equally simply. Had they been trying to conceal their status? But why should they want to do that? Were Imperial princesses forbidden to leave the Palace? Were they hedged about by rules? Certainly they had not gone to the slave market unaccompanied—dimly, William remembered a small escort. There had been that burly young man who might have been a bodyguard, as well as a couple of other men with a military look to them.
‘More beef?’
‘Please.’
The meat was tender and melted in his mouth, it was a struggle not to moan with delight.
Outside the tall windows, the mew of gulls told him that this part of the Great Palace was close to the sea. William racked his mind to recall what he knew of the Imperial Palace, but for the most part, his mind remained unhelpfully blank. His mother had not wished to speak about her time here and he suspected that what he had learned later in his life was closer to myth than reality.
The Norsemen had their own name for Constantinople—to them it was Miklagard. The greatest City in Christendom, the Imperial vaults—hidden somewhere beneath the Palace—were said to be crammed with the wealth of several hundred years of Imperial rule.
Smoky grey eyes were watching him.
Why was this woman, this lady, helping him? Why was she being so kind? It made no sense. She wants something from me.
‘Lady Anna?’ The wet-nurse spoke from across the room. She had finished feeding Daphne and was setting her down in a willow basket, cocooning her in wrappings.
William marked her name. Anna.
‘Yes, Sylvia?’
‘Do you wish me to remain in the apartment, my lady? Or shall I return to the servants’ quarters?’
Rising, Lady Anna left William’s side, moving with quiet grace across the marble floor. Lady Anna was tall and shapely, the brown veil fluttered with the sway of her hips. Joining the wet-nurse by the gilded stool, she smiled tenderly down at the sleeping baby. ‘The Princess would like you to remain here,’ she said. ‘Your duty is to care for these children.’
Sylvia wrinkled her brow. ‘Even though they are slaves?’
‘Yes, even so.’ Lady Anna’s voice was firm. ‘I do not believe they will be slaves for long.’
The wet-nurse’s jaw dropped. ‘The Princess is thinking to adopt them?’
Lady Anna’s gaze shifted and came to rest on a closed door, a slight frown formed on her brow. William wondered what lay behind that door, it seemed to unsettle her.
‘I believe so,’ she said. ‘When the Princess joins us, I am sure she will make her wishes plain.’
‘Yes, my lady.’
‘In the meantime, Sylvia, do your best for the children, you are in charge.’
Sylvia curtsied. ‘Yes, my lady. It is an honour to be serving the Princess. I shall not let her down.’
Giving the wet-nurse a look that William was unable to interpret, Lady Anna returned to stand by his pallet. Her expression was troubled, something in her exchange with the nurse had wiped the smile from her face. William could not imagine what might upset one of the Princess’s ladies, and he wasn’t going to dwell on it. The key point was that, finally, Daphne and Paula had come to a safe harbour. At last he could leave them, freedom was within his grasp.
William had a vague recollection of the Princess murmuring in his ear at the slave market, he was uncertain whether it had really happened. He might have dreamed it, but a chilling echo was sounding in his mind …
‘I have bought you for Lady Anna,’ the Princess had said. ‘It is she who owns you.’
Did he dream it? Did a mind fevered with exhaustion and ill treatment put words in Princess Theodora’s mouth? Did Lady Anna own him? He rubbed his temple. He was a knight—he should never have been enslaved in the first place! If only he could think straight …
‘Lady Anna?’
‘Yes?’ As she stood over him, the breeze from the windows pressed her gown against her body, briefly presenting him with a glimpse of a remarkably alluring body. Outside the seagulls screamed like lost souls.
William asked the important question, the only question. ‘My lady, am I a free man?’
Lady Anna nudged a cushion closer and, sinking on to it, folded her hands in her lap. ‘Are you a free man? It is true that the Princess bought you at my behest, but—’
‘Why?’ Months of suppressed fury made his voice curt. ‘Why did you ask her to buy me?’
She caught her breath and startled grey eyes looked warily at him. ‘Why? Because … because …’
‘What do you want of me?’ It was not this woman’s fault that he had been enslaved. She was not his enemy, indeed, she appeared to be helping him. Yet she had insisted that the Princess should buy him. Why? He gestured at the maidservants, the marble tables, the silken hangings. ‘You are not short of slaves here. What do you want of me?’
She recoiled. ‘I have not decided.’
Her back was straight as a poker and her eyes had lost their warmth. William hadn’t really noticed that warmth earlier, but now that it was gone … His heart clenched. The contrast with the confiding way she had taken her place at his side and this cold grey gaze could not be more marked. However, he had to know—Lady Anna must want something from him. Why waste money on a slave, if all she was going to do was free him? ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Do? At present you do not have to do anything … except recover. I do not intend to keep you, if that is what you mean. Of course, I cannot free you officially until the Princess has signed the document of ownership over to me. You will have to wait for that. I may have a simple task or two for you, but as I said, I am undecided as to whether you are … suitable. However, as soon as I can, I shall give you your document of manumission.’
‘You expect me to believe that you are going to free me?’ It was hard to keep the scorn from his voice. In William’s experience, people who offered favours always expected a sizeable return. Always. The price for a favour as large as this—his freedom!—was bound to be high. Not that he intended to be around to pay it. He was curious though, about what use a gently bred court lady might have for a Frankish slave.
She shrugged. ‘As you rightly observe, I have no need of you in the long term. I shall free you once the Princess has signed you over to me.’ She frowned in the direction of the closed door. ‘You must bear in mind that she must sign your documents before you may be freed.’
Lady Anna’s expression was earnest, she sounded convincing. It was tempting to believe her, tempting to think that he had at last met someone who was capable of putting others before herself. He shook his head. Much as he might wish it, life had taught him that only a saint would behave in such a way. ‘Slaves are generally bought for the long term. This simple task you have in mind must be of some importance.’
She flushed, her lips pursed. It was obvious she was not prepared to divulge the nature of the task she had in mind. It might be dangerous. And though Lady Anna did not strike
