Chapter Twenty-Two
Suzana had tried falling asleep after Konstantin and his men departed, but sleep had proven elusive, so she’d gone to the grody’s small chapel. Hours later, she still knelt there, holding a candle and praying for her husband’s safe return.
Most of the day had felt like a dream. A beautiful dream that she’d been pulled from the moment that knock on the door had come. And if Konstantin didn’t come back . . . it would turn into a nightmare.
She couldn’t tell how quickly the night passed; she only knew the party hadn’t returned, because the stables were across the bailey from the chapel. She’d hear the fall of hooves when they returned. For now, silence gripped the grody. The inhabitants and guests slept on, ignorant of the župan’s call to leave his bride on his wedding night.
If her husband did not return, Rivak would be vulnerable. No one would follow her leadership, not when she’d been Konstantin’s wife less than a day and had no child. They were unlikely to support Ivan either, not while he was young and frail and promised to Sivi Gora. Would Župan Teodore try to take the župa? And would Župan Nikola help him? The uncertainty swirled round, for her, for the family, and for the župa.
The clomp and thud of hoof beats sounded from the courtyard, strong and steady, moving faster than expected across the bailey. As she rushed from the chapel, a rider flashed past her, then dismounted before the keep and ran up the stairs.
A messenger bringing good news wouldn’t be in such a desperate hurry, especially when most of the grody’s occupants still slept. Konstantin had ridden with the men, so they couldn’t be rushing back to consult with their župan. A messenger now would be searching for Konstantin’s grandfather or his aunt . . . or his wife.
Risto waited outside the chapel, no doubt part of Konstantin’s increased security. “What does it mean?” Suzana asked as she darted across the bailey, terrified of what the messenger had to say but in desperate need of his information.
Risto kept pace with her. “I know not, my lady. Perhaps they need reinforcements.”
“If reinforcements were needed, wouldn’t the messenger have gone to the garrison? Or one of the other župans?”
Risto’s face fell. “Perhaps he brings ill tidings.”
That was what Suzana feared, and that fear was growing. If death had visited one of the men-at-arms, there would be little urgency to reach the grody before the main party. If something had happened to the župan, speed might mean everything.
A torch and two shadows appeared not far ahead of them as Suzana and Risto went to the corridor with the family’s rooms. They stopped outside Konstantin’s bedchamber and knocked gently. When there was no answer, they pushed inside.
Moments later, Suzana and Risto caught up to them: Dama Zorica and Bojan.
“What’s happened?” Suzana asked.
Bojan turned to her and bowed quickly. “Župan Konstantin has been injured. I rode ahead to prepare his treatment and warn you, my lady.”
“How bad are his wounds?”
Bojan’s chin quivered for a moment before stilling. “I pray he still lives.”
Horror and dizziness washed over her. Her legs felt weak, like they could no longer fully support her. Konstantin might be alive, and if he was, he would need all the help she could give him. And if he was not alive . . . then as his widow, she would need to look to the concerns of his family and his župa. “Is there a physician?”
“The last physician did not return from Maritsa. I stopped to wake Magdalena, Miladin’s wife. She’s stitched up several members of the garrison over the last few years.” Bojan glanced at his own arm. “She’s coming here.”
Dama Zorica excused herself to wake the servants. Risto set to work arranging the bed linens.
“How did it happen?” Suzana asked.
“The brigands set a trap. A pit like hunters might use to capture large game. Konstantin fell into it. The staves didn’t pierce him, but part of the side collapsed and buried him. We had to dig him out. He . . . he wasn’t conscious when I left, but he still breathed.”
Suzana put a hand on the hearth to steady herself. “Were they targeting him when they trapped him in the church and when they drew him into a pit?”
Bojan moved his shoulders in frustration. “I’m not sure, my lady. I wasn’t there either time. That’s twice I haven’t been there when he’s needed me.”
“He needs you now. We have to assume he’s still in danger. As is his family.” If Konstantin were killed, the role of župan might fall to Ivan, and despite the boy’s courage, he remained an easy target.
“The brigands were all killed. Miladin’s group finished them off while the others dug out Konstantin and I oversaw the battle against the fires.” His tone spoke of disapproval for his role.
“Someone hired the man who threw me in the river. He could have hired the brigands too. He remains a danger.”
Bojan stared into the fire chamber’s dying embers. He added a few logs and used the fire iron to coax them into a steady burn. “The attempts on your life seem a long time ago. I hadn’t thought to connect them, but you’re right. It’s best we assume a threat remains.”
“We need extra guards. For Konstantin. And for Ivan.” Suzana couldn’t let anything more happen to either of them. Rivak’s garrison had been working so hard for so long. The German mercenaries were still unknown, untrusted, but Konstantin and Ivan’s grandfather might step in. Blood was involved, and his heir. “If we need more men, we can ask help of Sivi Gora.”
