the legitimately born child. There are a few who do love me, my dear retinue, but they are a trifle compared to the ones who love you."

Since there was no answer to this, he said nothing.

"They stare at you so, Sanglant. I suppose I do, too." Her smile sharpened her expression. "I know better, yet I can't help myself. I'm no different than they are. I believe you can save us, if anyone can."

"Perhaps. I am only first among equals. Without the strength of the duchies and the marchlands, Wendar will fall."

“As Varre has?" she challenged him. "Fallen to Sabella and Conrad's ambitions?"

"So we will see, when the king's progress marches west. You are steady, Theophanu. I need you at my back."

She had their father's height and the robust build common to their ancestors, yet a hint in her coloring and eyes and the unnatural opacity of her expression marked her half foreign blood. Never trust Arethousans bearing gifts.

“Always at the back." There came a spark of emotion into her face he could not interpret: resignation, amusement, envy, or anger, or some other, less simple, reaction. He knew her well enough, but in truth, he did not know her well.