CHAPTER 23
Axel
K aty continued being her colorful self throughout dinner. Axel knew he should be horrified by the things she said to their nobles, just as his mother was, but her blunt honesty was a breath of fresh air compared to the stuffy double-talk in which he was usually mired. If proper behavior hadn’t been drilled into him since childhood, he would have gladly said many of the same things that Katy did.
What surprised Axel was his father’s reaction. Comments that would have brought glares and a lecture if Axel had made them earned indulgent smiles when they fell from Katy’s lips.
He felt certain that Katy had noticed the same thing. A bit of smugness slipped into her smile whenever her eyes caught the queen frowning after some snarky comment, but her lips turned down whenever the king displayed pleasure.
What was she up to? Was she following through on her joking suggestion to convince his mother to throw her out? But if she was still determined to go home, why had she insisted on that little show for Lady Ilse?
Heavens, that had been sweet torture!
After dinner came the ball, at which Katy was formally introduced as his bride-to-be. It was only after he mentioned that she would be opening the dancing with him that he realized she didn’t know how.
“I can dance,” Katy protested. Stabbing her fists onto her hips, she huffed, “I’ve danced plenty at home. It’s not my fault that you have different dances here.”
Axel rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m really sorry, Katy. I should have said something sooner.”
“Can’t you show her out on the balcony?” Michael folded his arms and craned his neck to peer over the other attendees. “It looks empty at the moment.”
“There’s not enough time,” Axel argued, shaking his head. “You know what the traditional opening dance is like.”
“I avoid them all,” Tobias said to no one, swirling his glass and gazing at the ceiling.
A passing guest bumped into Katy, knocking her forward. Glaring over her shoulder, Katy asked, “Do we have to be traditional? You could teach me something simpler in the time we have left.” A wicked gleam entered her eye. “Or we could really switch things up, and I could teach you one of my dances.”
“It’s his duty as crown prince to open his ball with the expected dance,” Michael frowned. “A simpler one might be acceptable, but not a village one.”
And why not?
Stepping closer to Katy, Axel wrapped an arm around her, earning a startled glance. “It’s my ball, and I’m supposed to open it with my betrothed, who happens to be from a village.” Looking down at her, he grinned. “If a Flussendorf couple hosted a dance to celebrate their betrothal, what song would it open with?”
“You really want to know?” she grinned back. “It might assault the delicate sensibilities of your fine nobles.”
“Axel—”
He threw an annoyed look at his friend. “Just because you’re married to your duties, Michael, doesn’t mean I have to be married to mine. I’d rather be married to Katy.” Ignoring the wide eyes of his companions, he turned back to Katy. “My fine nobles can use some stirring up. Come, teach me this dance of yours, and we’ll inform the musicians of the change.”
Half an hour later, he was leading Katy to the center of the empty dance floor. The glittering chandeliers and the columns lining the high-ceilinged room were impressive, but none of it could match the wonder of Katy’s rough hand in his raised one, her face lit up with anticipation.
He bowed over her hand as she curtsied to him. Placing his right hand at her waist, he raised their joined hands to the side. She lifted a dainty amount of her skirt in her left hand, completing the pose for the traditional opening dance. The quiet murmurs of the guests died down to a few whispers.
And then the musicians struck up their tune.
Instead of producing slow, stately strains, the violins dove straight into a lively melody, accompanied by a lilting pattern in the cellos and strong, short notes from the basses. A wave of shocked gasps broke out as Axel lifted his knees and led Katy in the energetic village version of a waltz. He and Katy grinned at each other when he spun her out and the murmurs became more obvious, the attendees leaning toward each other and hiding their words behind their hands.
He was familiar with some of the moves from playing Lars. The others, she had taught him on the balcony, and now she quietly whispered the next step to him as they danced. He stuttered every now and then when his feet tried to take him in the wrong direction, but he laughed, enjoying it all the more.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun at a ball.
Twirling her under his arm, her skirts flaring around her, he stepped to the side before stepping back in and turning under their raised arms with her. They placed their right hands on each other’s shoulder before moving apart, hands sliding down their arms, until they gripped hands just before losing each other. He pulled her back in, bent his knees as he grabbed her waist from behind, and lifted her into the air for a quick spin – one of several improvisations he’d suggested as a hat-tip to the dance they were replacing.
The musicians approached their finale as he set her feet back on the floor. Katy moved her hands from his wrists to his hands, and they flung their arms out to the side before he wrapped their left ones around her waist and their right behind his. They leaned opposite directions, she to the right and he to the left, so that they could meet each other’s eyes for the ending pose.
It begged for him to lean in to finish it off. Her laughing eyes and wide smile, chest heaving from the exertion of the dance, lured him in.
