“And if she is?”
“We’ll bring her home.”
The following morning, Bernard arrived at the fortress. He bowed low before the prince. “Your Highness, His Majesty has sent your requested supplies and the household staff. I took the liberty of bringing them to the manor house, but there are guards here awaiting your command.”
“Good. You’ve done well.”
His footman gave a slight smile and bowed again. “I will wait with them in the courtyard. Is the princess—?”
“She is with me still,” Karl said. “I will accompany her back to the house.”
After they departed the abbey and rode along the beach, Serena joined at his side. “Have I won the wager, then?”
“I will keep my word, as promised.” With a sidelong glance, he saw that she’d cloaked herself from throat to ankle. No doubt she was still wearing the cream-colored gown backwards. After shereturned to the house, the ladies maids would descend upon her, and she would become a princess once more.
Their three days were at an end.
Karl kept his gaze fixed ahead, his spine straight. He needed time to consider the best options for Serena, but more than that, he needed to determine his own fate. The future stretched out before him like a wasteland, an unknown that kept slipping away from his carefully laid plans. He’d meant to wed a princess, not squander a week of his life.
But Serena had changed everything until he didn’t know what to do anymore. Last night, he’d spent the hours huddled on a straw pallet, unable to stop thinking of the way her hands had moved through his hair and against his face. She’d provoked him, until he’d kissed her in an effort to drive her away. With her tentative caresses, she’d captured him…making him imagine that she cared about him.
Impossible. She wanted only one thing from him—her freedom. That had always been clear. And although they’d spent a few moments in each other’s company that had been more intimate, he understood that she would never want him as her husband. Especially if he admitted that he’d lost his kingdom.
He rode through the countryside, glancing back to ensure she was still there. Her gaze drifted over to the sea, and Karl guessed she was uneasy about her father learning of her whereabouts. Would she want to face the king? Or would she run away again?
When they reached the manor house, Serena found herself surrounded by a dozen maids. Four of them had served the queen at the Royal Palace in Vermisten, Lohenberg. From the appalled expression on their faces, Serena could only imaginehow terrible she looked. Her hair hadn’t been brushed, and on her feet she wore the oversized leather shoes. Without another word to Fürst Karl, she followed them inside.
The scent of food tantalized her, and she took a deep breath, savoring the promise of a good meal. But even as she followed the women upstairs and let them draw a bath, she couldn’t let go of the coldness building inside her.
She didn’t know how to diminish her father’s hold, to force him to let her go. Returning to the palace meant that she was in his arena, subject to his whims. Better to make him come to her here on neutral ground.
Fürst Karl and his guards would keep her safe on the island. She had faith in the prince’s protection. Perhaps instead of asking him to help her run away, she should ask him to shield her from her father’s vengeance. The king wouldn’t harm the royal prince of another country, would he? And once he’d let her go, then she could live quietly somewhere else.
A strange loneliness caught her at the thought. She’d grown accustomed to living with Karl, despite his overbearing ways. He had made her feel safe, in a way she’d never felt before.
As her ladies undressed her, Serena realized the dress was looser. She’d grown thinner after the days without good food, and one of the ladies sent for a tray of refreshments.
But it was the hot bath that sent her mind spiraling into Heaven itself. The water had been scented with essence of lavender, and she leaned back, allowing another maid to wash her hair.
“Your Highness,” one maid ventured, “Lady Hannah bid us welcome you and if there is anything you need, you’ve only to ask.”
“I don’t believe I know anyone named Lady Hannah,” Serena said, frowning. “Is she from Lohenberg?”
“No, Your Highness. She is the daughter of an English marquess and will marry Fürst Michael in another week.” The maid’s face brightened as she described the plans for the royal wedding, with arches of lilies and roses, along with dozens of attendants. “Her dress is the most beautiful ivory silk I’ve ever seen.”
A creeping suspicion tangled in her stomach. Serena had never heard of a prince named Michael.
“This man, Fürst Michael,” she began. “Is he Karl’s brother?”
The maid nodded. Her cheeks flushed as she ventured, “Your Highness, what are your instructions regarding the possessions of your…husband? The footman Bernard thought, perhaps, the adjoining bedchamber?”
The young woman wouldn’t meet her gaze, and Serena hesitated. So much had happened, she knew well enough what it must look like, living alone with Karl. If she told the women to put Karl far away from her, then her reputation would be tarnished. The small lie would benefit both of them.
“Yes, I think it would be best to put his clothing in the next bedchamber,” Serena answered, wishing she could stop herself from flushing red.
“Very good, Your Highness.” The maid curtsied and departed to take care of it while the other young woman stayed behind to help with her bath. From the excited expressions on their faces, she could tell they were bursting to ask questions about her nonexistent wedding. But she would give them no explanation.
She sank deeper into the water, washing herself with the soap they’d given her. The maid’s revelation, of another prince, bothered her. No one had told her of a brother, and she didn’t doubt that Karl had known about it.
