“I am so glad you are home, my dear one. I prayed to God, day and night. And now I must go to the chapel to thank Him. Sleep well! I’ll send Joseph to wake you in a few hours.”

Ermintrude hurried off, wiping her eyes as she went. Marcus went to his bedchamber, thinking that he would lie down and try to sort out his tangled thoughts. Weariness put an end to that. He fell asleep and, if he dreamed, his dreams were not the dreams of dragons. Just the ordinary gray dreams of humans.

31

EVELINA ARRIVED AT THE CASTLE IN A POURING RAINSTORM, A DAY and a night after Marcus’s return. Drenched and exhausted, she had to be lifted off the horse, for she was so stiff and saddle-sore she could scarcely move. Consequently, she was in an ill humor that was not improved upon discovering that the only person to meet her was a crippled-up old retainer named Gunderson, who had only one eye.

Her squire escort was clearly glad to be rid of her and she glad to be rid of him, for he was forty years old, proud and snooty, and he coldly repulsed her little smiles and flirtations, when all she was trying to do was make the long journey less tedious.

The courtyard was in a bustle of activity even in a driving rainstorm. Everyone seemed to be running somewhere with faces that were serious, tense, and wet. If they weren’t running, they were shouting, for the army was making ready to march, although Evelina did not know this. Dismayed and bewildered, she was very nearly trampled by a knight on horseback. Gunderson arrived at that moment to claim her, and he hauled her out of the way, escorting her up an enormous flight of stone stairs and into the palace.

Evelina walked into the beautiful and impressive building, gazing at the spires and turrets, the gargoyles and leaded windows, the enormous double doors, made of wood and banded with iron, and as those doors opened for her, she hugged herself with glee and wished her father could be here to see her. She imagined herself walking past Ramone. He would humbly doff his hat to her. Haughty and cold and rich, she would throw him a gold coin. Evelina sighed with regret that he was dead.

Gunderson introduced himself with grave formality, which pleased Evelina, though she didn’t like the shrewd and knowing look in the old man’s one glinting eye. He led her into a huge and echoing hall. The only time Evelina had been inside a building like this was when she’d taken refuge in a cathedral, fleeing a man who claimed she’d picked his pocket.