Sheen on the Silk - Anne Perry [209]
Anna broke out in a sweat. Whatever happened, she must not move or make the slightest sound. If he knew she was here, he would kill her, too. Her nose itched. Her mouth was dry. Still the intruder sat silently by Zoe’s side.
Then she heard a footstep outside the door, a brief knock, and the door opened. The intruder moved toward the tapestry like a shadow.
Anna turned as the door swung open and Thomais entered. Only then did Anna see, in the widening light, that one of the windows was not fastened.
Anna stirred, as if just waking up. “I’ll come and get a little wine,” she said sleepily to Thomais. “Can you find me some cakes? I’m hungry.”
Anna walked over to the door, not even glancing at the shadow beyond Zoe’s bed where the intruder had melted into the corner. He would not hurt Zoe, and if Anna was out of the room for a few minutes, he would leave as he must have come, through the window into the night.
She must see that from now on all the windows and doors were more carefully barred.
Two days later Zoe opened her eyes, puzzled, frightened, unable to speak. She tried, but the words were garbled, animal sounds. Thomais tried offering her a pen and a piece of paper. She gripped the pen awkwardly, made a few scratches on the white surface, and gave up.
Helena was informed that her mother was awake but unable to speak. She came, stared at Zoe with a strange pleasure, then turned and left. It was after she had gone that Zoe spoke her first comprehensible word. “Anna …” she said clearly.
It was a slow task. By evening, Zoe had managed a few more simple words and names, requests, movement that was a little more coordinated. Anna looked at the terror in her eyes and in spite of herself felt a sharp pity for her. She wished Zoe could have died simply, at the first blow of the apoplexy, rather than inch by inch like this.
And Anna also knew that if she recovered, the intruder would be back, and Zoe would give the order for Giuliano to be murdered. If she could not stop Zoe, perhaps she could find the intruder and stop him. There was only one man she could trust and who had the power to help—Nicephoras.
It was late and raining hard when she reached the Blachernae Palace, and it took her several minutes of argument to persuade the guard to allow her in and then to disturb Nicephoras to receive her.
He looked troubled; his face was grave, still heavy with sleep, his beardless cheeks soft. “What is it?” he asked anxiously. “Is Zoe dead?”
“No, she’s not dead,” Anna replied. “In fact, she may recover completely. Her progress is very rapid, and she has a will of iron.”
Briefly, Anna told Nicephoras of the intruder, his assumption that Zoe could hear him, and his promise to kill Giuliano as soon as she gave the word. “He is trying to provoke a rising in Sicily, against Charles of Anjou … I think,” she added. “But Giuliano Dandolo is an ally, not an enemy. If we destroy those who serve us, or allow them to be destroyed, we will not find many wanting to help us next time we need them. And there will always be a next time.”
Nicephoras smiled. “From your description, it has to have been Scalini. I will not allow Dandolo to be killed—at least not at Zoe’s behest. What else happens to him in Sicily is outside my control. I think Scalini has now served his purpose. And he is Zoe’s creature, not ours.”
“Is he?” she asked quickly.
“Oh, yes.” His expression was bleak. “But I know where to find him. He will not leave Constantinople, I promise you.”
“Thank you,” she said with profound gratitude. “Thank you.”
Zoe continued to recover. In another few days she could form sentences, although many words still eluded her. She began to eat and to drink all the herbs Anna mixed for her. Surprisingly, she was a good patient, obeying every instruction, and she progressed accordingly.
Two weeks after her initial attack, the four Skleros brothers publicly declared