Chapter Twenty
Niki was beyond weary and had been on his way up to bed when his aunt’s call stopped him.
The hours he had spent with Chamberlain Francis had been far more upsetting than he could ever have imagined.
Once the old man had discussed the business of the Holtswig council, he had turned to Niki’s single state.
Then, as Niki had feared, he had produced a list of names and details for the women he believed suitable for the job of marrying the prince.
He had even arranged for sketches of each woman in the hope that Niki would see them and fall instantly in love.
Niki had found it distasteful and pointless, and although he had tried to feign interest, he suspected Francis knew him too well to be fooled.
To take this step, the old man must suspect it was Roberta who Niki wanted, and he was trying to guide him away from her by reminding him of his duty to Holtswig and its people.
Niki did not need to be reminded of his duties, but he also wanted more than to sacrifice himself to them.
He was no martyr. He needed someone in his life who saw the real man, who would lift his spirits when they were low and stand by him no matter what happened.
He needed Roberta, and those moments with Francis had brought him to the cold, hard realization that no one else would do.
Francis had gone on and on, and when Niki stopped listening, he had turned the talk to whoever was trying to kill Niki.
He had been to visit the assassin and did not recognize him.
“There are so many of these hotheaded young men about these days. They all look the same.” Then he had tried to convince him that his association with Roberta was making matters worse.
Look at her admirer, Walter, he said, and the damage he did with his letter.
A woman like that is not the right choice for your princess.
He had even suggested Niki might be deposed if he dared to marry her.
Niki had always trusted and listened to the old man, and he felt a deep affection for him.
Francis had been there when his father and grandfather had died, and he had stepped into the gap they’d left.
But now he was disappointed. He understood Francis’s main loyalty was to his country, but surely he could see Niki’s point of view? Why couldn’t he sympathize?
In the end, Niki had informed the chamberlain that he was going to bed and so should he. He was on his way up the stairs, barely able to put one foot in front of the other, when Matilda called to him.
He turned to her and blurrily tried to understand what her words meant. “Roberta is here?”
“Yes. She has been here for several hours now. I am sorry, Niki, but I didn’t want to interrupt you and the chamberlain.”
He shook his head. “You should have,” he said angrily. “Where is she?”
“She said she would not leave until she had seen you. Come, I will take you to her.”
He followed her, his anger restoring his depleted energy. Roberta was here. She wanted to speak to him, and all the time, he had been closeted with Francis discussing other women he had no intention of marrying.
The room was gloomy, the fire unlit and only a single lamp to shed light on Roberta. She was curled up in a chair, her cheek on her palm, sound asleep. Matilda gave Niki a stricken look and then backed out of the room and closed the door.
He waited a moment, enjoying the sight of her, but when she didn’t seem about to wake, he reached down to touch her gently on the shoulder.
Roberta blinked, eyes opening, and then she smiled as if seeing him was everything to her.
His heart seemed to swell in his chest, but he didn’t have long to enjoy the moment because the next instant she sprang up and caught his hands in a ferocious grip, at the same time her hair came loose and tumbled down around her.
“Niki! Oh, thank goodness!” she gasped.
“Roberta?” He didn’t have to pretend to be disturbed by her behavior. “What is it? Is someone unwell?” It was all he could think of that could have upset her so—he knew how important her family was to her.
“No. At least…” She swallowed and stared into his eyes. “Niki, it’s my friend Estelle. And Karl.”
He heard the words, and even as he tried to make sense of them, a feeling of dread was growing inside him. “Karl?” he repeated. “What about him?”
She told him the whole story, words running together as they spilled out of her, and it was a tale he had heard many times before.
Karl had been seducing women since he was a boy.
Their father even encouraged his eldest son and appeared to enjoy listening to his tales of conquest over the many women he had inveigled into his arms and his bed.
It had sickened Niki then, and it sickened him now.
Roberta’s painful grip on his hands brought him back from his thoughts to the room and the woman before him.
She was gazing at him intently. She wanted him to act, and so he would. Karl must be made to face up to what he had done and shoulder his responsibilities, but Niki knew neither would be easy. There was more at stake here than a wronged woman when Karl was the brother of a prince.
