“That is not exactly true.”
She sat up straight and faced him, letting the blanket drop to her lap. “What do you mean?”
“You are still the lure to Rastibon’s capture.”
“I’m sorry, but that isn’t grounds to detain me.”
He shrugged. “Here it is.”
Was he serious? Alana wondered. She was furious! He pulled her back into the crook of his arm. She struggled against him, but he won. She decided to never say another word to him. How the deuce had the barbarian ended up in the sleigh next to her?
Chapter Forty-Two
THE TRIP DOWN THE mountainside went much faster with no snowfall to contend with. Alana even caught some magnificent views while they were still at the higher elevations, but she was too angry to appreciate them. The sun wasn’t shining on the road they traveled because of the clouds clinging to the mountaintops, but it was shining down on the valleys below them.
Christoph let her stew in silence for the rest of the trip. He could have tried to justify keeping her in Lubinia against her will, even apologize for what he apparently felt was necessary. But he didn’t. He remained silent as well.
At the sleigh house where the trip had begun, he once again tossed her up on his horse for the short ride back to the palace. Not until his arms were cradling her again did he say without inflection, “You noticed how Helga never addressed you by name? What is her daughter’s name?”
No, Alana realized she hadn’t caught that. Good God, she didn’t even know her real name! She’d been too disappointed by Helga’s reaction to the news that she was still alive. Helga didn’t even give her one hug! Good Lord, you’d think a mother would at least want to do that.
But still furious at Christoph for wanting to use her to trap Poppie, she merely mumbled under her breath, “She still wasn’t convinced.”
He snorted. She insisted, “I know you can’t help your suspicious nature, but you know very well it’s uncalled for here.”
“Isn’t it? She was frightened the moment I said you were her daughter. That wasn’t nervousness, Alana. That was pure fear. She was hiding something. And she was lying. It was obvious.”
“What the deuce could she be hiding other than her fear that she might lose her plush residence? That probably accounted for most of it, you know. And you never assured her that wouldn’t happen. Instead you demanded answers to what she probably explained long ago to Frederick to his satisfaction. You made her rehash all of that pain! I only wanted to know what had prompted her to switch the babies. Besides, she seemed most fearful when Poppie was mentioned. Of course she’d be terrified of him, after what he did.”
Alana thought she’d made perfectly good points that might not have occurred to him, certainly good enough to end whatever maggoty suspicion he was having, because he said no more about it. But when they were back in the ward, he didn’t ride his horse to his quarters and leave her there. He stopped in the middle of the ward, handed the mount over to a guard, and, after putting her on the ground and taking her hand, began dragging her straight to the palace!
Immediately she knew why. “Oh, my, God,” she yelled behind him. “I know what you’re doing. Stop! I don’t want to be his daughter, I’d rather be Helga’s.”
“You don’t get to choose.”
“Don’t you dare tell him! You’ll get his hopes up for nothing. There has to be a perfectly good explanation for why Helga was so reticent and afraid that has nothing to do with me. She was just too nervous to say. Probably because you were there.”
“I’m not going to tell him anything—yet.”
“Then why are you taking me into the palace!”
“For you to meet him. He will want to apologize to you himself, for such a long separation from your mother.”
Christoph was lying! She knew he was! She fought him really hard, to free herself from his grip. She even slipped on the hard-packed snow so he ended up dragging her on the ground for a second before he stopped to help her back up, then picked her up and carried her the rest of the way.
That’s how he took her into the palace, and he didn’t set her down once they were inside. Down the corridors he carried her, through the commoners’ anteroom, straight into the next chamber. It wasn’t the throne room as she’d thought, but a wide passageway with some rooms off it, a carpet down its center, and at the end another set of double doors, which she was pretty certain did lead to the king. As it was early afternoon, Christoph obviously expected Frederick to be in there.
She tried one last time in a pleading voice, “Please, don’t.”
“I have to” was all he said.
He didn’t have to knock to gain entrance; in fact, the guards at all the doors had been opening them immediately for him as he approached. His step was brisk, his expression each time she glanced at him grimly determined. Still Christoph didn’t put her down when he passed through the last set of doors. But he barked orders for the room to be cleared. She heard the quick shuffling of feet. Not one complaint. He was head of palace security, after all, so apparently, his business, no matter what it was, took precedence.
Alana didn’t look to see who was left in the room with them. She’d hidden her face against his chest the moment those last doors had started to open. But then he did set her down, and she gave him a furious glare that might have lasted indefinitely if he hadn’t turned her abruptly about to face away from him.
He didn’t need to hold her there. She froze, staring at the man she’d seen in the small portrait in the commoners’ anteroom, a bit older, but she’d stared at that painting long enough to recognize him now. He came to his feet on the raised dais where two thrones sat. He was regally garbed, though informally, without a crown on his head. At the moment he was merely looking at Christoph for an explanation. But Christoph didn’t say a single word. That’s when the king’s eyes lit on Alana and moved no further.
“My God,” Frederick said, awestruck.