His hands tightened on hers, and he felt his grin start to soften out. But as soon as he moved, her smile froze, a look of panic flashing through her eyes.
Of course. She’d pushed him away after his teasing suggestion in front of Lady Ilse; she wouldn’t be more eager here when they were the center of attention.
A single strong clap sounded from Michael’s direction. A smattering of hesitant claps followed before it built into something resembling the expected response. As the applause grew, Axel released Katy’s hands and offered his arm to escort her from the floor.
“Another shocking performance,” Tobias greeted them. Ceasing his lazy clapping, he lifted his glass from a nearby table. “Keep that up, and half the court will be clamoring for your father to change his mind.”
“Only half?” Axel joked at the same time Katy eagerly said, “Do you really think so?”
He frowned at her, but she kept her eyes on Tobias. Michael raised an eyebrow. “I know you said it wasn’t your choice, but she truly is reluctant, isn’t she?”
“I keep hoping she’ll come around.” Axel kept watching her, silently begging her to look at him as the music began for the next dance.
“Come on, Axel, you have more dances,” Michael prodded. “You start with the young ones, and I’ll take the old first this time.”
“I’d rather not yet.”
Finally, Katy looked at him. Or toward him, anyway; she didn’t meet his eyes. “Go ahead, Axel. It’s fine. I’ll still be here when you get back.” She withdrew her hand from his arm.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she doesn’t run away,” Tobias said after a sip of his drink. “I mean, keep her company.”
It didn’t feel right. He wanted to stay with Katy and convince her to stay with him, or at least to talk to him. But she had stepped up next to Tobias and Michael was tugging on his arm, so he allowed himself to be drawn away to fulfill his responsibilities.
~
Katy continued to confuse him, playful and loving one day but withdrawn and hesitant the next. Every morning before breakfast and most afternoons, she accompanied Axel to the music room in the castle and helped him learn his part. Not that he needed her help; if he wasn’t going to visit Lotti at the theater, he could have done it on his own. But it meant spending time with her and listening to her pretty voice when he taught her the part of Bonita so they could sing the duets together. When she had learned that, he taught her the role of Astrid.
She lacked Lotti’s training, but to Axel, she was magnificent.
When the weather grew warmer with the arrival of spring, he took her on walks through the gardens after supper. Sometimes Katy walked with her hand on his arm, and sometimes she refused his escort, depending on how interesting she found the scenery.
He alternated between the paths that brought only peaceful smiles and the paths that pulled her away to exclaim and examine. The light pressure of her hand, the way she would squeeze his forearm when she teased him, the ease with which he could tug her to a stop to play with one of her errant curls… Seeing her delighted was a pleasure, but he was selfish enough to want her on his arm, too.
The light breeze and waving flowers put thoughts of her lips in his head, but her cousin usually followed a few paces behind. Otto’s accusatory glare in the music room, his protective big brother aura, and his beefy physique convinced Axel that kissing her wouldn’t be wise.
Maybe if Katy displayed an inclination in that direction, but both times he’d made a move on his birthday, she’d retreated. And now she was seesawing between appearing as crazy about him as he was about her…and wanting nothing more than to abandon him for her home in Flussendorf.
An afternoon about a month after his birthday found him hurrying down the corridors of the castle. He didn’t even pause to give his customary nods and waves to the servants as he passed; instead, he maintained his forward focus, concentrating on reaching his destination as quickly as possible.
Since it was such a beautiful day, Katy had coaxed him out to the gardens in place of their usual music practice. At his joking insistence, they had still sung – agreeing on their starting note was an adventure – which was great fun. They made a half-hearted attempt to obey his father’s strictures and kept an eye out for other people, cutting off with suppressed giggles whenever one would signal to the other that someone was approaching .
Unfortunately, Axel lost track of both the distance and the time. He didn’t let Katy push him into leaving her shorter stride behind until long after his next meeting had started.
And his father was in the meeting, too. It wouldn’t even require a report or a complaint; the king already knew of his transgression.
The hope that he could sneak in for the end was dashed when Father strode out of the meeting room and looked straight at him. Beckoning for him to follow, the king spun away and headed for his study. Axel gulped, pasted on his “penitent son” face, and trailed behind him.
“I’m sorry, Father,” he said as soon as the door closed behind him. “I had every intention of—”
His father waved him off, settling into the chair behind his desk. “Calm down, son. Yes, it was an important meeting, and yes, you were missed, but the world isn’t ending. I didn’t call you in here to lecture you.”
“You didn’t?” Axel asked, surprised.
“No, I called you here to fill you in on what you missed.”
He wasn’t sure the world wasn’t ending after all. His father hadn’t been this laid-back about Axel’s failures since Helena died.
Glancing up, Father prompted, “Why are you still standing there? Come sit down so we can get started.”
