Unbidden (The Evolution Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

cloak of fine wool. A cream linen tunic hung to his thighs, cinched at the waist with a hide belt carrying two worn leather scabbards that contained blades, one at least double the size of her little eating dagger and the other ten times the size!  His legs were covered with brown wool braies and soft leather boots that rose over his ankles. All well made and of the finest materials, but simple. It forced one to examine the man instead of the wrappings. And such a man. Even though she’d already decided not to like him, she had to admire the way God had put him together.
    He spoke . “Can we begin walking?  We are in danger of being late.”
    She sniffed, unembarrassed at being caught in the midst of evaluating him . She’d learned to take her time when faced with a new person or situation. “Of course. Perhaps I have gotten a bit turned around,” she said. She let him take her elbow again to guide her through the crowded streets and was not too proud to admit her relief, at least to herself. She knew her own estate backwards and forwards but found Aix-la-Chapelle completely overwhelming. She’d never dreamed there were so many people on the whole earth, much less in one city. Streets seemed to converge every few steps, and there were obstacles everywhere, everything with it’s own disgusting stench and cacophony of noise. Garbage and carts and street vendors and gutters of liquid in which she wouldn’t let her pigs wallow. Alda was a sweet-smelling paradise compared to Aix.
    She glanced uncertainly at this David from Bavaria . He seemed completely at ease as he carefully negotiated around a particularly noisome pile of rubbish. His profile was actually rather handsome, with a prominent brow, straight nose, and a strong jaw. His light brown hair fell over his forehead and curled at his ears and neck, which was ruddy from the sun and thick like an ox’s. And he walked uncommonly fast, being tall and long-legged. He was big too, like a good ploughman but obviously ….not. Oh, why were her thoughts so inane today?  If she could only get through this interview she’d be free to go home, away from all this confusion. Perhaps she wouldn’t feel so harebrained if she knew what the interview was about.
    He walked at a pace that normally would suit her perfectly, but she could see the palace walls looming ahead, much sooner than she had hoped . He glanced at her. Now his eyes had gone softly friendly, which she found even more unnerving. His mouth opened a few times as though he wished to speak, then clamped shut again.
    As they passed through the south gate of the palace wall, she saw a great square bounded by the four buildings of the palace . She stopped. “Oh my,” she breathed as she turned slowly to take it all in. The complex sat on at least 20 hectares. “I came only to the wall yesterday. I did not even look in the gate.”  She’d been afraid to leave the street for fear of getting disoriented and lost, though she’d never admit it.
    David nodded . “I am almost as new to Aix-la-Chapelle as you, but Theo has told me a little about the palace.” He pointed to their left at a stone octagonal building with several wings jutting off of it. “This is the palatine chapel. That building next to it along the west side houses some barracks and the judgment hall. Directly ahead of us is the aula palatina. That is where we are going. And to the east is the emperor’s residence. Do you see how the gallery connects everything together?  Nobles do so hate to venture under the sky in bad weather.”
    She smiled politely as she stared at the aula palatina.
    “Your mother has not told you the purpose of our meeting?”  David asked . His voice was low and gentle, for her ears only, and a little shiver skittered down her spine.
    “No, she has been quite vague . Do you know?”  She looked at him intently now, his use of the word ‘our’ not lost on her.
    He nodded, his countenance serious . Her heart plummeted.