THE THREE LIVES OF CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING (#42)

As Told by the Holy Woman in Her Own Words
A Hundred or So Years after the End of the World

How I spoke with the Duke’s bear and saved the Duke from a plot

“Once upon a time Philip was a good man,” Belinda said.
We were sitting in her parlor that afternoon after the guards had brought me back.
“He saved this territory from bloody anarchy and brought many civil reforms,” she went on. “But the power he gained fused with his own deep insecurities to produce what you saw today. This creature known as the Duke.”
She stopped and took a sip of tea. “As for myself, I was childless. He keeps me near, but he’s renounced me. Though he honors our marriage for appearance’s sake, he has many bastards, including the children you see tending his animals.” She gave me a wry smile. “It really is a kind of miracle he wasn’t able to perform today.”
Embarrassed, I looked down. Belinda had had to pry to the story out of me.
“Christina, listen to me. I know Philip very well. Because he can’t have sex with you, he’s going to feel challenged. He’ll want to see you again. You have to use these meetings to reach his heart. I know it’s still there. For all our sakes you need to do this.”
And she was right, the very next day the Duke sent for me after lunch. I was taken straight to his bedchamber instead of the meeting hall. This time he was already there, seated at a desk near the window. To my relief he motioned for me to sit on a small couch as the guards withdrew and he busied himself with papers before turning to me. “So, Christina the Astonishing,” he said sternly. “What have you to say for yourself?”
I was silent a moment. Since the day before, I’d been reflecting on what Belinda had told me. She had planted the seed in my heart that the Duke might be the single person I was meant to save. Since he couldn’t engage with me physically, and since I was through showing off my powers, that meant my only means of persuasion were talking and example.

(to be continued tomorrow)