The Blood Countess by Andrei Codrescu

Author:Andrei Codrescu
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504015264
Publisher: Open Road Media

King Matthias was already very drunk when he arrived, three days before the wedding. He walked everywhere with his gold goblet in his hand, his long cloak sweeping through the halls as all fell to their knees and bowed until he passed.

Most of his wandering had to do with Franz. For no reason that Franz could discern, King Matthias had taken a great liking to him. “He is our only friend,” the king was often heard to say. This was not a good thing for Franz Nadazdy, who began noticing other noblemen’s narrowing eyes whenever they were discussing their common interests. Franz tried to reassure them—in vain—that he was not the king’s man. He even gave them to understand that he considered the king a drunken fool, but no one believed him.

Matthias, meanwhile, tried to have Franz at his side at all times. It was only with the greatest difficulty—by pleading the taxing duties of his role—that Franz escaped the king in the days before the wedding. Of course, Matthias immediately forgot Franz’s excuses and proceeded to look for him, shouting to anyone in his path that Franz was his only friend, that the bowed heads before him were but “empty gourds on a field of traitors.” The restless king paced the corridors like a ghost, stumbled over things, walked into privies, poked his nose into kitchens and ladies’ chambers.

In addition to shielding Franz from him, the castle attendants had the doubly difficult task of keeping the king from bumping into his archenemy Rudolf, who, happily for everyone concerned, came out only late at night, long after the king had been felled by food and drink.

The day before the wedding, King Matthias stumbled through the doors of Elizabeth’s rooms, which had been left unlocked by Teresa, an unbelievable oversight.

A great deal of activity was going on. A swarm of seamstresses, hatters, veilers, cutters, ironers, shoemakers, and assorted other attendants revolved around the young bride, fitting her for her nuptial dress.

The place was a madhouse, and the king went unnoticed until he had advanced almost to the center of the swarm, where the pale, delicate, and naked young countess sat on a blue velvet stool before the mirror.

When Elizabeth’s servants recognized the king, they fell to their knees on the floor and bowed like a wheat field bent by a strong wind.

Elizabeth, who had been looking at herself in the mirror, was left sitting on her stool while her servants lowered themselves all around her. She did not know what had happened, so she swung around to castigate the wretches who had so suddenly abandoned her, and found herself face to face with King Matthias II of Hungary.

Now, Elizabeth was faced with a great dilemma. There was no question as to the proper thing to do. She had to curtsy and then fall to one knee before her sovereign. Elizabeth became terribly conscious of her nudity and of the humiliating ritual that she was duty bound to perform. How could she rise, let alone move? Defiance and humiliation raced through her body like two burning flames.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.