An uneasy expression passed over the man’s face. His gaze shifted to his comrade’s for help.
“They did say he just got betrothed,” the other sentinel muttered under his whiskers. “Was all over the papers.”Both sentinels studied her anew, taking in her walking dress and her mink coat.
A hint of panic crossed the sentinel’s face.
“Papers,” the other boomed out. “You must produce papers to confirm your identity. If you are indeed who you say you are, then we shall, of course, grant you access.”
“Papers, Nellie.” Nellie pulled out the papers and handed them to him.
He studied them and paled. “I beg you a thousand pardons, my lady. We did not know.”
“Well, you do now.” She whisked past him and waited for him to open the heavy door for her.
She ignored their profuse apologies and stepped inside, allowing herself one steadying breath.
They were inside.
Good.
Now what?
Things were hardly any less intimidating inside. TheHofkriegsratwas a maze of corridors, stairs and even more corridors. How was she to find Georg in this labyrinth?
Uniformed men hustled by, barely giving them a glance.
“The trick is to pretend as though we know precisely where we are going,” she muttered to Nellie. “No confused looking around. We have a right to be here. We know where we need to go. Heavens. Left or right staircase?”
“I don’t know, my lady!” Nellie’s voice sounded panicked. “There are too many soldiers in the corridor on the left. Let us take the right.”
That was, probably, a good choice, to avoid people until they had some sort of idea where they were.
They took another turn into a quieter corridor, where Evie paused to gather her bearings. “One must proceed atthese things with logic. We could, of course, ask around, which makes us appear precisely as though we have no right to be here, and that is not the impression we want to convey. On the other hand, we will waste a considerable amount of time if we don’t know where to go.” She interrupted herself as a pair of men walked briskly towards them, deep in conversation. Evie turned towards the next door and pretended to reach out and open it.
As they passed by, she heard snippets of their conversation.
“He’ll bite our heads off if we’re late. He’s summoned everyone to the War Council chamber, from the sergeants down to the adjutants.”
“Do you know what this unexpected meeting is about?”
“No idea. I suspect it’s regarding the Prussian question. The Field Marshal implied the other day that troops may need to be deployed rather earlier than anticipated…”
“This way,” Evie hissed, and dragged Nellie along the corridor, following the men at a safe distance.
They turned a corner, and at the end of the corridor the double doors were open and people flocked into a grand-looking room that, no doubt, was the War Council chamber.
Evie waited until the last of the men went inside. She bid Nellie to wait in the corridor, while she slipped in, and ducked at the back of the room. Since the room was packed with men all facing the front, no one noticed she was there. Evie carefully angled an empty chair towards her and positioned it behind a wide, burly man, where she could effectively hide. She peeked around his back to the uniformed man who stood in the front, commanding everyone’s attention.
Hartenberg.
Strange, Evie thought, how he was so very differentin this environment. It was like he was a different person altogether. He started talking in a clear, crisp voice. In the drawing room, as a private man, he was unhurried, dry-humoured, frequently sardonic. Here, he was sharp and clipped to the bone. That she was not the only one thinking so was evident from how stiffly all the men behaved. They all sat a little straighter, and one could have heard a pin drop when he talked. He was, in short, rather terrifying.
She ducked her head low and prayed he would not discover her.
The meeting dragged on. It was, as suspected, centred upon the Prussian question and the deployment of troops should Prussia attempt to annex Saxony as compensation for her lost territories. Austrian regiments were to be stationed in Bohemia as a contingency plan.
How excessively dull it all was.
Golden sunlight flooded through the windows, and the room grew uncomfortably warm. Evie felt a heavy drowsiness stealing over her and bit back a yawn.
