She drew in her breath. “You didn’t detain him?”
“Of course not. He can’t deliver the message to Rastibon if he’s sitting in a cell. But I know where to find him now.”
She stiffened. “I’m going to discuss this with my father. To make sure Henry doesn’t end up in one of your cells!”
“You really think I would do that, when I know of your fondness for the boy?”
“You—” She stopped. That question just deflated her anger. “No, I honestly don’t think you would hurt a child. But you’re so single-minded when you’re after answers.”
“My job—”
“I know. Your job will always make it so. I even realize your treatment of me was just part of your job. I know it could have been much worse, considering what you thought, what you were so sure of.”
He laughed. “You’re making concessions for me?”
“No, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t frightened, and infuriated, and frustrated beyond reason—at the time.”
“And you haven’t gotten your retribution yet. Are you just waiting for an opportune time?”
Did he actually think that, or was he just teasing her? The latter, no doubt, because he wouldn’t worry over something like that, not when he and her father had both admitted he had only been doing his job, what he had leave to do.
All she said was “I happen to recall the other day just before you became absolutely certain that Helga was my mother, your saying that if I were the princess, your family would be disgraced and you would even banish yourself forever from Lubinia because of it. Of course when you said it, you in no way believed that could ever happen. And now that it has—”
“Now that it has, instead of incurring the king’s wrath for failing to unravel your mystery sooner, I am given his daughter to guard with my life.”
She sat forward so she could turn to look back at him. Yes, it was there in his expression, pride in a job well done.
Chapter Forty-Nine
ALANA GASPED. SHE COULDN’T believe what had just happened. Christoph had just taken the two little carvings from her hands and bent down to return them to his saddlebag, saying, “I will hold them until we are back at the palace.”
She’d barely heard him. No sooner had he leaned toward the floor to put them away than she saw a man run from behind a tree and leap for the back of the sleigh. It was done so smoothly, the sleigh didn’t dip at all so Christoph had no warning—until he leaned back in his seat and the knife was suddenly at his throat.
“Don’t kill him!” Alana screamed.
“Hush, princess, I wasn’t going to,” Leonard said.
“In that case,” Christoph began, and with a single hand he yanked Poppie into the sleigh in front of them.
“I should put on more weight,” Leonard said in disgust at how easily he’d just been outmaneuvered by sheer strength.
He said it low enough that Alana guessed they weren’t supposed to hear it, but she did. Christoph did, too, which accounted for the slight smile on his lips. Nonetheless, he still bent down to pick up his rifle from the floor and put it on his lap. But he made no attempt to take the knife from Poppie, he just sat there now with a raised brow as Poppie straightened himself into a sitting position on the floor. Alana swiftly dropped to her knees on the floor to put her arms around his neck.
“I’ve missed you so much! Nothing happened as we thought it would, though it’s all right now.”
“You now have your father’s protection?”
“Yes, we were reunited just yes—”
“This ends right now if you don’t move away from that knife, Alana,” Christoph cut her off in a furious undertone.
She glanced back at him. “He won’t hurt me.”
“Not intentionally. I won’t accept accidents either. Sit back down. Now!”
Leonard dropped the knife on the floor next to him, apparently agreeing with Christoph. Alana picked it up just to get it out of Christoph’s sight before she quickly climbed back on the seat and sat on the edge of it. She knew Poppie would have at least a half dozen more daggers hidden on him, but as long as they weren’t visible, Christoph might be able to relax enough so the two men could come to an agreement to work together instead of against each other.
She slipped the dagger in her boot before she held out her hand to Leonard so they could still convey their feelings through touch. The last thing she wanted was for Christoph to deal with Poppie angrily, but he was denying her a proper reunion with the man who’d raised her, just as he’d done with her father.
