“Go on,” he said, although she had not yet said anything.
“You know of that skill called the Eagle’s Sight?” she asked.
No flicker of surprise or distaste marred his expression. He remained masked with dignity. “My father told me certain things known only to the heir. Indeed, it was Wolfhere who brought the trick of the Eagle’s Sight to your company. Did you know that?” She did not, and he must have recognized it from her expression because he went on. “For that and many other things my father honored Wolfhere and made him his boon companion. But I know otherwise. What did you see?”
“This, Your Majesty. First, a woman I believe was Princess Theophanu, interviewing a man who called himself Brother Heribert. That same Heribert, I believe, who was sent to Darre with Biscop Antonia and who vanished with her in the avalanche that I myself witnessed. I was curious what might have become of them—” But she broke off, struggling back to the warp of the tale. The king remained silent, listening. “The princess said that Lord John Ironhead was marching in pursuit of Adelheid, and that he had been crowned king of Aosta.” Henry grunted, like a man kicked in the stomach, but said nothing. “Brother Heribert told the princess that he had shortly before been with Prince Sanglant—” Now she had his attention fully, and she didn’t like it. “But that the prince was somehow prevented from following him. Heribert said that the prince would want him to travel on to you, Your Majesty. He had a child—”
“Brother Heribert had a child?”
“Nay, Your Majesty, forgive me. Brother Heribert said that Prince Sanglant had had a child by Liath.” She clenched her jaw, waiting.
Henry narrowed his eyes to slits and shook his head, as when the child who claims to be too clumsy to hunt comes home with the first boar of the season. “God help me for having sired such a stubborn son. If I could get Adelheid for him, then there would only be Ironhead to drive out, and the child he needs to prove his fitness is already born.” After a moment, he remembered her. It was terrible to be focused under that gaze. She had never realized his eyes were such a complex shade of brown, veined with yellow and an incandescent leaf-green. “What other news can you bring me of my son? Where is he?”
“I do not know, Your Majesty. I saw no landmarks, nor do I know whether they spoke indoors or out. But Heribert said one thing more. He said that Liath, and the child, were descended from—”
A gate opened, and Biscop Constance emerged into the garden, saw her brother, and began to walk toward them.