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Stronghand looked with interest at Theophanu, and she h no emotion could be read behind her careful mask It was no wonder no one quite trusted her even after all these years of faithful service to her father and his capricious wishes

Seated in back of the others, behind the pallet, Rosvita had planned to observe without being herself noticed, but after all it took all her effort si in her ht, that it was for the best that Sapientia had died The poor witless creature could not even obey an injunction to hide her eyes, not to look upon that which would destroy her She was no wiser than a toddling child How could it be that she would not fall in the end into the hands of those ished to put her on the throne and rule her through puppet strings?

That she could even think such thoughts horrified her The dead man, mercifully, made no comment No doubt he, also, was not free of sin, for he had abandoned Sapientia in the wilderness So there they were, the two of theht Henry’s eldest daughter to an end she did not deserve

As though the Enehts and sent e black hounds padded up to her and sank down on either side Their tails thumped in a friendly manner, but that did not make her less nervous of those fearso man who had once been Count of Lavas came to stand quietly behind her chair She could not see his face without turning around, but Lord Stronghand nodded at him just as there came a shout of surprise from the doorway

Conrad leaped to his feet "Constance!"

Constance, Biscop of Autun and later Duchess of Arconia, was the second youngest of Henry’s siblings, about the saard, but she looked older than Scholastica now She was being carried in a chair tied to poles Her bearers, astoundingly, were Eika soldiers With the greatest delicacy, they placed her chair to the left of Lord Stronghand, who drawn up Clerics and nobles crowded onto these seats while captains and lords stood behind then with his hand so she could know all ell, and the look of relief on his face assured her that the rest of her precious schola had indeed survived the onslaught unscathed Farther back she saw Sergeant Ingo of the Lions standing beside the one-handed Captain Thiadbold, now able to walk on his own

Yet where was Mother Obligatia? What shelter had they found for her? And what of the shan she made she did not know, but a hand brushed her shoulder, and that brief touch co their way through the crowd, came two litters One was borne by a quartet of Arconian captains, and the other by stout clerics, four of Scholastica’s most martial attendants Behind them limped a white-faced man whose shoulder rapped in linen still stained with oozing red blood Lord Wichman was so weak from loss of blood that he could not stand unaided but must lean on one of his captains He reeled up the steps, dropped heavily into a chair behind Conrad, and see and head thrown back

The captains set down the body of Sabella, daughter of Arnulf and Berengaria, beside the corpse of her nephew The clerics lowered the litter bearing Princess Sapientia’s corpse and placed it beside that of her aunt

Although the smell of sweaty and bloodstained bodies already permeated the hall, at once the stink of death struck Rosvita hard enough that she flinched fro blood, the stench of loosened bowels and voided urine, all these indignities suffered by the dead were eye-wateringly apparent eh Sabella’s body bore only a single wound and Sapientia’s no trace of injury at all No such stink wafted froht to s wounds

Mother Scholastica rose "So are we all co into crevices and hand’s-width spaces along the back--grew quiet

"So are we all co years ere told that this prince’s eas on his flesh, that no creature male or female could kill him But after all, we see that this was randize his favorite child Sanglant’s run of luck is over Now he lies before us, who claiht to do so"

"For shaard "For shame, Mother Scholastica! Those of us who rode at his side out of Aosta and accepted his elevation will not have our decision so easily dis breath"