Caspian laughed at the thought of the ladies chasing after some of the older men in the village. “They certainly make life more interesting. Now, enough about that—back to the plans. I was hoping to ask every family who came to bring a log of wood for the bonfire. What do you think of that?”
Beatrice shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t do that. I think we should ask if any of the nobility would like to donate wood for the bonfire. I can send a message if you’d like. The townspeople will pay for their own food and drink, but I try not to burden them with any of the expenses for the festival, so they can just enjoy the evening. The nobility are happy to help most of the time.”
She seemed to realize who she was talking to then and looked up at him sheepishly. “Sorry for being so blunt.”
He shook his head. “I appreciate the honesty. I can’t learn what I don’t know if nobody tells me.”
“That is true,” Beatrice said.
The library door opened, and they turned to see Dietrich come in. Caspian fought the urge to groan. Of course it was the one man in town who disliked him the most.
“Sophia,” Dietrich called. “Thea wants to see you.”
Sophia looked over at Caspian. “I’ll be at the café,” she told him, already hurrying to the door.
Dietrich held it open for her and gave Caspian a look that he couldn’t quite decipher as the door shut behind them.
“I take it Dietrich is not a fan of you courting Sophia,” Beatrice said with a grin.
“Apparently not,” Caspian said with a sigh. “I don’t know what I did, but he seems determined not to like me.”
“Dietrich is very protective of Sophia. You’ll win him over.”
Caspian frowned at the stack of bookmarks on the desk. “I know, because Sophia cares about Dietrich’s opinion. I’ll have to change his mind somehow.”
Like that wasn’t a tall order.
But like it or not, Sophia looked up to the man, and he needed to be on good terms with him if he wanted to win over Sophia.
And he definitely wanted to win over Sophia.
So he was going to have to win over Dietrich.
Chapter eleven
Sophia
SophiafollowedDietrichoutof the library, glancing over her shoulder before she left.
Caspian was watching her leave.
She grinned at the thought as they started across the village square. Dietrich’s legs were shorter than Caspian’s, so walking with him was easier, but somehow it wasn’t as enjoyable.
She was looking forward to returning home with Caspian.
Dietrich looked over at her. “I don’t know how much you know about Caspian,” he said shortly. “But I want you to make sure that you’re being careful.”
So Dietrich had finally decided to address the situation instead of just glaring at Caspian.
It would be good to clear the air.
“Why do you think I need to be careful?” she asked. “I haven’t seen anything thus far that would lead me to believe there could be a problem with Caspian.”
Dietrich tilted his head. “I don’t know why, but I don’t like him.”
Dietrich was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a trusting man.
“You don’t like anybody,” Sophia teased. “Why would you like him?”
