Karl fully intended to get drunk.He’d nearly finished off one bottle of brandy and was intent on starting another when he’d overheard laughter in the hallway.
He’d stumbled to the door, intending to slam it shut.But then he’d seen Lieutenant Thorpe standing in the corridor, forcing a woman forward while guards approached them.The woman’s face had haunted his nightmares.
Frozen, he’d stared at them, only half-hearing the revelation that the laughing woman was his mother, the king’s mistress.He’d not seen her face in years, but the memory of her cruelty struck him to the bone.
For so long, he’d believed the visions were bad dreams.But they had been real.
The viscountess had come to visit him, inspecting him and ordering him to stand up straight.When it wasn’t enough to meet her standards, she’d locked him in a cupboard, screaming at him.
And the knife.Karl shut the door to the study, the vivid memory terrifying, even after so many years.She’d wielded a blade, cutting into the back of his leg while he’d screamed.
He reached for the bottle of brandy, draining it with one last swallow.He closed his eyes, recalling the night he’d been brought to the Schloss.He’d been taken from his nurse, crying.The viscountess had warned him not to speak.And fear had silenced his tongue for nearly a year.
He set down the bottle, no longer knowing what to do.
I know what it is to be imprisoned in a life like this, Lady Hannah had said to him.And still never be good enough.
Damn her, she’d seen right through him.She’d tried, in her own way, to reassure him.But Karl knew it wasn’t going to be all right.He wasn’t the crown prince, only a bastard.The years of hard work and patriotism had meant nothing.
His fingers closed around the neck of the empty brandy bottle, the blunt pain clouding out everything.And suddenly, he crashed it into the hearth.Glass shattered everywhere, like the pieces of his life.
Without thinking, he strode out of his study and into the corridor.He found a servant and gave the order to prepare a horse and fetch his cloak.
He knew that Lieutenant Thorpe had taken a group of soldiers with him to find Lady Hannah and bring her back.They didn’t need his help, and Karl wasn’t nearly drunk enough to join his half-brother in the search.
But perhaps, though he’d lost his birthright, he could prove his worth in another way.Perhaps being a prince didn’t have to be by blood.
But by actions.
Hannah continued walking through the forest for the next hour, to hide from the men who were searching for her.Her entire body ached, and she had bruises up and down her arms and legs.The urge to cry kept rising up, but she reminded herself that tears weren’t going to help her get back to Vermisten.
She kept away from the main road, knowing that the men would expect her to follow it.Several times, she stopped, waiting for the moonlight to illuminate her way.
But after another hour, the forest ended, and she had no choice but to venture out into the open.She waited, praying,Dear God, don’t let them find me.As she walked parallel to the road, she tried to keep hidden.
But still, her thoughts were caught up in Michael.
This afternoon, when he’d returned to her, she’d disobeyed so many rules.Lying in his arms, letting herself be with him, had been one of the most glorious moments of her life.And though her courage had faltered, she now knew that she loved him, whether he was a common soldier or a crown prince.
It would break her heart if she never saw him again.She wanted him more than anything else in the world.And though her feet were blistered and her body was bruised, her heart ached even more.
I don’t want to live without him.
All her life, she’d been told what was right and proper.She’d been given rigid rules and was expected to be a perfect lady at all times.For so long, she’d lived under that shadow, allowing others to make decisions for her.
She’d blamed everyone else for her lack of freedom when one simple word would have changed everything:no.A princess lived under a rigid set of expectations, true.But she did not bow to the whims of anyone.A true princess gave commands and decided which rules were meant to protect her and which were meant to control her.
Hannah sat down in the tall grass, resting her feet for a moment.She needed to stop being a lady…and start being a princess.
Her eyes were blurred with tears when she stood up.In the distance, she heard the sound of a horse approaching.Hannah ducked into the underbrush, her heart thundering in her chest.
When the rider drew closer, she caught sight of his face in the moonlight, and her heart nearly stopped.He moved his horse off the roadside, directly toward her.
Hannah couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move.Then he stared at the very spot where she was hiding.At his side, she saw the gleam of a revolver.
His voice was cool and resolute.“Did you lose your way, Lady Hannah?”
Despite hours of searching, all they found along the main road was an abandoned coach and a pile of discarded petticoats, nearly twenty miles from the Schloss.The road was covered in ruts, made by the wheels of hundreds of coaches.There was no way to tell what had happened to Hannah.
