Treasury, or if it is you, most discreetly, of course."
Eirene smiled, a faint flush in her sallow cheeks. Anna had the sudden thought that there was much truth in Zoe's remark, and the fact that she perceived it was not entirely displeasing to Eirene.
Conspicuously, Helena said nothing.
Anna became aware that Zoe was watching her, half smiling.
"Do we bore you with our talk of doctrine and politics?" Zoe asked her. "Perhaps we should ask Demetrios for some tales of his Varangian Guard? Colorful men, from all sorts of barbarous places. Lands where the sun shines at midnight in the summer, and it is dark all winter long."
"One or two of them," Demetrios agreed. "Others are from Kiev, or Bulgaria, or the principalities of the Danube, or the Rhine."
Zoe shrugged. "You see?"
Anna felt herself blushing. She had not been listening. "I was thinking," she lied. "Realizing how much I still have to learn of politics."
"Well, if you've learned that, I suppose you have achieved something," Helena said waspishly.
Zoe did not hide her laughter, but there was a crackle of ice in her voice when she turned to Helena. "Your tongue is sharper than your mind, my dear," she said softly. "Anastasius knows how to dissemble, and mask his intelligence with humility. You would do well to learn the same trick. It is not always wise to appear clever." She blinked. "Even if you were."
Eirene smiled, then instantly looked away, and the moment after, Anna found her bright, clear eyes fixed steadily on her, curious and interested.
Helena was talking again, looking at Demetrios.
Antoninus might have loved her because he alone could find the tenderness in her. Anna had no idea what they might have shared. Helena might suffer alone now, not daring to let anyone else see, least of all her mother or this other clever, ugly woman who carried such hurt in her face.
Anna looked across to where Helena was standing with Demetrios. She was smiling, and he appeared self-conscious.
"He is beginning to look like his father," Zoe observed, glancing sideways at Eirene, then back at Demetrios. "Have you heard from Gregory lately?" she continued.
"Yes," Eirene said tersely.
Anna saw that she stiffened, her body becoming more angular just in the way she stood.
Zoe seemed amused. "Is he still in Alexandria? I see no reason for him to remain there now. Or does he believe we are going to be decimated by the Latins again? I never knew him to care a jot about the intricacies of religion."
"Really?" Eirene said with raised eyebrows, her brilliant eyes ice cold. "But then perhaps you did not know him nearly as well as you imagined."
The color was brighter in Zoe's cheeks. "Perhaps not," she agreed. "We had some wonderful conversations, but I cannot recall that they were ever about religion." She smiled.
"Hardly the circumstances conducive to matters of the spirit," Eirene agreed. She turned to look at Demetrios again. "Yes, he does look like his father," she said. "A pity you did not have a son... by any of your... lovers."
Zoe's face tightened as if she had been slapped. "I would not advise allowing Demetrios to admire Helena too much," she said softly, in little more than a whisper. "It could be... unfortunate."
Eirene lost the last trace of blood from beneath her skin. She stared at Zoe, then turned with a freezing look to Anna. "It is agreeable to make your acquaintance, Anastasius, but I shall not be availing myself of your services. I do not put potions on my face in a desperate attempt to cling to youth, and fortunately my health is excellent, as is my conscience. Should it not be, I have my own physician to consult. A Christian one. I have heard that you use Jewish remedies on occasion. I prefer not to. I am sure you will understand, especially in these strange and disloyal times." Without waiting for Anna to reply, Eirene nodded briefly to Zoe and took her leave, Demetrios following after her.
Helena looked at her mother, appeared to consider picking a quarrel over the issue, and decided better of it. "So much for your further clientele," she said to Anna. "I don't know what you were hoping for, but Mother seems to have made it impossible." She smiled brightly. "You will have to seek your business elsewhere."
Anna excused herself also and left. There had been no possible retaliation she could afford to make, dearly as she would have liked to.
She spent a long evening turning over and over in