Chapter 35

I woke up relaxed with the sound of the window opening - and the smell of coffee. Maybe that was why my internal warrior had not warned me. I hoped that it was so - or then you just could easily kill me in my sleep if you had a cup of coffee with you.

What surprised me a bit was that Ignatia wasn’t at all ashamed to move naked around the room even as one of her maids was preparing the breakfast, cleaning the room and changing the stained sheets. The middle-aged woman took a good look of my naked body, too, before pointing out the bowls filled with warm water, the towels and robes obviously meant for the two of us. It was clear that I had been totally blindsided and even if Ignatia had promised to explain what was happening here and why she had had something much more important to do last night.

At some point, the maid said something to Ignatia which made her laugh and waved her finger to her maid before looking at me.

“Lavinia, here, asked if she can have you if I get tired of you. I said that there’s no hope of that, I intend to take a full use of you as long as you are here.”

Now there was some sadness in Ignatia’s voice that I hadn’t noticed there yesterday and it seemed to extend to those dark eyes. Yesterday had been like a dream for me - and maybe it had been like a dream for her, too. That was something to consider.

“If you are planning something like that, can I have my breakfast first, my princess? Based on last evening I will really need it.”

Of course, Ignatia translated my words to her maid which caused some more laughter at my expense. I didn’t mind that, women had made fun of me several times before. The important thing was that some of that sadness disappeared from those dark eyes.

The following two weeks didn’t feel really real to me. During the days I was either negotiating deals and discussing the products that we would carry up north or else I was in some event together with Princess Ignatia, playing my part as a successful merchant willing to invest in the Sicels economy and products. In either case I felt that I was totally out of my depth there, but I did my best not to let it show. One of Ignatia’s maids was always with us, acting as a translator since I didn’t dare do business with Romance, even if I learned enough phrases to be nice and polite to the people we met.

During the nights I got a crash course in local politics and the part the local Royals played in it. The world where women were merely minor pieces in a real-world game of chess, soldiers that were used to gain some local advantage and something that could be sacrificed without hesitation. Very seldom they got a second chance like Ignatia - luckily her cousin, the King - knew how bright she was and refused to abandon her because of the marriage she had been first forced into. Now, because of me, she could have some of her former status back - and most importantly, she could now have some official status as a Royal financial adviser.

There was also some other activity that happened mostly during the nights - even if it did take place inside a closed carriage and a few other places during the day. As she said, she was going to take full use of me as long as I was here.

That was the point - she knew that I wouldn’t stay, that I had obligations towards my own people, that I couldn’t stay. Ignatia even visited our ships and was surprised to see some women there. At least we managed to keep their real identity hidden, but from some looks that I got I knew that a certain ‘Sir Stianelder’ would have his ears burning most of the time during our way back - and a certain boatswain was already making the list of the nastiest jobs he could put one particular minor Noble to do.

One morning there was a messenger from the ship asking to see me.

“Stian - I mean Sir. There was an incident on Vana.”

“What kind of incident? Is somebody hurt?”

“No, nothing like that. There was an intruder who came on a boat from the sea. He must have climbed to the ship using the anchor cable...”

“What happened? Did you catch him?”

“No. He managed to jump to the sea and they saw that the boat disappeared. But not until he saw some of the stuff we were loading - and that we also had women on board.”

Ignatia had politely been looking away, but now she turned towards the man who had come from the ship.

“What did he look like? The man from the boat? Did he look normal or was there something special?”

“The man had a bit darker skin than you, princess. He also had some strange cloth around his head and his pants also seemed a bit odd.”

I had no idea that princesses can curse at least as well or even better than sailors. My vocabulary in Romance increased at least by several words. Words that I probably would never be able to use anywhere. I raised my eyebrows and looked at Ignatia. During the last two weeks I had learned quite a lot about her - and also something about myself. If I had first wondered if Ignatia could have killed her first husband herself; I didn’t wonder anymore. Without doubt she could have - but I didn’t ask. According to what I had heard about him he really had it coming and I might even have been happy to help Ignatia.