Christoph smiled to put her at ease and introduced himself formally as captain of the King’s Guard. “Indeed, I bring you a wonderful surprise.”
Helga laughed suddenly, guessing, “Another gift from the king? He’s too kind.”
Christoph appeared to be taken aback. “Frederick gives you gifts?”
Helga grinned. “Every year, sometimes twice a year.” At his continued surprise, she laughed at him like a schoolgirl. “Oh, nothing like that! Nothing extravagant at all, just little mementos to let me know he has not forgotten what I did for him. It’s not necessary. You should tell him that for me. This”—she waved a hand to indicate her quarters—“was already too generous.”
Helga’s expression turned sad. Christoph cleared his throat uncomfortably, no doubt both he and Helga thinking of the sacrifice she had made. But Alana didn’t feel sad. She was ready for the happy reunion she’d hoped for.
She started to move forward, to give Helga the happy news herself. Christoph suddenly stayed her, his hand on her arm. She glanced at him and frowned as she took in his rigid military demeanor.
Sure enough, he asked Helga in official tones, “You don’t feel you deserved this reward?”
“I—”
Helga didn’t continue, looking wary once again.
“Stop it!” Alana hissed at Christoph. “You’re not here to interrogate her.”
“You are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You are. You have a thousand questions. I merely asked one.”
“You have no reason to unleash that suspicious nature of yours here. It is simple modesty when one denies one is deserving of something. That concept might be foreign to a barbarian like you, but it’s something civilized people frequently encounter.”
He didn’t appear contrite. Of course, the captain wouldn’t. They’d been arguing in whispers so Helga wouldn’t hear them, but that seemed to alarm her even more.
“Would you please tell me why you are here?” Helga asked, glancing nervously between them.
Christoph relaxed. He even smiled again. Alana wondered if her tongue-lashing had really shooed the captain away for now.
“I apologize, Helga,” he said. “The surprise I bring you is your daughter, very much alive as you can see.”
Helga’s eyes touched on Alana for the barest second before they rolled up into her head and she crumbled to the floor in a faint. Alana jumped forward, but she didn’t reach her mother in time to break her fall.
Alana glanced back at Christoph. “Good Lord, you have the subtlety of a boar. You could have done that more gently!”
He came forward and picked Helga up off the floor and laid her on the sofa in the west corner of the large room. Alana followed him there and saw some evidence of her mother’s artistic endeavors, a few baskets of yarn, a large frame holding a half-finished tapestry set in front of a chair.
“What would you have said, eh, to make it easier for her to hear?” he asked. “It was going to be a shock to her no matter how it was presented.”
Alana sighed and leaned over Helga, gently patting her cheeks to wake her. She didn’t notice what Christoph was doing until she saw him approach with a glass of water.
She gasped and shielded her mother’s face. “Don’t you dare!”
He raised a brow. “Why not? It’s quick.”
“It’s rude. Let me try first.”
“You are full of complaints today, why is that? Still nervous?”
“I wasn’t. Not until you started interrogating my mother. You’re not on duty here today. At least, you shouldn’t be.”
“I am always on duty.”
“You’re the one who told me Helga Engel is my mother,” Alana reminded him stiffly. “If you aren’t absolutely sure, you should have said so.”