He lifted her hands and kissed them, one after another, and then folded them together. “I need to send for him,” he said. “Perhaps you should go home.”
“No!” she cried. “I want to see him too. I want to tell him—”
He would have liked to argue but what was the point? He could see she was determined, her mouth had a mulish look, and his Roberta was as stubborn and strong-willed as one of those creatures.
“If you stay, which I really don’t think you should, then you must promise you will allow me to do the talking.”
She still looked mutinous, but he was in earnest, and eventually, she promised. He rang the bell pull for a servant and, when one arrived, asked him to send for Karl.
“I don’t know where he is,” the man replied uncertainly.
“Then find out. Tell him his brother Prince Nikolai Lichtenberg, Duke of Holtswig, wishes to see him on an urgent matter. Can you remember that?” he said with quiet fury. “I can write it down.”
The man turned pale. “I can remember, sir,” he said stoically.
“Good. And while you do that, send someone upstairs for Chamberlain Francis Ruess. He may be asleep but tell them to wake him and say I need him and then bring him here. Do you understand me?”
The servant appeared even more anxious now, but he bowed low and said he did understand and closed the door behind him.
Niki turned to Roberta, who was watching him with a curious stare, and said, “Now we wait.”
Roberta sat down in her chair again, but he could see she was anything but relaxed.
Niki went to the window and stood staring into the darkness.
He did not look forward to what he was about to do, but as the ruler of his country, he needed to set aside his own feelings.
Karl was popular and beloved by all of Holtswig, and Niki was not.
What followed would not be pleasant for either of them.
Soon, he heard the chamberlain’s slow steps approaching, and the door opened. The old man was more stooped than usual—it had been a long day for him too—but his gaze was alert as it went from Niki to Roberta and then back again. God knew what he was thinking; his feelings were well hidden.
“Your Highness? You needed me? The servant wasn’t very forthcoming.”
“Sit down, Francis. Unfortunately, we have more work to do.”
He sat, looking again at Roberta, and Niki realized they had never formally met. He introduced them and saw his chamberlain raise a craggy eyebrow.
“Lady Roberta, it is an honor,” he said smoothly.
She managed a faint smile. “Thank you, Chamberlain Francis. An honor for me too.” Niki could tell they were both being polite rather than truthful.
“You wish to speak of your marriage?” Francis asked hopefully, perhaps believing his words from earlier had borne fruit.
“I do not,” Niki retorted firmly. Then, turning to Roberta, “Chamberlain Francis is aware of the nature of our engagement.”
“Oh,” she said, looking awkward. “That is…hmm.”
“He doesn’t approve,” Niki went on, wondering why he was being so mischievous.
“Doesn’t he?” She was surprised. “Surely you don’t want Niki hurt? This is the best solution the British government could come up with.”
Francis gave her words due deliberation before he answered, and Roberta was wise enough not to interrupt him.
“I don’t approve because it makes the prince look weak. And I worry if his people believe he is to marry a foreigner they will react negatively. It was always my wish that he would marry someone from our own country. There are many suitable prospects and—”
“But none who can save his life,” Roberta retorted. “I can do that, or at least, my government can. Besides, the engagement will be over in a few weeks, so let’s hope I will not taint him too much with my foreignness.”
She was upset and angry, and Niki was strangely gratified by it.
Francis seemed surprised too, eyeing her with new interest. “We will agree to disagree,” he said mildly. Then, turning to Niki, “But that is not why you have called me from my sleep, is it? What has happened?”
Niki took a breath and told him.
They heard the front door open and heavy footsteps approach. Karl called out a teasing reproof to one of the servants for interrupting him at a crucial moment while he was in the arms of a Cyprian. Niki grimaced. In the circumstances, such a comment only made his brother look worse.
There was a perfunctory tap on the door before it opened. Karl’s amiable smile encompassed them but there was an alertness in his eyes that made Niki suspect he was well aware why he had been called home.
“Brother! And Roberta! What a nice surprise. Chamberlain Francis…No one told me you had made the journey to London.”
