The Black Swan Read Online Free PDF

properly manipulated. She could not go hunting such girls herself; for this, she needed help. Fortunately, that help was close at hand.
    She summoned one of her ladies from the outer room where they sat over their embroidery and sewing. “Bring me Uwe, the minstrel,” she ordered. “I have a headache.”
    The lady bowed and silently left the room. In a reasonable time, Uwe appeared, bearing his lute, with an expression as calculatedly bland as Clothilde’s own.
    Uwe owed everything to Clothilde: prosperity, fame, and above all, security in his position. That, for a minstrel, was above price, for he knew that even if he became ill or old and useless, he would retain all he had now. He was, gratifyingly enough, one of those who knew how to gracefully acknowledge his debts without being disgustingly servile. In public, he showed the same face as every other minstrel—a sort of poetic arrogance, a barely veiled scorn for all those who could be made or broken by a carefully worded song. In private, he was wholly and completely Clothilde’s creature.
    He sat down on a stool conveniently near Clothilde’s chair and began to play, but not to sing. That was for the benefit of her ladies in the outer chamber, for the sound of his playing would cover their quiet conversation.
    â€œI have a task for you, one that will entail some traveling,” she said softly, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes, in order to better feign the headache she had claimed.
    â€œThat presents no problem,” he replied, just as softly. “Command me.”
    She saw no reason to hedge her words. “Siegfried should be wed as soon as possible. I need you to find suitable candidates—of proper rank, with beauty enough to dazzle him, fragile and charming, utterly brainless, and possessing wills of butter. But above all, they must be maidens who will be more than happy to be advised and counseled—ruled, in fact—on all things by their so-considerate mother-in-law.”
    He chuckled, a sound that he covered with a particularly intricate fingering passage. “To be presented at the prince’s coming-of-age celebration? An excellent and most thoughtful plan; surely he will fall helplessly in romantic love with at least one. Siegfried should be proud to have a mother so considerate of his welfare. How many?”
    â€œFour, I think. I will provide you with invitations to present to the parents, once you make your selection.” She curved her lips into a faint smile; it was so gratifying to have one person clever enough to understand what she required without having to be given every little detail. “I leave the rest in your hands.”
    â€œI live to do your will,” he responded, as she had known he would. “Is your headache better?”
    â€œEntirely cured.” She extended her hand to him. He kissed it, then rose and took his leave.
    She watched him go with detached admiration. In her younger days, when he had first appeared at her court and caught her attention, she had enjoyed a brief affair with him. She had done so in order to have yet another hold over him, but had found it remarkably pleasurable on many levels. Pillow talk with Uwe had been instructive, and had contributed to her early success in winning over her nobles.
    She had been quick to notice when he tired of her, as she had known he would—and perhaps it had cemented his loyalty when she had let him go, indeed, had directed his attention to one of her ladies, and arranged for that lady’s husband to be elsewhere at opportune times for Uwe. That had been only the first of many such arrangements on her part, showing him that although she was a woman, she was not prey to the weaknesses of women; she had even presented him with an attractive and obedient servant—female, of course—so that he was relieved of the need to charm before he satisfied himself. From time to time after their initial