Read Online Borne in Blood by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - Free Book Online Page B

beautiful day! I thought we wouldn’t get any spring again this year. Last year was so dreadful, it was troubling to think what might lie ahead. Yet here it is, sunshine and warmth, and not quite the end of May.”
    “Two hard winters in a row have burdened everyone, from farmer to housewife. It will be some months before the land can be restored, assuming the improvement continues.” Ragoczy indicated the fallow field beyond where they stood. “I hope Herr Kleinerhoff is able to bring in all his crops this year; I hope all the farmers of Sacre-Sang do.” The last year had been almost a total loss for Augustus Kleinerhoff, and this year promised little improvement with the late arrival of spring and the poor display of developing fruit in the trees. “He will have to plant soon, and trust that the autumn is not an early one.”
    “All men with fields must share that trust, not just those of Sacre-Sang,” said Hero. “You must have some concerns yourself, Comte.”
    He shook his head, his dark eyes fixed on a distance only he could see. “Not so many as those whose fields are their livelihoods. I have shipping companies and other businesses that can sustain me through times of hard weather. Although shipping also suffers in hard years.”
    “You also have forcing houses—nine of them,” she said with a tight little nod. “You can bring in cabbages and chard, at least.”
    “Remember that two of my forcing houses were damaged by ice,” said Ragoczy. “They will need to be repaired shortly, or be useless this year.”
    “Climate dictates all,” Hero said fatalistically. “When my father visited Egypt, he said that the people there suffered for the harshness of the climate: heat instead of cold, dry instead of wet. I remember many flies, and, because we were the only Europeans in the town, my step-mother and I had to wear veils whenever we went about.”
    “It is the custom,” said Ragoczy.
    “Yes; my father said so, as well. I wish it had been otherwise.” She glanced toward the mountains rising around them. “There have been avalanches this year, more than in most years.”
    “There is a build-up of snow on the slopes; with more snow there comes more avalanches.” He started along the fence, helping her to pick her way over the uneven ground.
    “No doubt you’re right,” she said, concentrating on where she stepped.
    “If you would prefer to seek out the road?” Ragoczy offered.
    “No. It is just as muddy as this field, if not more so.” She smiled at him once more, but there was more sadness than merriment in her expression. “Since Fridhold died, I keep thinking of how many perils are around us, and all the time. A beam becomes a bludgeon, a carriage becomes a death-trap, an open fire becomes a conflagration. I know it is foolish, but anything can distress me, from an unguarded fire in the grate to a sagging branch on a tree. I see danger in the field, and I see danger on the road.” For more than a minute she neither moved nor spoke, but then she said, “If you had not taken me in, I have no notion what would have happened to me.”
    “Your father would have provided for you,” said Ragoczy, resuming their progress across the field.
    “His second wife would not want me in their household, and he is not rich enough to provide for two households and his expeditions as well. Men of his profession spend their money, such as it is, on their expeditions, not on their comforts and families. He would have had to arrange a marriage for me, or a position as a governess, or a teacher at a girls’ school. At worst I would have had to become the nurse for some ancient relative, one whose body or mind was gone; I know from my days with Ortrude that I lack the patience for such continual employment; the few months I cared for her were sufficient to show me that. I try not to dwell upon it, but sometimes—” She sighed. “And the Graf—well, he might pay me to keep away from my children, but not