“An English orphan Poppie and I are very fond of.”
“They aren’t to be killed, Christoph,” Frederick said. “She has strong feelings for them, but especially for this man who raised her. I will not have her grieve over him.”
“I understand,” Christoph said. “But I still need answers from him. He knows things we don’t.”
“He doesn’t!” Alana exclaimed. “I’ve told you that’s what he’s doing here, finding those same answers you’re looking for. Why can’t you just work with him?”
“That isn’t an option until he stands before me,” Christoph said.
She seemed surprised. “Are you saying you will work with him now?”
“Are you saying you will now help to bring us together, for your father’s sake?”
“Not if you’re going to treat him the way you treated me and throw him in your prison!”
She gasped the second the last word was out, even put her hand over her mouth and looked at her father with wide eyes. Christoph prepared himself for Frederick’s wrath. He’d put the princess of Lubinia in prison. He would have had to confess that at some point, but he’d hoped to resolve other issues first before he was dismissed from his job. Alana had warned him she’d make him pay for it. Perhaps she’d forgotten that because she seemed surprised now that she’d inadvertently done exactly that.
Frederick, who had been watching with interest as they argued, left his inscrutable gaze on Christoph.
“It would appear you did your job to the letter?” Frederick questioned.
“Yes, I did.”
Frederick turned to his daughter, and notably, emotion slipped into his tone. “Were you hurt?”
“No, not hurt, just frustrated. A lot. And mortified with embarrassment. And, well, frightened a bit whenever he unleashed his barbarian side,” she finished indignantly.
Frederick’s golden brow rose, but turned on Christoph again. “A bit?”
Tight-lipped, he replied, “She wasn’t frightened for long. She had too much courage for that approach to work effectively. Argumentative. Furious. Absolutely insistent on convincing me who—she actually is.”
Frederick turned to cup Alana’s cheeks in his hands. For a brief moment pride was in his expression at the description Christoph had just given of her, before that expression turned grave.
“You know what we thought, the only thing we could think, given the lie that was perpetrated and believed so long ago,” the king told her. “You might have lived out your life, away from here, never knowing who you really are, and I would never have guessed you were still alive. Rastibon brought you back to me. He didn’t have to do that. As much as I hate him for what he did, at some point I will summon the generosity of spirit to thank him for keeping you safe all this time. He won’t be harmed, I give you my word. I cannot say the same of Helga Engel. Her lie affected many decisions that would have been very different, were the truth known. It was easy to be convinced not to take action against the suspects when we thought they had failed, when that action, at that time, could have provoked another civil war. What you must understand is that Christoph was doing a job he’s very good at. I don’t want you holding any part of it against him, when he had his orders from me to use any means necessary to get at the truth behind—what we thought was your impersonation.”
Frederick turned to Christoph and ordered, “You will guard Alana’s safety—and that’s all—in the most professional manner until further notice.”
Chapter Forty-Five
LEONARD KNEW OF THE abandoned, half-burned-down farm far from the road near the foothills. He’d found it when he was a child and had lost his way home. No one had torn it down back then because no one had wanted to replace it. That was apparently still the case all these years later. He didn’t expect so much of it, two of the four walls, to still be standing, though. He was able to hide the sleigh behind them.
After kicking rubble and useless furniture aside for several minutes, he found the root cellar. He lifted the trapdoor and dragged the woman down the old stairs, closing the door behind them. He had unhooked the sleigh lantern and taken it with him, so they had light. It stopped flickering now that they were out of the cold wind. He had to knock ancient cobwebs aside so he could set the lantern on a broken shelf. He laid a blanket on the floor, set the woman down on it, then sat beside her.
He was surprised she hadn’t once tried to remove the blanket he’d tossed over her head. He’d just wanted to keep her covered during the swift ride so the wind wouldn’t cut into her face. He removed the blanket now and saw why she hadn’t done so. She was terrified, and the moment he unwrapped his own face cover, she recognized him and began wailing.
“Don’t be afraid,” Leonard quickly told her. “I’m not going to hurt you, Helga, I swear.”
The fear didn’t leave her eyes. He wasn’t sure she even heard him. He kissed her gently. Confusion took the place of her fear.
He smiled at her, confessing, “I’ve thought of you often over the years, more than I should have. I was more fond of you than I anticipated. It wasn’t part of the plan for that to happen. In the end, it changed how I performed that job I was hired for. I should have killed you, but I couldn’t. I didn’t even want you to suffer the horror of waking up to find your charge dead, so I took her with me to finish the job elsewhere away from the palace. Because of you.”
“But you didn’t kill her!”
His mouth turned wry. “No, I couldn’t do that, either. She won my heart with a smile. It changed me, completely. Because of her, I’m not the man I was.”
“You stopped killing?” she asked hesitantly.
“Yes, we lived a fairly normal life.”
