The Burning Stone
“But her skill made her enemies among some of the churchfolk. Later, a deacon came to the skopos’ palace in Aosta and laid charges against Biscop Tallia, saying that the biscop had indulged herself in base sorcery. This deacon claimed to have taught the young Tallia, and testified that she had been forced to flee when she discovered the terrible practices of murder, augury, and blood sacrifice that Tallia and her companions used to work their will upon others, even upon the emperor. By this time Taillefer had put aside his later concubines and married the young Radegundis as his fifth wife. Although he was still hale and hearty, he was quite old. The young queen pleaded with him to let their marriage be like that of the angels, fulfilled in mind only, but in time she became pregnant and her body was irretrievably stained by the touch of the Enemy, which is mortality.”
“But how do we know that angels feel no desire—!”
“I have not yet done.” Anne did not need to raise her voice. Liath bent her head obediently, but anger burned inside her. Of all the things she had done in the two years since Da’s death, marrying Sanglant was the only one that rang utterly right in her heart.
She smiled slightly, but only as a gesture to show she had finished. “Both Desideria, who wanted dominion over the world, and the skopos Leah, who wanted dominion over the arcane knowledge of sorcery but could not master it herself, envied those who had what they most desired. Desideria poisoned Taillefer in the body, and Mother Leah poisoned Tallia in the church. That is why desire is a sin, because it allows the Enemy to hook claws into our skin and drag us down. We cannot ascend to the Chamber of Light as long as we are burdened with desire. Do you understand what I am saying, child?”
“You say that Desideria ended the reign of Taillefer and his descendants. But there’s one question you yourself asked that your story didn’t answer.”
Liath grinned sheepishly and sat back down. She had been listening so intently that she hadn’t noticed Sanglant lounging at the door at the borderland between cool magelight and the black of night.
“‘Did I say that those were the only legitimate male children born to Taillefer?’” He ducked his head under the lintel and came inside, but was careful not to sit next to Liath, although he could not have distracted her any more than he did whether he sat a hand’s breadth or a chamber’s breadth from her. She was so painfully aware of him, his physical body, his presence, the way he flinched at unexpected noises and tried to cover his reaction, his habit of scenting, like a dog, as he scouted out the lay of the room. He found the half-warm bowl of stew, settled down cross-legged, and set the bowl on his knee.