‘I believe the Despoena is unwell, sir.’
It was not quite a lie. Bartolomea had confessed to Anna the day previously that her courses that month were severe. Damian shrugged. He drank some wine and leant forward to fork a quail on to his plate. As he ate, he nodded absently at arriving guests who bowed to him as they came into the room.
‘How many rooms does this house have?’ he asked at last.
Anna was taken aback. She’d never counted them. ‘I don’t know. Twenty?’
Damian considered this, looking through the large windows either side of the room at the two other wings of the house. ‘I think not,’ he said. Then he added, ‘You will find our palace very spacious, and cool inside.’ He drew a cloth from his sleeve and began to mop his brow.
Anna had never met anyone so rude. Was this the man with whom she was to spend the rest of her life?
‘I look forward to counting its rooms,’ she said. ‘I’ll bring my abacus.’
Damian looked up quickly. A small spot of colour had appeared in each cheek. But Anna had turned away.
There was laughter in the room and she could see Alexis’s fair head rising and falling as he made his way towards them, stopping to greet friends. His charm washed before him like water over pebbles.
‘Sister, will you introduce me?’ Alexis was standing over them, his hand extended and a smile of untinctured friendship on his face.
Damian didn’t get up. He only slowly put out his hand and said, ‘I hear you’ve met the Prince Suleyman.’
Alexis grinned. He took the seat next to Anna. ‘Yes, out on the plain. He seemed quite taken by Anna. Perhaps you should watch him.’ He laughed, unaware of the cold look that Damian was giving him. and added, ‘I hear you have some extraordinary horses at your stud. Now that you’re to be married to Anna, I wondered …’
But Alexis didn’t finish his sentence because the look that Damian was giving him was full of such venom that even he couldn’t fail to notice it. What on earth had he said wrong?
But Anna had realised. ‘Alexis, Damian has a twin sister famed for her beauty and as yet unmatched. I’m surprised you’ve not yet found room for her in the conversation.’
Alexis looked back at Damian. He seemed to remember something and reddened. ‘I shall be honoured to meet her,’ he said quietly. ‘I hope the four of us will be friends.’
If the prospect of this friendship seemed attractive to Damian, he hid it well. He merely beckoned to a servant for more wine. Then he yawned. ‘I find myself more tired than I thought.Perhaps I might be found one of your … twenty … rooms in which to rest for a bit before the inevitable speeches?’
With some effort Anna controlled herself. ‘Of course.’
As Damian limped away behind a servant, brother and sister turned to look at each other.
‘Perhaps it’s just tiredness,’ said Alexis lamely. ‘I get like that sometimes.’
‘You? Never.’ Anna was staring at the back of the man she was to marry. ‘He’s just unpleasant. How can I live with that? ’
‘I’m only fifty miles away,’ Alexis said softly. ‘I can be there whenever you need me.’
Anna looked into those good, brave eyes, eyes that wanted so badly to see equal good in the world. How did she deserve such a brother? She leant forward to whisper in his ear: ‘It doesn’t matter what he’s like. With you in my life, I can always know love.’
The following morning was as bright as its predecessor and a gentle breeze stroked Anna’s hair as she rode through the gates of Mistra on the first part of her journey to her new home.
The cheers of the crowds were still ringing in her ears as she steered the pretty palfrey that Damian had presented her with that morning down the hill towards the plain. If truth be told, she’d have preferred to ride her own horse but she could hardly refuse such a gift, and anyway the Mamonas horses were famous throughout Christendom. She patted the speckled roan