“Everyone agrees he would be an excellent choice for the throne,” offered his companion. “You know, Stephen was actually aboard the doomed vessel, and at the last moment—” He paused uncertainly with an eye on Maud.
The Emperor raised his eyebrows. “Go on. You may speak freely.”
The Abbot cleared his throat. “Unfortunately the wedding guests were flown with wine, including Prince William. There was an altercation of some kind and William and his companions threw Stephen overboard.”
How like her twin, Maud thought. It was just the sort of vicious behavior one might expect of William.
“One can clearly see God’s hand in this matter,” concluded the Abbot. “Stephen was meant to survive; William was not.”
“And no great loss, from all I’ve heard,” said the Emperor dryly. “If the crew were also in their cups that certainly explains the wreck. This nephew of the King sounds a very paragon, though I must say I never thought too highly of the House of Blois. The stock is weak and unreliable. One of the sons, I heard, has never been sound in his wits, and didn’t the father disgrace himself at some battle in the Holy Land? Now I think of it, wasn’t there talk—”
“I’m glad my cousin Stephen was spared,” Maud interjected quickly, before the Emperor could launch into one of his favorite subjects: scandal. Her husband knew the dark secrets of every ruling house in Europe, and relished discussing them.
As the men continued to talk, a picture sprang into Maud’s mind of the smiling youth with the green-gold eyes she had seen but once yet never forgotten.
“Of course, Stephen is only a nephew and I imagine my father would want an heir of his own flesh and blood,” she wondered aloud. “Such a coil. What will he do?”
“What would you advise him to do?” asked the Emperor with a sly look at the two visitors.
“Marry again, of course,” Maud said promptly. “My father must lose no time in finding another wife so that he can beget an heir before he grows too old.” She paused, wishing she had been more tactful, since the Emperor was not that many years younger than her father.
The Abbot nodded. “Exactly what the King’s closest adviser, Bishop Roger of Salisbury, has told him.”
“You see? My little empress has sound political instincts,” the Emperor said, smothering a yawn. “And, if you were to ask, she would be able to tell you the best alliance for her father to make. She knows every important house in Europe. Have I not trained her well?” He sat back with a look of pride on his face but his smile had become fixed, and the lines around his mouth had deepened.
Maud flushed with pleasure. As the visitors seemed to have nothing more to say, and the Emperor was obviously beginning to tire, Maud rose to her feet.
“My husband has not been well, an inflammation of the liver, his physicians say. It’s time he rested. If you will excuse us, the steward will show you to your quarters. We look forward to seeing you both at Vespers.”
As soon as a servant had escorted the two men out, Maud asked her husband, “Are you feeling any better? Was the interview too much for you?”
He sighed and rubbed his side. “One day better, another worse. What does it matter?” He reached for her hand. “Interesting news, eh?” He regarded her with an enigmatic look.
“Why do you stare at me like that?”
“I was thinking about what I said earlier: At this moment you are the King of England’s only legitimate child.”
She gave him a puzzled smile. “I can’t see why that’s important.”
“Perhaps it isn’t. But your father grows no younger, as you pointed out, and if he ails as much as I do—” The Emperor sighed again. “Neither of us will live forever.”
Immediately Maud knelt on the stool beside him and put a hand over his mouth. “Don’t speak of such things,” she said. “With God’s grace you have many more years left, as does my father.”
Maud did not understand why her husband talked so often of death when dying was the farthest thing from her thoughts. In truth, men like her father and husband seemed immortal. Both strong, ruthless monarchs, it was impossible to imagine the world without them. She picked up the Emperor’s thin veined hand and held it to her cheek. The skin felt dry and fragile as an autumn leaf.
“Would you like to return to England?” he asked.
“Return to England?” She looked at him in shock. “Of course not. I hardly know anyone except my father and Robert. My home is with you, traveling around the Empire. I don’t want anything to change.”