"So I was. Then. Villam had already too much power in Henry's council."

"Waltharia is unmarried, at this moment. Would you object to her now?"

Scholastica hesitated. Liutgard looked surprised, but Theophanu smiled in that elegant, enigmatic way she had, giving away nothing.

"I would object," said Liutgard finally.

Scholastica still gave no answer.

"Had you someone in mind?" he asked his aunt.

"An alliance might be sealed," she said slowly, "with a princess out of Salia or Alba. Even, in these times, with the Polenie, although I account them rather small. A worthy match, bringing with it a worthwhile alliance. Something that will aid us."

"As Liath did. She saved us. All of us."

Scholastica's frown was hard and her tone bitter. "No one knows what she did. Not even you. No one witnessed. She might have done or said anything. You do not know."

"I know what she told me. I know what happened. I know Anne is dead and her cabal of sorcerers scattered."

"How do you know that the great tempest was not brought about by that creature's magic? By her doing? Or with her as accomplice who then murdered her master? You do not know anything, Sanglant. You cannot prove anything. Those who accompanied her are lost. They cannot tell us what they saw. She is a sorcerer. A daimone's get. Soulless. Dangerous."

"Visited by a saint in Gent."

"An illusion!"

"An illusion—if you say so—believed by half the population and most importantly by those who witnessed. Those whose lives she saved!"

"They are fools, easily led! She could have said anything to convince them to follow her."

He rose slowly, hands loose, shoulders tight.

"Sanglant," whispered Theophanu, warning him.

"I was there!" he said, really angry now. "She saved lives at the risk of her own. She could have run, but did not. Don't tell me it was an illusion! All my Dragons died, and half the city besides!"

His anger did not sway her, nor did his height and his strength as he towered over her.

"You did not die." Her lined face showed no fear and no apprehension, only her stubborn will, not to be cowed by the likes of him. "Although it seems to me that you should have. It is said that your mother bound a spell into your flesh. It is said you cannot die. At times I have wondered if your courage in battle is due to honor and duty and loyalty, or to the knowledge that no matter how many of your men die, you will not suffer their fate."

Almost, he growled at her. She was his enemy, and he had not seen it before. She had lulled him when he stood before her with his army and his griffins and his father's blessed remains. But he had discipline. He remained silent.