Bojan nodded. “I’ll ask Župan Đurad to lend us a few guards.”
As Bojan left, Jasmina and Dama Zorica entered carrying water. Bojan and Jasmina drew away for a moment, long enough to say a few words to each other and for Jasmina to place a hand on her father’s shoulder. A woman Suzana recognized as Miladin’s wife came not long after and requested more light and hotter water.
Between tasks, Dama Zorica put her arm around Suzana’s shoulders for a quick embrace. “If this will be too hard for you, you don’t have to stay.”
It would be hard; she could sense it. But not knowing, not being there—that might be harder.
The scuffle of boots sounded in the hallway and grew louder. Miladin and Grigorii carried Konstantin between them. Suzana resisted the urge to run to them and stayed out of the way while they placed her husband on his bed. He was barely recognizable. Dirt and mud coated him, and in some places, the layers were thicker and soaked with blood.
The bedchamber swarmed with activity, but Suzana caught the worried looks that passed between Miladin and Magdalena.
“You had best remove the armor and everything else so I can see the damage,” Magdalena said to Miladin, Grigorii, and Risto. Dama Zorica and Jasmina prepared the water, and Suzana remained frozen in the center of the room.
Her husband’s face showed little emotion when awake and none now, but that might have been because dirt and mud cloaked it so completely. Grigorii tugged off one of Konstantin’s boots, then removed the other. His displeasure at the current situation was easy to pick out, as was Miladin’s concern.
“What happened to the brigands?” Dama Zorica asked.
“We caught them by surprise.” Miladin pulled Konstantin’s tunic free. “One or two may have escaped, but none we caught survived long enough to question.”
Magdalena examined the swollen, discolored skin that lined Konstantin’s side. Suzana felt herself sway. His skin had been perfection when he’d pulled the same tunic on not so long ago. Grigorii took her elbow. “You look like you ought to sit down, my lady.”
She let the satnik guide her to the trunk. “Has he ever had an injury like this before?”
Grigorii glanced at his župan. “A rival for rule of Rivak once tried to kill him, but . . . I think this is worse. He’s never before been buried alive.”
Buried alive. Suzana felt as if she could barely breathe. “Will he recover?”
“Magdalena will have a better idea than I do.”
Miladin’s wife was currently stitching closed a gash on Konstantin’s shoulder. Suzana thought it unwise to interrupt. She glanced at Konstantin. She’d once been frightened by his power, but now it was his vulnerability that had her terrified.
Suzana woke when a crack of sunlight shone on her face. She lay near the hearth, on the same cushioned bench where Konstantin had kissed her only the evening before. She couldn’t remember falling asleep, but someone had covered her with a blanket. Last she remembered, Magdalena, Miladin, Grigorii, and Dama Zorica had been sitting with her husband. Now Lidija perched on the bed beside her brother, and Jasmina and Bojan sat on a trunk across the room. All eyes fixed on her as she sat upright.
“How is he?” she asked.
“He hasn’t woken.” Lidija’s voice wobbled, and she quickly clenched her jaw shut.
Konstantin lay in the bed’s center. Suzana stood and approached him. He’d been washed the night before, and then the bed linens had been changed so he could rest without the grime from the pit. The bruises along his face seemed darker now, as did the ones on his shoulders. The rest of his body was covered by a blanket.
Suzana sat on the side of the bed opposite from Lidija and studied her husband’s face. The scab on his lip had darkened. She brought a finger gently to his mouth, felt the air move with each of his breaths, and remembered her promise to let him kiss her again. Slowly, she lowered her head and kissed him gently on the forehead.
“What does he need?” she asked.
Lidija blinked away a tear and shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Suzana wasn’t sure what her husband needed, but she could sense what her new sister-by-marriage needed. Suzana stood and walked around the bed, then drew Lidija into an embrace. One sob escaped, and then a slew of them racked the girl’s body, as if she’d been holding it all in and was now free to grieve. She was scared for her brother. Suzana was scared for him too.
She told Lidija what she most wanted someone to tell her. “He loves you too much to leave you so soon. Time and prayers. That’s what he needs.”
Perhaps that was what Konstantin needed, but Rivak needed leadership, so as the day passed, Suzana discussed security with Bojan and hosting responsibilities with Dama Zorica. The boys remained away, distracted by the new bodyguards arranged by Župan Đurad. Konstantin remained unconscious through several changing of the guards and three visits from Magdalena and Dama Zorica checking his bandages.
