I was too furious to respond. I merely nodded politely, as I was not in a positionnotto be polite. “In that case, perhaps you would be so kind as to have someone show me to my room.”
He stopped and toed the stone walkway for a moment, apparently assessing his boots. He idly scraped some mud off one edge. “I will. Follow me.” He strode off, theclick clickingof his animal’s claws following him.
I followed too. Perhaps I should have seen that small capitulation on his part and the willingness to follow him on mine as omens of what were to become noticeable features of our relationship. Perhaps I did. After all, I followed him very willingly, despite my earlier anger.
CHAPTER 5
THEPRINCEled me to rooms at the front of the castle with the same spectacular view as I had beheld from the battlements. I even had a small balcony from which to enjoy it. The rooms were very bare but all the more welcome for that. The overblown decoration of the king’s apartments had been oppressive.
Prince Christian wandered around the room picking up objects and placing them down, clearly a man who wanted to say something but couldn’t think of a way to introduce the topic. I let him sweat and went into the adjoining room. This was a small sitting room, which would serve very well as a study. I had no idea how long I would be here, but it was nice to know I would be comfortable in this godforsaken country. As if reading the direction of my thoughts, which was extremely off-putting, the prince remarked casually, “You must have passed through many of our towns and villages on your journey.” He had wandered into the room after me and was leaning nonchalantly against the stone doorframe.
“Indeed. Many.”
He went then to stand in the window alcove, staring at the view, and I could not see his expression. “What impressions did you form?”
“Impressions?”
He turned, a little impatiently, and I stopped being deliberately annoying and added more freely, “I found a great deal of poverty and not a small amount of superstition. Each feeding on the other.”
He stared for a moment. “Do not try to flatter me about my country, Doctor. Say what you mean.”
It had not occurred to me for a moment that he might have wanted a favorable report of what I had seen. I was stupid. I was somehow taking a small connection I had felt in the forest for more than it was. He did not think as I. How could he? He was aproductof the medieval barbarism I had witnessed on my journey. I bowed slightly. “You have very beautiful scenery. Big mountains.”
He considered me for a moment more, then broke into delighted laughter. “Johan was right about you.” He did not explain this slightly annoying comment but continued more soberly, “I believe you had come from a village before we met you?”
I nodded. This was a topic I was by no means ready to discuss with anyone. I could hardly bear to think on it myself. He was watching my reaction carefully. “There was an incident.”
I turned away and went back into the bedroom and out onto the balcony. I could not have taken another breath at that moment without losing my very fragile control. I sensed him behind me.
“I… we went to that village after we had encountered you, as we had business there and were told what happened.”
I swallowed. “Then you do not need me, Your Highness, to tell it to you again.”
“The account I was given…. I was only told the official version of events. I want to know what really happened. You were… unsettled when I came across you asleep.”
“Unsettled?” I turned to face him. “Unsettled? I have not slept since. I see him every moment in my mind. Unsettled? They laughed and tormented him as he died in agony, but I could do nothing! I—” It was too much. I tried to shoulder past him, but he caught my arm. It was nothing more than a tiny pinch of fabric, so light a child could have broken free, but it bound me to him.
I glanced down at his fingers. His nails were chipped and needed a good scrub. I laughed. It came out as a sob. He drew me into his arms and held me. He could not know that this was the first kind embrace I had been given for many, many years, the first time I shared a true emotion with anyone for just as long. It was like finding a long-lost brother. Better, a father. Better—but I could not go there. I took the hug for what it was and did not question it further.
Eventually, I eased away, my eyes downcast. “I apologize. This is not how I intended to present myself, Your Highness.”
“Aleksey. My friends call me Aleksey.”
I raised my eyes. His were shining, as mine must have been. I frowned. Suddenly I felt a stab of insight and then anger, jealousy, and…suspicion. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “Youknewhim!” I thought more than this but could not come right out and accuse him of such a crime.
He blinked, and one tear escaped, rolling down his cheek. He swiped at it angrily. Suddenly I became aware of the wolf. He was standing mere inches from me, muzzle drawn back, canines exposed, saliva dripping steadily in pace with the low, menacing rumble from his throat. Again I had that totally unreasoned belief that this creature somehow understood its master’s thoughts—beyond that normal ability dogs have to sense human mood. I resisted stepping back and turned to Aleksey once more, repeating my observation—my accusation.
He looked away for a moment, then down at the wolf, as if he’d only then noticed him. He patted his head, a distraction to give his hands something to do and his eyes somewhere to look besides my angry face. “Yes. He was a friend. We had gone there to take him hunting with us.”
“A friend. You know what he was condemned for.” I wasn’t sure myself whether this was a statement or a question so was not surprised he didn’t appear to either. He pursed his lips, looking slightly mutinous. I suddenly realized what I was saying, what I was thinking, what I had almost accused this prince of, and immediately regretted it. But I couldn’t so easily repress the little inner voice that kept repeating in a whisper,He is outside my jurisdiction. God will judge him….
This was getting me nowhere. He had brought up this subject. I did not want to think about it at all. I needed to get back to my patient. Time, for the king, was of the essence. I murmured something to this effect, and the prince immediately straightened and pulled himself out of whatever gloomy thoughts were engrossing him.
He nodded. “I will have servants appointed to you and your things brought from Mme. Costain’s. His Majesty will be prepared for your examination this afternoon. Is there anything else you need, Doctor?”
“Yes. For you to call me Nikolai,” I murmured with a smile of apology for things he did not know I had been thinking about him. “My friends call me Nikolai.” But I was wrong. Apparently he had known only too well exactly where my thoughts had strayed, for he replied sadly, “You may come to find that counting me as a friend is a very dangerous practice, Nikolai.”
I held his gaze. “I think I am willing to take that risk.” I had some inkling that by this simple declaration I had declared far more than an offer of friendship. He seemed to agree.
