With You Here by Sarah Monzon

Author:Sarah Monzon [Monzon, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Holy Roman Empire, 1527

“Is it your habit, princess, to wake before the sun and depart your bedchamber to…where precisely?”

Christyne swallowed back a scream as her blood froze in her veins. The door had barely closed behind her before the voice in the shadows spoke.

That shadow turned, the silhouette small and lithe.

A woman.

She should have known the speaker from the soft pitch of her voice, but fear blocked all thought. Woman or no, danger still presented itself. Sat on her bed. Beckoned with a hand.

“Come. My curiosity has plagued me these past minutes. The garderobe is there, and your mannerisms around the landsknechte the day past leads me to believe you did not depart your rooms for a dalliance with one of those men.”

Christyne stepped to the center of her chambers but stopped short of joining her father’s intended atop the bed.

Clare picked at the woven bedclothes, her light hair swept to the side, braid trailing one shoulder. What little illumination the predawn brought sought out the golden threads of her mane. She looked up and captured Christyne’s gaze with her own.

“Was it for the dissenter you risked leaving your chambers in the dark of night? Are you aiding the man?” An earnestness coated her words and a spark lit her eye. A spark of hope.

The same that flickered in Christyne’s own middle. Clare had not named the man a heretic. She had not cried out for his blood. Did her sympathies lie with those that followed their conscience, or did she, like Christyne’s father, remain loyal to Pope Clement, Emperor Charles, and the Roman Catholic Church?

The woman upon her bed sighed. “You are wise not to trust easily. Pray tell, did your father inform you as to how our betrothal came to be?”

Christyne cleared her throat. “I assume by the manner in which these things often happen. He offered for you.”

Clare barked a humorless laugh. “Nay. ʼTis punishment to my father and reward to yours.”

“Pardon?”

“The Diet of Speyer. Did you hear of it?”

She thought back. Her father did not inform her of the workings of their state nor the empire as a whole. What she knew, she’d gathered through Hette and what the maid overheard from the servants, or what she herself could stumble upon through straining her ears past closed doors. Though she knew of the imperial city of Speyer, she had not been made aware of a Diet taking place in that city.

“The Edict of Worms? Surely you have heard of that at least?”

Christyne nodded, though with the lack of light, the other woman may not have seen the slight movement to indicate her answer. “An edict by the emperor sentencing Martin Luther to death and outlawing both the man and his writings.”

“As well as penalizing any who are found to be in possession of his writings. Unfortunately, the emperor has had a difficult time enforcing his edict. Martin Luther still lives and breathes, and his works spread like a plague. His Majesty’s words, not my own, I assure you.

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