Suzana’s feet felt heavy as she stepped toward the hall for the evening meal. She would have rather stayed by Konstantin’s side instead of dressing in formal clothing and going to supper, but failure to appear at the meal would signal to all that the župan and his župa were in grave danger. Giving Rivak the appearance of strength would do her husband more good that evening than sitting beside his unresponsive body.
Miladin stepped to her side when she entered. “May I escort you to your seat, Dama Suzana?”
She nodded. As they crossed the hall in full sight of the guests from the wedding, she felt all eyes on her. “Have you heard anything I should be aware of?”
“Župan Nikola will leave tomorrow morning, as planned. Župan Dragomir had intended to leave after this meal but has offered to stay longer, if that would be suitable. Župan Đurad says he cannot stay indefinitely but can extend his visit for some time, if that is your desire.”
“And the mercenaries?” Suzana and Konstantin had planned to discuss their hiring today. Suzana hoped she wouldn’t have to make that decision without Konstantin’s input. Ulrich and Otto looked like competent warriors, but she hadn’t seen them in action, and even if they were proficient with their weapons, it didn’t mean their entire company would be as skilled. And loyalty, too, was vital. Assuming Konstantin recovered, could she trust them with her husband’s life when he went to fight for the sultan in the spring?
“They will want a decision by the time Župan Đurad leaves. Has Župan Konstantin woken?”
“Not yet, but that does not need to become common knowledge.”
“No one will hear it from me, my lady.” Miladin seated her at the head of the women’s table.
Župan Nikola approached her and gave a bow of respect. “My condolences, Dama Suzana, and my hopes for your husband’s speedy recovery. Please know that I am at your service should you need anything.”
“Thank you.” His sentiment was right, but she didn’t fully trust him. When tempted by Župan Teodore, he hadn’t said he would refrain from trying to seize Rivak if Konstantin were killed, only that it would be dishonorable to do anything against Miroslav’s son before a crisis emerged. Now that crisis was here. With Župan Teodore some distance from Rivak and Župan Nikola near its heart, would he take the opportunity to turn events to his benefit?
Župan Dragomir and Dama Isidora came to greet her when Župan Nikola went to the men’s table.
Župan Dragomir helped his wife into the seat beside Suzana’s, then said, “We will pray for Župan Konstantin’s quick recovery. I would have ridden out with him had he asked. We stand with Rivak, and with your family, regardless of what happens.”
“Thank you.”
“What do you need?” Dama Isidora asked.
Suzana felt herself smiling. She needed the meal over quickly so she could return to Konstantin’s side, but that might show weakness, and that would be dangerous. “I would be grateful if you and your contingent could stay until tomorrow afternoon.”
Dama Isidora ran her fingers across the table linen. “Župan Nikola is leaving tomorrow morning, correct?”
“Yes.”
Župan Dragomir nodded. “We will stay until he has left and all his contingent has faded from view. Longer if needed.”
Next Župan Đurad visited her. She supposed he was family now, but she’d always been intimidated by the combination of his stern face, powerful status, and fierce reputation. Overhearing his opinion of her—a girl who was too young to know her own mind—had done little to lessen the uneasiness. Yet he was their surest ally, and he was responsible for her marriage to Konstantin. Even if Konstantin never recovered, his influence had changed her for the better, and she would be forever grateful to the severe župan for his role as matchmaker.
As she turned to the župan, she tried to maintain a face as devoid of emotion as her husband’s normally was, but she wasn’t sure she’d succeeded. “Miladin said you might be able to extend your stay in Rivakgrad. I would be most appreciative of your presence for a while longer.”
“When the snow covers the top third of the mountains.” Župan Đurad gestured to the north, and though she could not see the peaks through the grody walls, she knew the landscape. “I can stay that long, but no longer. I am also willing to leave a few of my men behind until spring as bodyguards for my grandsons.”
Suzana locked eyes with the župan, waiting for the catch.
“I can do the same thing next winter, and in the spring, they’ll bring Ivan to Sivi Gora for the summer.”
Ivan and Danilo sat with men who were not part of Rivak’s garrison. They seemed happy. But this wasn’t her decision to make. “I will pass your offer on to my husband when he is recovered.”
One of the župan’s eyebrows moved ever so slightly, as if surprised she hadn’t immediately agreed to his offer. He glanced at Ivan. “Very well.”
Dama Isidora leaned next to Suzana’s ear as Župan Đurad walked to the head of the men’s table. “I don’t think he is used to people who do not immediately acquiesce to his plans.”
Suzana felt heat rising along her neck. “I won’t hand Ivan over unless Konstantin believes it is a good decision.”
Dama Isidora smiled. “You did no wrong in putting the decision off. I only wish to point out that the župan is used to getting his way. Except from Konstantin. And now, from Konstantin’s wife.”
Suzana prayed she would remain Konstantin’s wife and not his widow.