Valdir bowed again and retreated through the door.
Shaking his head, Rinaldo let out an aggrieved sigh. “Valdir Ridenow is a worthy man in many respects, but he is no better than his fellow idol-worshipers. He thinks only of the worldly advantages of the Federation. I fear his soul will be in grave peril unless he can be brought to see the truth.”
He sighed again and picked up the paper. “Meanwhile, I must attend as best I can to those already among the faithful. This—this cannot be allowed to continue!”
“Do you wish to give me any details, my lord?”
“Oh, you will know soon enough. You are well aware that DomnaLawton has been among our staunchest allies in bringing God’s true word to the people.”
“She helped you establish the Chapel of All Worlds,” Danilo said neutrally.
“Initially, I was glad of her aid in that enterprise, as well as her counsel in other matters. But she is so much more . . . I believe she is a true prophet, even a saint. Until I met her, I had no idea the Holy One might speak so clearly to one not of our world. Now I am sure it is true.”
Rinaldo gestured for Danilo to take the nearest chair. “Did you see the rapture that seized Lady Lawton at my wedding?”
Everyone in the room had noticed Tiphani Lawton’s odd behavior. In Danilo’s opinion, most of the guests thought it a bizarre off-world tradition for an unrelated woman to pray so dramatically over the head of the bride.
“Until last night, I dared not hope that the Bearer of Burdens might bless me with a sign of divine favor,” Rinaldo said, his voice resonant with ardor. “I was taught that miracles come only to those who believe without reservation. No matter how I strove for perfection, I always fell short. I could not rid myself of impure—ah, impious thoughts. Now, surrounded by every worldly temptation, I received an unexpected grace . . .”
He paused, perhaps on the brink of announcing that something amazing and miraculous had happened to him.
“Lady Lawton writes to me now. Oh, that such an affront should come to any of the faithful, but that it should be one blessed with mystical sight! It is insupportable!”
“Why, has some trouble befallen the lady?” Danilo asked.
“Her husband, that Terranan! Hehas befallen her! He has accused her—he suspects—it is too outrageous to contemplate!” Throwing down the letter, Rinaldo jumped to his feet and began pacing, kicking chairs as he passed.
“My lord?”
“Read it for yourself!”
Danilo picked up the letter. The paper was Terran manufacture, with the peculiar smoothness that no Darkovan mill could produce. The handwriting was atrocious by Nevarsin standards, as if each letter had been formed by a different child.
The letter was from Tiphani Lawton.
Through the misspellings and incorrectly formed letters, Danilo made out its substance. Dan Lawton had come to the conclusion that his wife’s visions were not divinely inspired, as she and Rinaldo knew to be the case, but represented a form of irrational behavior. Although she did not use the word insanity, Danilo could read between the lines. Dan wanted her to seek medical care, as if she were ill instead of blessed. She feared what the Terran doctors would do: force her to take drugs that would derange her mind and deprive her of divine guidance. She concluded with an appeal for help that was so overwrought as to be almost incoherent.
Irrational behavior,indeed. Danilo lowered the letter. Even if he had not witnessed her performance at Rinaldo’s wedding, her mental instability would have been clear from the letter. Meanwhile, what was he to do? What could he possibly say to make Rinaldo see sense? With Regis, he would have had no hesitation speaking his mind. But Regis would have seen through Tiphani in an instant.
“You see! You see!” Rinaldo snatched the letter from Danilo’s hands. “This is why I cannot listen to Valdir! He is in love with the Terranan, but I know them for what they are—idolaters who would suppress the truth!”
“Surely a reasoned answer is the best way to lull their suspicions,” Danilo suggested, certain that to storm into Terran Federation HQ and carry away the wife of the Legate, even with her willing cooperation, would be seen as a hostile act, one the Federation forces were fully empowered to answer.
“Yes, yes, of course. I must consider how to proceed.”
Calmer now after venting his feelings, Rinaldo lowered himself back into the chair. He placed his elbows on the polished surface of the desk and brought his fingertips together, echoing an attitude of prayer. He seemed so deep in thought, Danilo dared not interrupt him.
Then Rinaldo’s face brightened. “I cannot, I will notabandon her!”
“My lord . . .”
“Do not fear, I will not ask anything of you that is contrary to your honor.” Rinaldo inflected the word to sound like an insult. “The moment must be right . . . You will speak to no one about this. No one.”
“Su serva, vai dom.”Danilo bowed, a shade lower than necessary. Besides, who would he tell that the Head of Hastur and the wife of the Terran Federation Legate were caught up in a shared religious frenzy? Who would believe him?
Winter settled its grip on the city. Each day seemed shorter, bleaker and darker, as if the season hurried to its own death. The storms of autumn gave way to unrelenting cold. Temperatures plummeted, and layers of compacted snow blanketed streets and roof tops. A blizzard, the strongest anyone could recall, blew down from the Hellers. It swept through the Venza Hills to descend upon the city. Streets became impassable, even though crews of men struggled to clear the snow.
The walls of Comyn Castle kept out the worst gales, but the rest of Thendara was not so fortunate. Traffic through the city gates dwindled to a few desperate travelers. Those who reached Thendara brought reports of attacks on human habitations by starving wolves, human and animal, throughout the Kilghard Hills. Giant carnivorous banshees stalked the Hellers passes, venturing down from their usual territories in search of prey. In the city, many muttered that it was the worst winter in memory.
Marriage had not changed Rinaldo’s life in any way Danilo could detect. Occasionally, Rinaldo dined with his wife, but more often with Javanne and Gabriel. Javanne looked uneasy, as if she feared Danilo would think her a traitor to Regis by sharing a meal with his usurper. She was in an awkward position as Rinaldo’s sister and in her role as Castle chatelaine as well as the wife of the Guards Commander, who served at the pleasure of the Hastur Lord. As far as Danilo knew, Rinaldo had never spoken with Regis after the obligatory visit to admire the baby.
Rinaldo seemed immune to the weather. The monks at St. Valentine’s were said to be impervious to the cold, able to sleep on the glacial ice in their sandals and robes. Whether this was myth or a discipline of bodily control, Danilo did not know. Certainly, the monks did not mind the freezing temperatures as the novices and students did.
On all but the bitterest days, Rinaldo went into the city, wearing layers of fur and wool and stout lined boots. He did not insist that Danilo accompany him, but Danilo took pity on the poor Guardsman who would otherwise have had that duty and braved the icy streets himself.
Together they made a circuit of the new cristoforoshrines. Now that Rinaldo controlled the Hastur assets, he financed soup kitchens as an act of charity. Exultantly, he pointed out to Danilo how attendance at services had increased. Danilo privately thought these poor wretches were so desperate, they would sit through sermons from Zandru himself for a hot meal.