“No, it’s you who don’t understand.” The coach was slowing down, and Karl saw the open land shift into a wooded forest. The coachman had obeyed his orders, and slowly, the vehicle came to a stop. He opened the door, and outside the rain pounded so hard, it was difficult to see. “I’m sending them back.”
“Do not presume to undermine my orders.”
“I’ll presume whatever I wish. Your Highness,” he added with a dark smile. Before she could make a single move, Karl reached for the princess and captured her waist.
She let out a hiss, clutching her side. “Don’t touch me.”
It didn’t surprise him. Princess Serena wasn’t about to obey him meekly. Despite her gasp, Karl lifted her outside the coach, into the freezing rain. “I can’t breathe,” Serena insisted, and he shifted his hold lower, still carrying her as he strode away from the coach. When he raised a hand to the coachman and her escorts, he signaled them to return to the palace.
But her guards didn’t obey. Instead, they closed in with weapons drawn.
“Princess Serena?” Captain Feldmann queried, awaiting his order. He held a bayonet, the sharp point directed toward Karl.
He couldn’t fault them for their loyalty. He set her down, giving her a chance to make her choice. Rain poured down over them, dripping past the princess’s hood and soaking her gown.
“Do you want anything to happen to them?” Karl demanded of her, beneath his breath.
His bride gripped her cloak, her face crestfallen. He was counting on her to consider the truth of his words.
“If you want to leave, I’ll escort you myself with my own men.”
She stared at him, and he could see the words of argument forming in her mind. “It’s your choice,” he continued. “Go with me. Or return to the palace.”
Her hand went to rest against her throat, and it almost seemed that she was fighting back tears. He couldn’t understand why, but at last she nodded.
“Return to the palace,” she ordered her men. “Fürst Karl will see me safely to my grandfather’s lodge.”
The captain withdrew his bayonet and knelt before the princess, his knee sinking into the mud. “Your Highness, my men will be forced to search for you.”
She offered him her palm, raising him up. “Then don’t let them find us. Take them to all the other estates before the lodge. I just…want a fortnight to myself.”
“You truly wish to go with the Fürst?” Captain Feldmann questioned.
The princess sent him a glance, but to her credit, she nodded. “My betrothed husband will not harm me. You’ll be in less trouble if I go with him and his men.” Despite her calm tone, her face revealed her displeasure at the prospect.
One by one, her guards disappeared into the woods. After they’d gone, Karl took her hand and gestured toward his own coach, which lay waiting down the road. “My coachman Samuel will accompany us from here on out.”
The princess stood motionless, staring at her departing servants while the rain drenched them both. “I cannot believe I’m even considering this.”
Karl wasn’t about to let her change her mind. Instead, he led her to his own coach, where his footman opened the door. Lifting her inside, he settled her upon the soft cushions. Within moments, his coach changed directions, traveling northwest instead of south.
The rain had soaked through Serena’s cloak and her dark blonde hair hung in tangled waves beneath her hood, across her shoulders. She was trembling, and her eyes glittered with anger.
“Why are you really here?” she demanded. “And don’t tell me it’s because my sister sent you. You didn’t care enough to come and see me more than twice in the six years since we’ve been betrothed.”
“I think you know why I came, Princess,” he said smoothly. “To make sure you weren’t eloping with some other man instead of me.” He removed his hat and set it beside him. The cold rain had dampened his face, and his clothing was soaked from the bad weather.
Serena kept her hands folded primly in her lap. “Your Highness, let us be honest with one another. We were only betrothed because my father wanted to secure the alliance with Lohenberg. After we are married, what we do with our lives won’t matter. I don’t believe for a moment that you have any interest in me.”
“You’re wrong.” He reached out and lowered her hood, brushing his fingertips against her damp cheek. In her eyes, he saw the startled shock. “I find you very interesting indeed, Princess.”
He could see from the look on her face that she wasn’t at all looking forward to their union. Whether she disliked him or wasafraid of him, he couldn’t be certain. “Our marriage can be more than political.”
She turned her face to the window, the melancholy sinking in. “Sometimes I wish I could live like an ordinary woman, just for a few days. Free to make my own decisions.” Her voice held a note of misery, as though she believed herself a prisoner.
“Is it such a hardship, wearing diamonds and silks?”
“Sometimes,” she admitted.
