won't name names.'
'What I figured. Fits the rumors. Guess what? Bronte Doneto invited himself along.'
Unsurprised, Hecht asked, 'Think he misses the Connec?'
'Could be. He had such a wonderful time last time he went.'
'I'm not thrilled.' An impossible and stupid war was bad enough. Having the Patriarch's cousin perched on his shoulder could only make it worse.
Particularly if, as Principate Delari believed, that cousin was up to his nostrils in some grand scheme of his own.
Hecht scratched his left wrist and wondered how deeply Pinkus was involved in Principate Doneto's machinations.
12. Plemenza: The Plot to Clear the Jagos
Inspired letters and personal pleas to Katrin, before the Empress finally left Brothe, won Helspeth permission to go home to Plemenza instead of having to recross the Jagos to Alten Weinberg, where Katrin could keep her under thumb. Helspeth was determined to be the best younger princess she could. She wanted Katrin to have no excuse to deepen her misery.
Katrin had miseries of her own. The Council Advisory worked at creating them. Grand Duke Hilandle was especially unpleasant. Because of events during his desperate attempt to catch up with the Imperial procession before it reached Brothe, especially. Helspeth could not believe the stories the survivors told. They sounded like tales cooked up to conceal the wickedness of human monsters.
On reaching the Dimmel Palace Helspeth slept. For ten hours. Then she got up for a few, removed the road and ate, then slept some more. Then she dragged herself out. She had duties. She had been away a long time.
Those left behind had done well. Only a few whiners showed for the summary assizes. Their petitions were easily handled. Helspeth retreated to her quarters.
There had been changes among her women. Gruff Lady Chevra diNatale had gone home. Lady Delta va Kelgerberg had wheedled her way into Katrin's entourage. She had been replaced by Lady Hilda Daedal of Averange. Helspeth was glad to have her.
Lady Hilda was only a little older than she. Helspeth knew her from the Imperial court. Her husband's father had been a favorite of Johannes Blackboots.
Lady Hilda was a tall, slim blonde, in the mold of Katrin Ege. At twenty-three she had been married nearly nine years. She saw her husband Strumwulf just often enough to become pregnant regularly. She had given birth five times. Two of her children survived.
Lady Hilda's life appalled Helspeth. Yet it was typical of a woman of her class and time.
Despite all those pregnancies she remained attractive.
There were rumors. Lady Hilda might not be one hundred percent faithful to the Landgraf fon Averange. One suspected lover was her husband's father, Sternhelm, the Graf fon Sonderberg. Averange was a walled town inside Sternhelm's barony.
Other names mentioned all belonged to older men.
Lady Hilda was a Brothen Episcopal. 'And I won't hide the truth, Princess,' she told Helspeth. 'I'm supposed to keep an eye on your religious practices. Though I'm not a fanatic myself.'
'I don't understand. Katrin never showed any religious interest before Father died.'
'It was there. Secretly. Because her mother was religious. What she's doing now is more about prying the fingers of the Grand Duke and Council Advisory off her throat. She'll be less devoted to Sublime once she rids herself of those foul old men.'
'The men she's allying with aren't much better.'
'They'll follow the Council. Katrin wants to be as powerful as your father was. Without having to give what he did on behalf of the Empire.'
Helspeth doubted Lady Hilda. She had seen her sister regularly in Brothe. Not once had Katrin changed in private, in her suite in the Penital, when there were no witnesses.
Helspeth would not disagree with Lady Hilda. There was much she wanted to learn from the more experienced woman.
'What is that you keep fussing with?' Lady Hilda asked.
Helspeth had been reading a letter when Lady Hilda joined her. Searching for any missed nuance.
She dared all. Took a huge risk. Trusted a woman whose mind she did not know, for no better reason than that she liked her. 'It's a letter.'
'From the way you say that, and from the way you're coloring, it has to be from a man. About whom you've had unchaste thoughts.'
Helspeth felt the heat rise to her cheeks.
Lady Hilda laughed softly.
'It's not funny.'
'I wasn't… Never mind. You poor girl. Your age and never been touched. Too valuable a counter in the game of empire.' She extended a hand. 'Let me see what he says.'
Helspeth felt like she was caught in a trance.
Lady Hilda was not impressed. 'Plainly, he isn't any more practiced at this than you are. And he doesn't get carried away saying anything romantic or concrete. Does he?'
'You don't understand. The important thing is, he replied. I almost died of anxiety waiting to see if he would.'
'You wrote to him? First?'
Heat in the cheeks again. 'Yes. Several times. I…'
'Not the way the jongleurs sing it.'
'I can't help it. I'm fascinated. Like the mouse in stories about mice and snakes.'
'This snake doesn't sound eager to catch a mouse. He sounds wary. He's afraid you're a living pitfall.'
Helspeth grimaced. Princess Apparent Helspeth Ege, lethal pitfall.
Had she truly pelted the Captain-General with letters while she was in Brothe? She had gotten no opportunity to do anything but exchange glances with him, otherwise. The one time they might have met, he had gotten caught in an explosion beforehand.
The big thing was, he had answered her. Twice.
The second letter she would share with no one. Ever. It contained hints that fed her imagination. And might be enough to betray their author.
'Are you going to report this?'
'Of course not. I'm supposed to protect your soul, not your chastity. You do have sense enough to know you need to remain a virgin, don't you? Anyway, this can't go anywhere.'
'I'm not… It isn't a matter of…'
'Calm down. I know what you're going through. Though I didn't go through it till I'd been married a while. I was just ready to turn seventeen. I was pregnant. For the third time. I'm pregnant a lot. The first two times I miscarried. And that one would be stillborn, later. Strumwulf was off to the Holy Lands. He'd be gone for two years. I'm saying things I shouldn't.'
Helspeth took her letter back. She folded it and slipped it into the hiding place it occupied when the other women were around. 'Are you ashamed?'
Lady Hilda seemed surprised. Like that had not occurred to her. 'No. The flesh has its hungers. Some endure them more easily than others. Can you imagine a dragon like Lady Chevra engaged in passionate congress? The victim of her appetites?'
'You can't control yours?'
'I can. I don't want to. You can't possibly understand, now. You may not even after you're married. If you fail to marry a man who shows you the best of that.'
Lady Hilda's sour tone suggested direct knowledge. She continued. 'The final, ugly truth is, your husband will
