As she was pulling out books, two in French and one in Latin, she dropped a scroll out onto the floor. She carefully picked it up, but before she put it back into the trunk again, she noticed an outline that made her realize that she wasn’t holding writing or even a letter, she was holding some sort of charcoal sketch that had been blurred slightly from touch and movement.
It was the portrait of a girl, with long robes and braided hair, looking out with large, doe-like eyes, with freckles stretched across the nose. The character looked all too familiar. It looked like her, but… it couldn’t be. Then she noticed that atop the girl’s head was a crown.
Her eyes widened with awareness, and then she looked skeptically down at the portrait. There had to be a reason that he had a portrait of her, shethought. Perhaps there had been spies trying to teach him what she looked like so that he could apprehend her when he took the castle…
And then she found a rolled up painting, unrolled it, saw that it was a portrait of her that her father had once sent to the emperor when he was alive and trying to find a husband for her, and rolled it up just as promptly. She opened up another piece of paper. A drawing of just her eyes. Then one of her face, then one of her face from the side. And then one of just her hands.
She closed the trunk as if a fire had caught inside of it. She understood that her life had gone mad, but she couldn’t fathom this.
She picked up one of the books at random and brought it along with her to a nearby lantern, determined to ignore everything she saw. Any infatuation Gerhard might have had with her simply didn’t matter. He had said himself that she was his prisoner, and that she would be taken to Vienna, and the time between now and then was too short to care about anything, particularly whatever her enemy had seen in her eyes.
Chapter Two
A different Gerhard came into the pavilion than had put her in the company of Rennio. Gerhard that morning had been a grimy man of war. The man who stepped into the pavilion, however, was clean… and without a shirt.
He looked at her and spoke as soon as their eyes met. “Put a fur around yourself, princess. You’re going to catch your death sitting on the ground there.”
“Not any more than you’ll catch yours,” she said, unable to keep from looking at all the bare flesh. She found it extremely difficult to keep her bottom lip from dropping straight to the floor.
He stood, giving her a twisted expression filled with confusion, and then looked down. It was as if he had just realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. “Ah, well—movement warms the flesh,” he replied, but he walked toward a nearby trunk, opened it, and began rustling out a clean tunic.
She doubted that; she had a feeling he had cleaned himself off before stepping into her presence.
After pulling the shirt down on himself, he turned and seemed surprised to find Rennio sleeping there. “I see you’re well looked after,” he mentioned to her grimly.
“Believe me, he’s better company when he’s asleep,” she found herself retorting under her breath.
He suddenly gave a laugh that had her looking up, loving the sound. She never thought she’d hear laughter again. “Oh, I believe you. I’ve known him over twelve years.”
Although it was not exactly in good manners, she was unable to restrain her grimace at that.
Again, he laughed and then fished out a fur-lined vest from his trunk and pulled it on. “Oh, I have some stories to tell, my lady.”
He stepped toward her and grabbed a blanket that was near her, then slowly dropped it over her shoulders. “There,” he said, apparently nowsatisfied.
She leaned her neck back to look him up and down with new eyes. She had known he was good-looking before, but she hadn’t thought of him as handsome until just this moment.
“Princess?” she heard above her, and found that Gerhard was looking at her, his head slightly cocked to the side, as if he had asked her a question.
She blinked at him.
“I asked if you were hungry. Thirsty? Both? I could get you most anything you might desire,” he offered, gesturing to the entrance to the tent.
Susanna frowned, unable to see what his design was. If he was trying to get on her good side, than he should know better than anyone that she didn’t have any power left behind her crown. In fact, her crown was still behind the castle walls, probably being pillaged right about now, if Eberhard hadn’t taken it on his way out.
Then she decided to do what she’d always done. Demand to know. “Why are you bothering to be kind to me?”
He seemed to freeze, even stop breathing for a second, and then he said, “There’s no reason not to be kind.”
“You have lots of reasons to not be kind to me,” she argued firmly, feeling her cheeks flush. “I am the ruler of a castle you have just vanquished. Who are you? How did you come to lead this army? Are you a prince? A duke?” Her tone was a little brazen, but she let it be. She felt out of her skin at the moment, awkward and strange and alone, and she didn’t like it.
He hesitated a few moments before speaking. “I’m not a prince or a duke,” he admitted finally, straightening his shoulders. “I’m the bastard son of one of the emperor’s uncles, born to a maid in the imperial household and a cousin to the emperor by blood though not under the law. We were quite close as boys, the emperor and I, and often practiced our swordplay together.” Gerhard paused, then continued, “I have no noble title. I earned my current position by fighting well and winning many battles over the years.”
She could understand his place in the world better now, but knowing his connection to the emperor made her heart sink. He was definitely going to hand her over, and there was nothing to be done about it.
His jaw locked as he ground his teeth together. “Does that displease you?” he asked, his lip curling slightly with simmering agitation.
“I don’t know if I could be any more displeased than I was this morning, commander,” she replied. “My plate’s very full. Mostly with my impending demise. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, at the very least.”
