“Many children are afraid of the dark,” she said softly.
“No. It was a memory of my past.” He let go of her hand and went to close the cupboard door. “I saw her a few weeks ago. My real mother.”
The madness in the woman’s eyes bothered him still. Though she was hardly more than a stranger to him, her face hadhaunted those nightmares. “She locked me up when I was little. And she did this to me.”
Karl raised the leg of his trousers, revealing the reddened scar. “I remember screaming from the pain. She must have done it with a knife when I was two or three. To make it possible to switch Michael and me.”
Serena’s face paled. “How terrible. I can’t believe any mother would do such a thing to her son.”
His jaw tightened at the memory of her. “She never regretted what she did. I was never any son to her— just a means of getting closer to the king.”
“In a way, I suppose she did you a favor,” Serena said, returning to his side. “She sent you to a better place to live, where no one would hurt you.”
“Perhaps.”
It was true that he’d been safer there. But he’d never felt part of the palace life. He hardly remembered his early days there—only the feeling that he’d never really belonged.
“But others were suspicious. They called me the Changeling Prince, when I was younger. I never understood why until a fortnight ago.”
“Do you think the king suspected?”
“No. He accepted me as his son, but it made the queen furious. She wanted nothing to do with me.” Karl let out a bitter laugh. “All those years, I was so confused, not knowing why she despised me. I thought, if I followed their rules and became the perfect son, it would be enough. But as soon as Michael came to Lohenberg, they couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.”
He steeled himself and shut the cupboard. “It doesn’t matter any more.”
She was watching him with eyes filled with sympathy. “Don’t you want to go home?”
“To a place where the people believe I was responsible for the deception?” He shook his head. “I was three when it happened, Serena. I don’t remember a damned thing about the switch. But they blame me for it.” His expression hardened into a tight shield. “You’re not the only one who wants an escape.”
Beneath Karl’s coldness, Serena saw the pain of a young boy who had never been loved. She was grateful that she’d had her own mother and sister, despite her father’s abuse. But Karl had no one.
He strode toward the door, but she blocked his way. A tension knotted in his stance, a physical manifestation of his frustration. “We’re leaving, Serena.”
“Not yet,” she whispered.
She clenched her hands together, her emotions tangled in a maelstrom of uncertainty. “You said that you were using me to gain a throne. Was that all there was between us?”
She wanted to believe that there was more, after all the time they’d spent together. Her throat closed up as Karl’s face remained impassive.
His hazel eyes gave nothing away, and his face resembled stone. “You’re better off without a man like me, Princess.”
Chapter Thirteen
Serena began pacing across his bedchamber, her thoughts in turmoil. Though she’d told herself that she’d been right all along, that Karl had only used her, it felt like he’d lied. There was more that he hadn’t said, a hovering sense that he did want her, even without a kingdom. He’d offered to stand by her side when she faced her father.
She didn’t know what to think of that.
A knock came at the door and her ladies entered. Serena sat at her dressing table while the ladies helped her out of her gown and brushed her hair. They offered to stay with her or read aloud, but she dismissed them for the night.
One of the ladies sent her a secretive smile. “Your Highness, forgive me for saying so, but I think your elopement was the most romantic tale I’ve ever heard.” She let out a sigh and offered, “Even if he’s no longer the crown prince, Fürst Karl is wonderfully handsome.”
Serena gave a nod of agreement. Karl wasn’t handsome in the traditional sense, but there was a rugged quality to him, of a manwho wasn’t entirely as refined as the other princes she’d known over the years. He broke the rules and did as he pleased.
He was also unbearably stubborn and refused to listen to reason. Her mind grew numb as she imagined her father’s guards arriving, seizing Karl, and imprisoning him for what he’d done. They might even execute him.
She closed her eyes at the thought. Though she was angry about the way he’d used her, she didn’t want him to die. In spite of his misguided actions, she had seen glimpses of a good man. No, she could never ask him to stand by her side and face the king. He had to leave now, before the men reached Vertraumen.
Serena signaled to one of her ladies-in-waiting. “Please send for the…prince,” she finished, unwilling to call him her husband. “I would like to speak with him.”
