“Can King Claude be so avaricious?” King Wenceslaus raised his eyebrows, and she heard an insincerity in the tone of his voice, as if he was mocking her.
“I’m afraid he can, Your Majesty. I can understand if you need to look into these matters yourself to see if what I say is true, but I fear if I am not able to thwart King Claude’s plans very quickly, my people will be forced into the mines, and many will perish.”
“And what do you propose I do to help you save them from this fate?”
“I ask that you give me a letter telling King Claude and King Leandre, my father, to cease forcing the people of Montciel to work for King Claude in his mines. I would ask you to send men—fighting men, soldiers—with us to Montciel to ensure he doesn’t ignore your letter.”
“You must think he doesn’t respect me very much if you think he might ignore my directive.” He stared hard at her.
What could she say to that? That King Claude was very arrogant, which was the truth?
King Wenceslaus suddenly laughed. Had she misunderstood something? She had not heard anything amusing.
“The truth is,” King Wenceslaus said after his laughter subsided, “many nobles don’t respect me very much. They are angry that I haven’t resolved the papal schism and eliminated one of the two popes who are dividing everyone’s loyalties. They think I should have gone to Rome to be crowned the Holy Roman Emperor. They are arrogant and easily offended, and I can do little to control them.”
He wasn’t going to help her. O God, have I come all this way for nothing? All the blood seemed to drain from her face.
“So you will not help us?”
The king gave a half shake of his head. “I did not say I would not help. Truthfully, I am inclined to believe everything you say about King Claude. Complaints have reached me, even this far away, about how he treats his own people, so I have no doubt that he would treat an adjacent kingdom’s people just as poorly. And I have another reason for not liking him.”
Abruptly, King Wenceslaus called a guard over to him and whispered close to his ear. The guard bowed and hurried away.
“When my sister, Anne, traveled to England to marry King Richard, she passed through Valkenfeld on her way. Instead of welcoming her and counting himself honored to show her his hospitality, Claude required a toll from her to travel through his kingdom.”
“Oh my.” This was arrogance even Elyce would not have expected of Claude.
“She paid it, but as you can imagine, the incident left a bad taste in my mouth.”
“I can well imagine,” Elyce said sympathetically.
Was he softening toward her? Would he help her after all?
“My brother Sigismund, the Margrave of Brandenburg, would probably help you. But Sigismund, I’m afraid, is located well north of here. It would be inconvenient and add many days, even weeks, to your journey. But there are several noblemen between here and Valkenfeld whom I should imagine would be pleased to offer a letter, as well as two or three dozen soldiers to send with you in order to tweak the nose of the arrogant Claude of Valkenfeld.
“I would suggest visiting those and doing what you can to secure their help. I myself will have to confer with the captain of my guard, but I believe I will be able to assist you with three dozen of my trained soldiers, as well as a sternly worded letter that perhaps will be enough to help persuade Claude that oppressing your people is not in his best interests.”
Elyce’s heart soared. This was as much as she had dared to hope for, and much more than she had been expecting after the king’s previous words.
“Sup with me tonight and I shall have a letter ready for you. You may stay as long as you wish, but if you are eager to hasten away on the morrow, I shall understand.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty. I am most grateful.”
“And your knight from England, Sir Gerard, shall be in charge of the soldiers.”
Sir Gerard bowed. “Your Majesty.”
“You may go, and I shall see you tonight in the Great Hall for supper.”
Elyce’s entire body thrummed as they made their way back to her room. She spoke in a loud whisper to Sir Gerard. “I cannot believe he was so gracious. At first I thought he did not mean to help me at all.”
“You are so earnest and forthright, I believe you won him over. He could not help but admire your desire to do what is best for your people.”
“That is very kind of you to say, but I believe it had more to do with how much he dislikes King Claude.”
“Are you always so humble, deflecting praise?”
Elyce thought about it for a moment. Praise had been a rare occurrence in her life. But instead of telling him that and risking sounding pathetic and asking for his pity, she said, “I am truthful.”
“You were very impressive. I only had to stand there and look like a fierce fighter.”
Elyce laughed, then covered her mouth.
“Do you doubt my fierceness in battle?”
“Oh no, of course not.” But Elyce was still smiling.
Sir Gerard had a smile on his lips. He had been trying to make her laugh, far from being offended by her laughter. How refreshing to be around someone with a lively and self-deprecating sense of humor.
“I suppose we have nothing to do the rest of the day until supper. I think we could all use some rest after . . .”
Sir Gerard was looking at her so strangely, she stopped in mid-speech.
“There is a garden adjacent to the castle. It’s covered in snow, but there are some statues and walking paths. Would you like to explore it?”
“Yes, that sounds relaxing. A pretty garden. But I believe I should change my dress. I don’t want to drag this hem through the muddy snow.”
They stopped at Elyce’s door. Sir Gerard said, “I will knock on your door in half an hour.”
“I shall be ready.” Elyce went into her room and shut the door.
He wanted her to explore the castle garden with him! Could it be? Could he be in love with her?
She was being silly again, imagining he was in love with her when he’d only asked her to take a walk.
“What did King Wenceslaus say?” Ysa’s eyes were wide as she waited to hear.
“He will send three dozen men and a letter.”
“That is good, is it not?”
“It is, very good. Help me get out of this dress. I’m going for a walk in the castle garden.”
“Oh? Did the king invite you?”
“No, Sir Gerard.”
“Is that wise? To be alone with him?”
“We will be in the garden. What do you mean?”
“I only mean . . . that is, you do not think he is trying to woo you, do you? After all, he is a foreign knight and you are the Princess of Montciel. You cannot possibly marry him.”
“Why should we not marry?”
“My lady?” Ysa’s already wide eyes widened even more.
“He is a good man, from a noble family, brave and true. How much better to marry a good man like Sir Gerard than someone like Count Rodrigo, who cares naught for God’s laws?”
Ysa stared at her with open mouth. “You cannot be thinking of marrying him. Even if you love him, you must think of what’s best for Montciel.”
“That is exactly what I have been thinking of, the people of Montciel. If I married Rodrigo, it would not—”