“How did you come to be here? In this country?”
“We were brought on a ship as slaves. I saw something of her in your face: sadness for what cannot be again. I’m sorry. I should not have spoken to you thus.” She smiled shyly. “You ride with a prince and must beveryimportant.”
I did not have to have witch powers to read this to meanAleksey thinks he is very important, and we all let him continue to think so. I laughed. I suddenly felt a lightness of heart again, the same zest for life I’d felt during our horse race, before my shame and desire for what could never be had overtaken me and put me in such a bad humor—before I had beheld something I wanted but knew I could not have.
I held out my arms, tentatively. “May I?”
She nodded and passed the child over. It was no tender moment. The creature was entirely unimpressed by doctors or apparently beautiful men with sad histories. She screwed up her little face and sobbed. I apologized and passed her back over—quickly.
When we returned to the table, I felt Aleksey’s eyes upon me questioningly, but food had arrived, and by that time I was so hungry I ignored my growing obsession with him in favor of eating. The food was far and away the best I had been presented with since my arrival in Hesse-Davia. I mentioned to Pia that she was a very good cook, only to have my innocent comment hooted at with derision by all present. Gregory was the cook. He was also the proprietor of the inn and headman of the small village. Gregory had been a cook in many of the great palaces of Europe, and consequently he spoke many languages fluently. He was clearly a very cultured and wealthy man, but he had been born in Hesse-Davia and so had returned to where his blood called him to pass his final years. He spoke like a man in his dotage, but I could tell by now that this was something of an affectation, for he was only a decade or so older than I. He had unexpectedly met Pia upon his return. Her circumstances were not alluded to at that table, but I suspected they all knew the story of her enslavement but were too polite to bring it up in front of a stranger, not knowing she had shared this with me already.
While I had been entertained by Gregory’s story, Aleksey had been deep in conversation with the scarred man whose name I could not remember. I did remember, however, that I had not particularly liked him, and this cozy little chat with Aleksey now did nothing to change my opinion. They leaned their heads very close together so their conversation could not be overheard, and they sat so close that their thighs were pressed one to the other. It was not the usual way for two men to sit, especially since one was a prince, and I felt Aleksey demeaned himself by such behavior.
I was slightly surprised, therefore, when he broke off his whispered conversation and said to me, “You remember Colonel Johan, of course.”
I did and said so, coolly. I had not realized he was a colonel in Aleksey’s army. I reappraised him, given this knowledge. He did not seem as put out to be of inferior rank to an arrogant child as I would.
Perhaps he liked Aleksey giving him orders.
“Johan has come up with a solution to your problem, Nikolai.”
I huffed slightly. “I was not aware I had a problem.”
He frowned. “The king?”
I felt foolish. How many times did I need to tell myself to be more neutral and professional? Many more times apparently. I stopped thinking about Aleksey giving me orders and tried to concentrate. They had been discussing the poisoning of a king. It was no wonder they had been secretive and spoke in whispers. I turned politely to the colonel with raised eyebrows.
“There is a summerhouse by the sea that is used by the officers of the regiment. It is empty this time of the year. It is isolated, habitable, and—” He turned to Gregory. “What is the word I am looking for?”
Gregory huffed. “Cold?”
Johan smiled at him but added to me, “Bracing.”
Agreeing with the colonel, Aleksey added, “No one could be ill there. It is very beautiful.”
Johan flicked him an affectionate look. “And there speaks the pampered prince who has never even had a cold.”
Aleksey turned cool eyes upon him, but I could tell he was only feigning his anger. “You do remember the ten inches of steel I took to my gut in the war?”
“Ten inches? The only ten inches you take are in your dreams, lad.”
Gregory choked suddenly on something he had been eating. I turned, mulling over whether to just leave now or remember my vow to try and remain professional. I wasn’t sure I entirely understood the conversation, but I understood enough to know leaving seemed like a very pleasant option.
Aleksey seemed to sense my thoughts yet again, for he slid farther away from the colonel and next to me. “What do you think?”
I was fairly sure he didn’t want to know what I thought, so I merely commented, “It is getting dark. We should return, no?”
Aleksey looked chastened. He pouted a little. I heard a snort from Gregory, but then Pia was clearing the table and pushed a few plates to the colonel and told him angrily to carry them for her. To my surprise, he did. I did not think I had ever seen a man carry a plate before, besides a servant of course. It was rather novel.
We rode back most of the way in silence. I had a lot to think about, and so, I assumed, did Aleksey. But as we rode through the oppressive closeness of the forest, it seemed necessary to say something to keep the darkness at bay. “What happened to Pia’s mother? Do you know?” He turned to me, surprised, so I added carelessly, “She was telling me something of her history. I was interested.”
“Margaret was burned as a witch.”
Xavier stumbled at my hiss of shocked anger. Aleksey put a hand to the rein to steady him. It slipped to my thigh, and he left it there. After a suitable time, which put the touch somewhere between brotherly comfort and something else, I pulled away. We did not mention the moment. Instead, glancing off into the trees, Aleksey asked, “What did you think of Colonel Johan’s suggestion?”
I matched his cool tone. “If the colonel agrees to my use of the house, then I think it is an excellent idea.”
“The colonel will do as he is told. Do you think it will work?”
