Katy couldn’t help being curious about this exchange, but neither royal appeased her curiosity by continuing. Instead, King Steffan turned his fierce expression on her.
“You. You’re the girl who spins?” he demanded.
She nodded. “Ye—” Pausing, she whisked the ribbon from where it was stuck on her lower lip. She felt her cheeks heating. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“And your work is of the highest quality?”
Brow furrowing, she replied, “Yes, Your Majesty.” It felt like bragging to admit such before the king, but he’d asked, and it was true.
A smug grin spread across his face as he settled against the tall back of his throne. “Good. Then I will take the balance of my principal now.”
“Your—what?” she responded blankly, failing to connect the statement with the questions.
His grin widened; it reminded her of a cat stalking a mouse. “Your father, Josef of Flussendorf, owner of the mill there, did borrow a substantial sum of money from the crown six years ago for the purpose of purchasing a flock of sheep and a spinning wheel, did he not?”
Katy felt the blood drain from her face. “Yes,” she whispered.
“The balance is now due.” He said it firmly, heavily, his eyes boring into hers.
“But I’ve paid the interest!” she protested, taking a half step forward. Her chest heaved as she clasped her hands so tightly infront of it that her knuckles whitened. This couldn’t be happening! “And I’ve paid as much of the principal as I can. We haven’t defaulted!”
His hazel eyes glittered. “If your father’s words are to be believed, you must be living quite well if you can’t pay more than you have. That much gold would more than cover the debt.”
“G-gold?” she stuttered. Her hands dropped an inch as she struggled to keep up. “What are you talking about? We don’t have any gold.”
King Steffan leaned forward. She stepped back a little in response; his eyes seemed as wild as her hair. “The gold you spin your wool into.”
The king wasn’t just volatile. He’d lost his mind!
“I-I don’t know where you received your information, Your Majesty, but I assure you, there’s been a mistake,” she stammered. Shrinking back, she hunched her shoulders and wrapped her arms around her waist. “I can’t spin wool into gold. No one can. It’s impossible!”
Beside her, the guardsman was as stiff as a board, his expression the blank one that only trained guardsmen could maintain in the face of such a statement. Up on the dais, Queen Carina was giving her husband a sidelong look, her hands folded neatly in her lap and her lips pursed. She didn’t do anything to halt the madness, though.
“Your father says you can. What is more, he blames the crown for his need to borrow money in the first place.” The king’s voice was rough in his anger. He gripped the armrests of his throne as he stared her down. “Therefore, I am calling your debt. The balance is due in full. Immediately.”
“But I—” Katy cast her eyes to the queen, pleading silently for help. Queen Carina set her left elbow on the armrest and rubbed her fingers slowly together. “We are poor. There is noway we can pay more than we already have, let alone the balance!” She licked her dry lips before continuing. “The price of yarn is down, and I barely scraped together the money for the interest this winter. If there had been less flax, I wouldn’t have accomplished that much.” Clasping her hands once again, she held them at her waist before dropping to her knees in desperation. “Please, I do not understand why you wish us to pay now, but I beg you, let us have the time originally agreed upon. Please!”
She bowed her head, her loose hair bushing out around her face. Her hands were trembling, but she couldn’t stop them; her father had accepted too much money. He’d paid off several other debts with the money he’d borrowed from the crown, and he’d bought sheep ready for shearing at a time when sheep were costly. Now the price of yarn and wool was down, which meant the animals were also worth less. To raise the necessary funds, her family would have to sell everything they had. Including the mill.
But then they would have nothing left, not even a place to live. Mother was too weak to live without shelter, and she couldn’t assume that her cousin’s family would – or could – take them in. Fritz would probably propose, but Klaus had been conspicuously absent for several weeks, so Adele would be dependent on the family even if Katy could throw herself on Fritz’s kindness. And who would seek to court either of her sisters if they were penniless?
“Please,” she begged once more, her voice barely a whisper through her tight throat. Her eyes were closed, but she doubted she could have seen clearly if they were open. “Don’t do this.”
The guard shifted next to her, but she couldn’t take comfort in what might be a sign of compassion for her. Not when this mad, uncaring king had just ruined her family over a drunken statement. He hadn’t yet ordered her from the throneroom, but neither had he offered mercy.
Finally, the king spoke. His voice still had a self-satisfied edge to it. “I will not rescind calling your father’s debts. He failed to show appropriate respect for the crown, and that must be dealt with.” She covered her bent face with her hands. “However, Iwilloffer you a deal that will let you pay it off.Ifyou can complete it.”
“Anything!” Katy said eagerly, lifting her head and springing to her feet. She caught the amused and not-quite-nice glint in his eyes, but she was too concerned about her family to care. “I’ll do anything!”
Leaning back once more, the king studied her over his steepled fingers. “Tonight, you will spin wool. Tomorrow night, flax. The night after that, straw.” Katy started to relax; she’d never tried to spin straw, but she had plenty of experience with wool and flax. Although why would he… “If you spin the material into gold each night, I will admit the truth of your father’s claim, and I will cancel his debt as a wedding gift.”
“Wedding gift?” Katy choked out.
“Yes,” he replied with a raised eyebrow. “When you marry my son.”
The queen’s head jerked toward her husband, her eyes wide as her arm slipped off the armrest. “Steffan?” she exclaimed.
He didn’t respond. The king’s narrowed eyes remained focused on Katy, waiting for her answer.
