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was a view sr had longed for all the time she crossed the mountains! and the
deserts of Asia. Ingrate that she was, now she 1 longed for the mountains that
she would never see] again-and the freedom that went with them.
She laid a thin hand on her breast. A note rustled" beneath her hand. Last
night one of her servants had; smuggled it in to her from the
Varangians' barracks. Haraldr had resigned from the Guard, and he planned to
:
leave Byzantium. Colored sails moved slowly over the water, and she studied
them resentfully. Surely that small one belonged to a Rus merchant, come to
sell furs and amber. Haraldr would leave her on just such a boat-maybe on that
very one.
Weeks of interrogation by her brother, his suspicious ministers, priests, and
generals had kept them apart.
She had seen Haraldr once, the disastrous time they had allowed her to appear
in the Hippodrome. The crowds had hailed her as Basilissa; she had been
hustled back to her quarters, prisoner because of her popularity; and now it
didn't look like they would let her go anywhere else in a hurjbbity . . .
except back to the convent she had fled. She could feel its walls closing in
on her, as if her yellowed bones already lay in the crypt. She gasped for air.
She had forced herself to glance idly over Haraldr's note, then fold it as if
it meant nothing to her.
She had wanted to weep and to pace, then stalk through the palace and ask
Haraldr what he thought he was doing. But the women's quarters did not work
that way, not in Byzantium, not in Ch'ang-an, and probably not anywhere else
where they had women's quarters. If she had had Siddiqa here, the girl migh
have advised
Alexandra. As it was, Alexandra relied on guile, flattery, and gold to hire a
messenger and to ensure privacy if Haraldr answered her summons.
If he stayed away, was it because he did not dare to come-or care to?
Her fingers worked at the throat of her gown. There was not enough air
anywhere in this palace for her! Her weeks back in the City she had longed for
had cost her her serenity and the sure power she had gained in
Shambhala. Now they would cost her the one man whose love and loyalty she had
thought were absolute. She drew a gasping breath, then walked slowly back
inside.
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If she wept in the garden, spies might report it to men who tried to undermine
her brother's trust in her. They had heard her reject even a regency, but they
did not believe it. Well, if she hadn't been the one who swore she had no wish
for the diadem, she didn't know if she would have believed it either.
Footsteps in her suite made Alexandra whirl around, her hand trying to clench
on the hilt of a sword she no longer wore. The eunuch she had bribed nodded to
her, a complicit gleam in his eyes. She raised her brows until he bowed with
more respect, and oozed his painted, scented self out of her rooms.
Then, and only then, did she dare to look at the man whose fair hair blazed in
the light of the windows. He had changed the crimson and the axe of the
Guard for blue silk that matched his eyes, and a richly chased dagger on a
belt clasped by a gold buckle the length of her hand. Haraldr's face was taut,
the way it usually got before a battle. She would never be able to stop
looking at him.
"My princess," he greeted her, then stood quietly.
That very quiet robbed her of speech. He acknowledged that she had a right to
summon him, to storm, spit, or rage at him, as she chose-and that it would not
alter his decision in the slightest.
His mere presence made her feel more at ease.
Even
I
Susan Shwartt now Haraldr meant warmth, loyalty she could trust. As she
relaxed, he cocked his head slightly and smiled atf her.
"Haraldr, why?" As the words burst from her in anf anguished whisper, her
hands went out to him.
Swiftlyl he caught them in his own, kissed them, then drew her! into his arms.
His hands rubbed along her shoulders. She] could feel the tension in his body
pass into her, then bar dissipate as the embrace reassured them both.
Finally he held her away from him and looked down:
into her face. "The Guard swears loyalty to the
Emperor.
I
But you hold my oath now. How can I serve your brother?"
He pulled her close again, more roughly this time.
"When I heard the whispers, that they feared you would try to seize control
..."
"Haraldr, I don't want it!" It was a low-voiced protest.
"They will never believe you. Once I realized how my presence in the Guard
might endanger you, I
resigned. I am moving in with the merchants soon.
I shall probably leave on the next ship."
His hands held her as if she were precious to him, and she felt herself
warming. "How could you endanger me?"
she asked.
He gave her a little shake. "You know the history of your line. Whenever a
princess takes a soldier to her bed, it usually means she wants to seize the
throne. You know that. You, though: 1 know you are trying to convince the
court that you have no such plans.
Isn't that why you agreed to return to your convent?
Besides," he said, brushing his bearded lips against her forehead, "I didn't
want to pine away for an abbess."
"I am not an abbess yet," she murmured.
"Haraldr, I don't want you to leave me."
"Then come with me," he urged and bent to kiss her.
"Come north. I can show you ice that floats on the sea's back, bubbling pools
of mud, and boiling water that spurt into the air. I could set you to rule men
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and women who would trust you at your word."
In his own land, Haraldr was almost a prince, she recalled. "It won't work,"
she tried to say, to explain that if she fled Byzantium for the North, her
brother would almost certainly expect a war.
"They'll send an army," she began, but he shook his head, and his lips
smothered her protests. She clung fiercely to him, then broke away.
"Not here," she whispered. Taking his hand, she led him to her bedroom. Very
gently, he tugged the headdress from her braids and removed her jewels.
Then he loosed her hair so that it flowed down over his hands as they
unfastened her clothing, and covered her in the moment that she stood naked
under his gaze. She removed his belt, and flung it aside before he lifted her
and laid her on her bed. Then, as she watched, he pulled off his own clothing.
"It's good to have a proper bed instead of sheepskins, and no enemy outside,
isn't it?" he asked her as he lay beside her and brushed her hair off her
shoulders. It was too hard to keep from touching him, so she didn't try. She
flung her arms about his neck and pulled him down to her.
"We have time, sweet one," he told her. "Here, let me . . ."
He stroked her body, then cupped her breasts and rubbed her nipples with
callused thumbs until she gasped, and his caresses slid over her belly and
thighs. When she reached for him, he taught her how to please him with lips
and fingers. Then he embraced her strongly, and rolled until her body lay
impaled on his own, and they both cried out in pleasure.
"Come away with me," he muttered against her neck, twining his fingers in her
hair so he could look at her. Then he kissed her deeply, deliberately seeking
to rouse her again.
Alexandra closed her eyes, drowning in the waves of pleasure that washed over
her. His hands and lips moved over her again and again.
There had been mischief in his gaze, she thought.
Did he really think that he could seduce her into following
Susan Shwar
him blindly? Well, he was welcome to try. She laughe and accepted his body's
persuasions with joy, matchii him touch for touch, until they lay spent in
each other'] arms.
When the haze of passion that had wreathed then both thinned out and returned
them to the world, asked again, "Will you come with me?" She hadn*ful imagined
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