That distracted her, as he'd hoped it would. She gave him a sharp look, gauging his years. 'Maybe a little,' she said at last, not fully convinced.
'I'm certain you are. And surely his Majesty still—' He paused to make sure he used the right words, '—cares for you.'
Dara understood. 'Oh, aye, when he's here and not drunk asleep, or when he hasn't futtered himself out with one of his doxies—or with six of them.' Fire flashed through her tears; Krispos saw she had a temper when she let it loose. Then her shoulders sagged and she bent her head. 'But what's the use? I haven't given him a child, and if I don't he'll cast me out one of these days.'
Again, Krispos knew she was right. Even Emperors like Anthimos, who worried about nothing, sooner or later worried about an heir. But Dara already felt far too hurt for him simply to agree with her. Instead, he said, 'For all you know, you may be carrying the Avtokrator's son right now. I hope you are.'
'I may be, but I don't think I am,' Dara said. She studied him, curiosity on her face. 'You sound as if you mean it. Skombros said the same thing, but I was always sure he was lying.'
'Skombros was ambitious for his own nephew,' Krispos said. With that, he thought of his niece—no, nieces now, he'd heard—back in his own village. He sent gold every year to his sister Evdokia and Domokos. Now that he had more, he resolved to send more.
'Yes, he was,' Dara said distantly. 'I'm glad he's gone.' After a little while, she went on, 'If you fetched me one more cup of wine, I think I could sleep now, Krispos.'
He brought the jar into the bedchamber. 'If you find you need a bit more, your Majesty, here it is.'
'Thank you, Krispos.' She gave him the cup to fill. When he handed it back, her fingers closed over his for a moment. 'Thank you, also, for listening to me. I think you're kind.'
'I hope you do sleep, Majesty, and sleep well. Shall I blow out the lamps?'
'If you would. Leave the one on my night table burning, though, please. I'll tend to it when I'm ready.' As Krispos bowed his way out of the bedchamber, Dara added, 'I hope you sleep well, too.'
Krispos bowed again. 'Thank you for thinking of me, Majesty.' He went back to his own room. Despite the wine he'd drunk at the Emperor's feast, he lay awake for a long time.
Anthimos rose from his chair. 'Care to come for a stroll with me, Gnatios?'
Krispos felt like pounding his head against a wall. If the Avtokrator and the ecumenical patriarch were going out walking, then three parts in four of his preparations for this meeting had been wasted effort. More to the point, he could have slept an extra hour or two. A dull headache and scratchy eyes told him he should have.
Gnatios also rose. 'Whatever your Majesty wishes.'
Maybe, Krispos thought hopefully, he could doze for a bit while his master and the patriarch talked. Then Anthimos said, 'You come along too, Krispos.'
Thinking resentful thoughts, Krispos came. A couple of imperial guards attached themselves to the party as the Emperor and his companions walked outside.
Anthimos made cheerful small talk as he led his little party through the palace complex. Gnatios' replies were polite enough, but also increasingly curious, as if he were unsure where the Emperor was going, either in the stroll or the conversation. Krispos quietly fumed. If Anthimos was only going to burble on about the weather, why did he need to see the patriarch at all?
The Avtokrator finally stopped in front of a tumbledown building set apart from its nearest neighbors—not that any were very near—by a thick grove of dark-green cypresses. 'I've decided to study sorcery,' he declared. 'After you left last night, Krispos, a mage worked such marvelous feats that I decided then and there to learn how they were done.'
'I see,' Krispos said. He did, too; it was just like Anthimos to seize on a momentary enthusiasm and ride it till he got bored.
Gnatios said, 'Forgive me, your Majesty, but may I ask what your sudden interest in sorcery has to do with this elderly temple here?'
'You see what it is, then, or was? Good.' Anthimos beamed. 'Not all sorcery is easy or safe—you know that as well as I. What I propose to do, Gnatios, is knock the building down and replace it with a proper magical study. The site is ideal, you will agree, being isolated from the rest of the palaces.'
'You want to tear the temple down?' the patriarch echoed.
'That's right. No one's used it for what must be decades. You should see the spiderwebs inside. Some of them could catch birds, I expect. It wouldn't be sacrilege or anything, really it wouldn't.' The Emperor smiled his most engaging smile at Gnatios.
The ecumenical patriarch was more than twice his sovereign's age, and a good deal more than twice as serious as Anthimos. Nevertheless, the Emperor charmed him almost as if he were already using magic. Gnatios was shaking his head, but he answered, 'Pyrrhos and his narrow-minded followers will rail at me, but technically, your Majesty, I suppose you are correct. Very well, I agree; you may demolish this unused temple to employ the area for your own purposes.'
'Perhaps, your Majesty, you could have another temple built somewhere else in the city to make up for tearing down this one,' Krispos put in.
'An excellent notion,' Gnatios said. 'Will you pledge to do that, your Majesty?'
'Oh, certainly,' Anthimos said. 'Krispos, see to it that the logothetes at the treasury know to set aside funds for a new temple. We'll knock down this old ruin one day next week, then. Gnatios, I want you to be here.'
Gnatios ran a hand over his shaven head. 'As you wish, your Majesty, but why am I required?'
'Why, to say a prayer while the temple gets demolished, of course.' Anthimos flashed his charming smile again.
This time, it did not work. Gnatios slowly shook his head. 'Your Majesty, I fear I cannot. There is in the liturgy
