“You believe wrong,” his mother said, shaking her head. “And I don’t know how you can think that.”
“Because I am not nobility,” Dietrich said, “nor am I cut out to be. I am a stable boy, born and bred, who grew up in a barn and has zero skills when it comes to navigating this.” He gestured to the ballroom and the organized chaos surrounding them.
“She doesn’t, either,” his mother countered.
“And she needs someone who can help her with that.”
His mother shook her head. “And that’s where you’re wrong. She doesn’t want someone who can help her navigate that. She wants you.”
“Wants and needs are two separate things,” Dietrich said. “And she’ll have to learn the difference, because I cannot be what she needs.”
His mother sighed, and John shook his head.
“We won’t change his mind,” he told her. “He’ll have to figure it out himself.”
Dietrich wanted to point out that he had already figured it out, but John was turning to his mother and bowing low.
“May I ask you to dance?” he asked, and Dietrich’s mother turned a shade of pink that he had never seen before. Not since his father had died, at least.
“I would be honored,” she squeaked.
Dietrich looked at John with raised eyebrows, and John simply grinned at him before sweeping Danise off into a dance.
Dietrich watched them for a moment, somehow feeling proud, surprised, and shocked, before he turned to leave the room.
He had fulfilled his duty, and now he would go check on the horses. While most of their guests tonight had not brought them, it was good practice for the next event, when they would have potentially dozens more horses to take care of.
But as he turned to leave, he noticed the stepmother was back, moving through the room with a devious glint in her eyes.
Oh, no.
This was not going to happen.
Dietrich moved to intercept her, catching her by the wrist as she attempted to climb the stairs, as if she was going to make a grand announcement herself.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” he growled.
“Unhand me at once,” she declared before turning to see that it was him. “You have no power here,” she sneered. “You are simply a stable boy.”
“I have more power than you think,” Dietrich said icily before nodding to one of the guards, who sprang into motion at his command.
A surge of satisfaction rolled through him as he watched her leave, ushered by the guard. But as he turned to check on Ella one more time, his eyes caught on her stepsister a few feet away, with a jealous glint in her eyes.
Of course, there was more than one.
He hurried forward and caught the stepsister’s wrist as she began to attempt the same thing her mother had.
“That’s enough,” he said, gesturing to another guard, who hurried forward to apprehend the sister.
“Where is your other sister?” he asked, and the stepsister he held spat in his face.
So that was the way they wished to play it.
Dietrich wiped his face with his sleeve and turned to the guard. “Take her to a holding cell,” he said, as the girl began to struggle.
“You can’t do this,” the girl shrieked, drawing attention as the guard hauled her out of the room, following the path taken by her mother.
The musicians kept playing, but everyone within earshot of them turned to see what the commotion was, including Ella.
