To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [337]
She said, ‘You know what our marriage is like? You know we compete?’
A war of attrition, Gregorio had said. And Gregorio was not a doctor. ‘Yes, I know,’ Tobie said.
‘And you think us both childish. Perhaps we have both begun to think so, as well. Recently, we took a decision to end the competition this winter.’
‘And end your marriage?’ Tobie asked.
She noted his professional voice, and laughed. ‘Will it harm Nicholas even more, you are wondering? I don’t know. Whoever prevails on the day of reckoning will determine the fate of our marriage. And Nicholas, it seems, is even more anxious than you. This letter asks me to consider advancing the date.’
‘Why?’ Tobie said. ‘Or as you suggest, is it just from impatience?’
She smiled again. ‘I should like to think so, but no. He is assigned to the Emperor’s household, and unsure what will happen, or where he will be asked to go next. October in Trèves is not so very far short of December in Bruges, where he expected to be. He suggests that, when the Duke receives his reward, so should he.’
‘So he is certain of winning?’ said Tobie.
‘He is always certain of winning,’ said Gelis. ‘It is why he plays. And victory never brings him contentment, because he always chooses to play the wrong games.’
‘I saw the Nativity Play,’ Tobie said.
The smile vanished. She said, ‘I am not going to lose him to that.’
‘So who decides which are the wrong games?’ Tobie said. ‘You, if you win?’
‘I am going to win,’ Gelis said, and got up. The letters were crushed in her hand.
Tobie said, ‘Well, I shan’t try to stop you. Was that what you wanted to know?’
‘You couldn’t stop me,’ she said, and walked out. Looking after her, he felt both exasperation and pity. He wondered how in God’s name the outcome of a contest was supposed to create a bearable, never mind a lasting relationship. Unless, of course, the seeds of it were already there, and the implacable rivalry was not what it seemed.
Nearly fifteen hundred years old, the city of Trèves had once, for ten glorious years, been the capital of the Roman Empire of the West, and the home of the Emperor Constantine and his mother St Helena. Trèves had been attacked by the Franks and the Vikings, but her past could still be discerned: her two greatest churches marked the sites of Constantine’s holy basilicas; the southern gate occupied the ruined Imperial Baths; and the northern port was close to the great Porta Nigra, the massive original entrance, twelve hundred years old, whose upper tiers, ninety feet high, dominated the city.
At the peak of its fame, eighty thousand people had inhabited the great marble city of Trèves: its Prince-Archbishop was one of the Empire’s Electors, and Imperial Diets were held in the halls which, very soon, would be occupied by the Emperor Frederick and his train. Over the years, the throne room of Constantine, roofless now, had been transformed into a spacious central courtyard, its apse forming a tower, and its mighty walls of red brick provided with wall-walks and defences. Around the courtyard and beyond it were ranked the lodgings, the service rooms and the guest-quarters of the Archbishop’s Palace. To these, Nicholas came with his men.
His reception by the Archbishop was muted: Jean de Baden knew all about Trojan horses, and so did his brother the Margrave. Please the Electors, Hugonet had reiterated, and Nicholas did his best, in between acquainting himself with the town, and the Archbishop’s household, and those officials of the Emperor who had arrived ahead of their prince. He was not going to run about painting anything. He was merely going to supervise certain small helpful devices, decorations, performances and martial and musical diversions carried out by his own expert staff and agreed beforehand with his Archiepiscopal and Imperial colleagues.
The last person of the advance party to join them was the most decorative, and also the most unexpected: the former Gräfin von Hanseyck. Julius, his arm proudly about her, brought her into the room that they shared. ‘Look! She hired a bodyguard and came straight