Betrothed to the Barbarian. Carol Townend

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СКАЧАТЬ scant regard for formality, as the ball hurtled across the turf. Duke Nikolaos was General of the Athanatoi Cavalry and Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army, but he had made it clear that in this practice session, he was playing with friends. He was not on his warhorse today. Hermes was small and light-boned. Hermes was built for speed.

      ‘Niko.’ Another player leaned out of the saddle and took a wild swipe at the ball flying beneath his horse’s hooves. Missing the ball, the man righted himself with difficulty.

      ‘Damn you, Niko,’ he bawled, as his general trotted from the field.

      Nikolaos swung his mallet over one shoulder and grinned. ‘A thousand apologies, I have business to attend to. In any case, I fear the girth is going on this saddle.’

      A chorus of shouts and groans went up. ‘We’re a man short.’

      ‘Curse it, Niko, you can’t retreat mid-game.’

      ‘Keep practising,’ Niko said. ‘There’s less than a month before the tournament—the tournament, I remind you, that the Athanatoi shall win.’ He gestured at a lad standing with the reserve horses on the edge of the field. ‘Zeno?’

      ‘General?’

      ‘Take my place, will you?’

      The boy’s eyes lit up and he vaulted on to the back of one of the horses. ‘Gladly. Thank you, my lord.’

      ‘It’s your first time in the field, isn’t it, Zeno?’

      ‘Yes, General.’

      ‘It looks like a game and so it is. But one word of warning, it’s a ruthless one. Take no prisoners. Those miscreants …’ with a grin, Nikolaos jerked his head at the men he had assigned to the opposite team ‘… will show you no mercy. Remember that, and there’s a chance you will keep your seat.’

      ‘Yes, General.’

      Nikolaos swung from the saddle, tossing the reins to Elias. His stallion’s brown coat was flecked with foam. ‘You delivered my message?’

      ‘Yes, my lord.’

      Elias looked troubled. One of the reasons Nikolaos had kept Elias as his manservant for so long was that he never dissembled or lied to him. And that, as Nikolaos had learned, was a rare and precious quality. ‘Don’t tell me, the Princess is still ailing?’

      ‘Apparently so, my lord.’

      A cypress at the edge of the polo ground was swaying slightly in the onshore breeze. Nikolaos scowled at it. ‘That’s twice I’ve sent messages to her apartment. I take it you saw no sign of her this time either?’

      It had occurred to Nikolaos that Princess Theodora might be hiding from him, but that would seem absurd. She was an Imperial princess and the former Emperor, the man who had married her aunt, had approved their marriage.

       She could not have taken a dislike to me, since we have never met.

      Elias was shaking his head. ‘Not as much as a glimpse, my lord. All I saw was a handful of maidservants and a guard assigned to her apartment. Other than that her chambers were quiet.’

      Nikolaos tapped his thigh with his mallet. ‘You left my message with the guard, I take it?’

      ‘Yes, my lord.’

      ‘What regiment was he?’

      ‘Varangian.’

      Nikolaos grunted. ‘Should be reliable. Did you get the man’s name and rank?’

      ‘Kari. A trooper.’

      ‘Very well. My patience is wearing thin, but I shall give the Princess till this afternoon to respond. And then, if she continues to ignore my existence, I will have to speak to His Imperial Majesty. Our betrothal was made at the behest of his predecessor. Perhaps Emperor Alexios has decided he has other plans for her.’

      Removing his gloves, Nikolaos tucked them thoughtfully into his belt. He could not decide whether Princess Theodora’s illness was genuine or whether it was an excuse designed to keep him at a distance. Nikolaos wanted this marriage. He had seen other men’s careers blighted by innuendo and rumour and he was determined that was not going to happen to him. Marriage with an Imperial princess was a great honour, it would bolster his position at Court. Was it possible that Emperor Alexios had changed his mind?

      Turning his back on the polo field and the turreted wall that protected the Great Palace from both sea and invasion, Nikolaos began walking towards the stables. Elias and Hermes kept pace. ‘It is odd, though,’ Nikolaos said, raking a hand through windswept brown hair, ‘you would think that His Majesty would have mentioned any concerns he has over my marriage arrangements when I was asked to organise the polo tournament.’

      ‘Didn’t he confirm that your marriage was to go ahead shortly after he was crowned?’

      ‘He did, he did indeed. Why, then, is the Princess so elusive?’

      ‘I do not know, my lord. Perhaps she really is unwell.’

      ‘Or a reluctant bride,’ Nikolaos said. ‘Think about it. First, she refused to return to Constantinople when the old emperor summoned her from Rascia, and when she does return, she hides away like a nun.’

      ‘You should give her the benefit of the doubt—she could really be unwell, my lord.’

      Nikolaos gave Elias a straight look; he and his manservant had been together since Nikolaos was a boy and there was a strong bond of affection between them. Nikolaos could discuss anything with him. Nikolaos’s gut tightened—well, almost anything. ‘I have been giving her the benefit of the doubt for some days,’ he said, drily. ‘It occurs to me that Princess Theodora has no wish to marry.’

      ‘You cannot assume that, my lord.’

      ‘True. I am ready for this wedding to take place, Elias, but if my bride is reluctant?’ Nikolaos grimaced. ‘Lord, no.’

      Nikolaos wanted this marriage. It would signal to the world that he was firmly ensconced with the new regime. And he wanted it soon, before anyone else got wind of his mother’s unexpected confession.

      I am illegitimate.

      The man Nikolaos had always thought of as his father was the late Governor of Larissa, Governor Gregorios. But according to his mother, Lady Verina, Gregorios was not his father. Nikolaos had received his mother’s confession as something of a body blow; her marriage to Gregorios of Larissa had seemed blissfully happy. They had been the perfect, loving couple with Governor Gregorios idolising his wife. And Nikolaos would have sworn the affection had not been one-sided, his mother had given every appearance of adoring her husband in return. The intense grief she had displayed at his death could not have been mere pretence. And yet …

      I am illegitimate. I have no blood ties with Governor Gregorios.

      Dear God, better men than he had their careers wrecked because of their birth. That would not happen to him.

      ‘Will you ask His Majesty for another bride, my lord?’

      ‘I СКАЧАТЬ