“I thought it my duty,” the old man said.
Karl shared a glance with Niki. At one time, they might both have smiled at the chamberlain’s pedantic tone, but this time, Niki didn’t smile. Karl’s own smile fell away, and he heaved a dramatic sigh.
“Let’s get it over with then, shall we? I’ve been a naughty boy and must be punished. What is it to be? Banishment?” He was joking but there was a genuine question in his voice.
Niki stared at his brother and felt his hands clench into fists.
He was angry and not trying to hide it. “You have ruined Estelle Longhurst for no other reason than you wanted to. You have destroyed a young woman’s life and reputation because you have no restraint and no morals.
Although it pains me to believe you so base, I fear it is true. ”
Karl waved a dismissive hand. “She wanted me to ruin her. She begged me. In the end, I didn’t complete the act—did she tell you that?
” He gave Roberta a quizzical glance. “There isn’t much pleasure to be had in tupping a lady who is sobbing and bleating for me to stop.
Although, ‘lady’?” He tapped his chin thoughtfully.
“I’m not sure if I would call her that.”
Roberta was on her feet. “She is young and na?ve, and you…” She pointed at him, her finger trembling. “You are a seducer and a liar. If it wasn’t for your selfishness, she would never have found herself in such a perilous situation. That you feel no regret for what you did makes me sick.”
“Regret is a pointless emotion,” Karl said, his eyes watchful. “What do you say, Chamberlain Francis? Am I to be forced into marriage with a girl like that? What would the people of Holtswig say? They would declare a day of public mourning.”
Niki feared that what his brother said was true. The ladies of Holtswig would be distraught if their favorite was forced into such a marriage.
The chamberlain answered with his usual slow thoughtfulness. “I agree, it would not be good for the country for Karl to wed such a woman. Though in the circumstances, he must marry, and I have the perfect bride for him. Lady Henrietta von Blasberg.”
“What? That old crone!” Karl burst out. “She is twice my age. Thrice! I think I would rather marry Estelle.”
“And what will become of Estelle if he abandons her?” Roberta said, sounding desperate.
The chamberlain gave her a curious look. He was unused to young ladies arguing with him, and in other circumstances Niki might have laughed.
“Your friend is not my concern,” the old man said. “Karl is. Do you agree with me, sir? Lady Henrietta is the perfect choice. Her lands straddle our southern borders, and this way, we will strengthen our ties there. I have long thought it the ideal solution to any unrest from that direction.”
It was a good plan, and one Niki had heard his father put forward before he died.
Perhaps he had foreseen Karl causing one too many scandals and needing to be reined in.
Once married to Lady Henrietta, he would be far enough away from the court for his antics to be less of a problem.
Roberta would not agree—this was no solution for her friend—but Niki knew he could not allow emotion to cloud the issue.
“I do see the benefits,” he agreed with a glance at Roberta, who looked outraged. “Please begin negotiations immediately, Francis.”
The old man smiled and, with a last warning look at Karl, shuffled from the room.
Meanwhile Karl was white-faced. “Do I not get a say in this?” he demanded, his voice shaking. “Father would never have forced me into such a marriage.”
“More’s the pity,” Niki murmured. He fixed Karl with a regal stare, the one he used when he was determined to win an argument. “It is time you settled down. You will marry Lady Henrietta.”
For a moment, he thought Karl might take him by the throat and throttle him. It was unsettling to see his easygoing, mild-mannered, and charming brother so rattled. But Niki held the whip hand.
“The alternative is to marry Estelle Longhurst,” he said quietly. “If that is what you want, then tell me now and I will begin negotiations. Of course, you will have to remain here in England, and I do not expect your allowance will be as large as it is now.”
Karl’s lip curled. “You give me a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea, Brother.”
“At least you have a choice,” Niki retorted.
Karl frowned, sending a puzzled glance from Roberta to Niki, and then he shrugged. “I will speak to you tomorrow when both our heads are cooler.”
The door closed behind him and Niki’s shoulders slumped. He ached all over from holding himself so stiffly and from bending Karl to his will. And now he had Roberta to deal with, and he already knew she was not happy with him.