Axel took a few strides forward and dropped into a chair. They proceeded to discuss the main points of the meeting, and his father was surprisingly calm throughout. By what miracle had he been offered this grace?
“So, how is your project coming along?” Father asked, folding his hands on the desktop and focusing fully on Axel.
“Project?”
“Convincing Katrin that marrying you is desirable, rather than the lesser of two evils. ”
Remembering the last time they’d had this conversation, Axel swept the room with his eyes, but they were alone; there was no unwelcome advisor lurking in the corner. “I’m not sure.” They’d had fun that afternoon, but the previous evening, she’d been staring off to the southeast, ignoring his attempts to joke with her.
As it was his dearest wish to keep her, it was tempting to simply accept his father’s will. Do nothing, and Katy would be his, no questions asked.
But he wanted her to want it, too.
Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and asked, “Father, can’t you let her go? It’s…it’s what she wants.”
“Absolutely not!” His father jerked back, eyes shocked. “You cannot let her decide to leave, Axel!”
Axel stared at his father for a few moments, startled by the response. “Why not?”
“Haven’t you noticed? How full of life she is? How vibrant?” Father sighed and rested his chin on a fist. Axel nodded slowly. “It’s like…” He trailed off, gazing at the far wall. Finally, he continued. “Like having your sister again.”
A smile tugged on Axel’s lips. He’d noticed it the first time he met her, but her allure was more than that. She was similar to Helena in many ways, but Katy had won his heart by being kind and selfless, fiery and unfailingly honest. Helena had been fiery, but her unusual upbringing had resulted in a certain amount of selfishness, not to mention a disregard for other people’s feelings sometimes.
“The hole where she should be is still there; nothing will change that.” Father straightened back up. “But with Katrin around, I spend less time wishing I knew what went wrong, what I could have done differently. The burden is less somehow.” Catching Axel’s eyes, he stated firmly, “You cannot let her choose to leave, Axel. She must stay. You must win her heart. ”
He’d been trying. He wanted her to stay, too. More than anything.
But not because she felt like she had no other choice.
~
“When do you learn the blocking for Cesar? Doesn’t the show open soon?” Katy asked as Axel led her through one of Lars’s and Astrid’s dances.
Without pausing their movement, he lightly replied, “Opening night is in three weeks. I suppose I should learn the rest of my part sometime soon.”
“Will you be singing on opening night again?” Katy smiled up at him as she completed a turn under his arm. It was one of her friendly days. So far – he never knew what might trigger a reversal.
“I haven’t worked that out yet,” he admitted sheepishly. “I haven’t even confirmed with the director that I’ve located Gunther, let alone convinced him to sing. I’m surprised I haven’t heard from him.”
Katy spun into him, landing with one hand on his chest as required by the blocking. He wished he could decide if she would do it by choice. Did her love of honesty mean he could trust the look in her eyes when he was Lars and she was Astrid? Or was she a better actor than he thought?
“Shouldn’t you take care of that?”
“I suppose.” He caught her wrist as she pulled away from him, pausing their conversation as he sang the line that came next. They finished the song and froze in the final pose. “But that would mean going to the theater.”
Relaxing to a normal standing position, Katy raised an eyebrow. “I thought you liked sneaking off to the theater.”
“I do.” He stepped forward and wrapped one of her curls around his finger. “But I like playing with you more. ”
“So, take me with you,” she replied with a shrug. “Then you can do both.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt.” Bringing his hand a little closer, he brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “But I do need to take care of a few things. I’ll go tomorrow morning. Will you be all right without me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Somehow, I think I’ll survive.”
A cleared throat from the edge of the room drew their attention. “Yes, Otto?” Axel prompted.
“Pardon my suggestion, Your Highness, but you should take Kat with you.” The guard leaned back against the wall. “Everyone knows you spend this time together. If you disappear without her, it will draw attention.”
“What if I go in the afternoon? I can take Bertram, and it will look like official business; then no one will think twice about her absence.”
“That will only work for your meeting with the director,” Otto quietly replied. “You can’t go to the theater every afternoon without raising suspicions.”
Frustrated, Axel turned away and strode to the far wall, hands on his waist. Otto was right; he’d established patterns with Katy over the last month, and he didn’t have a viable excuse to be seen at the theater regularly. It was why he slipped away in the mornings with Otto. But even if he wasn’t concerned about the accidents, he was hesitant to introduce Katy to Lotti. He didn’t like the way his teacher had obsessed over her.
“Will you at least agree to wait with Otto?” He started to cross back to her but paused at the sight of the frown on her face.
“What are you trying to hide from me, Axel?” Her eyes narrowed in on him with the same intensity that she directed at his nobles when she was seeking something outrageous to say.
“Nothing!” he insisted. “As I said, I only want to keep you safe. Your cousin is best suited to protect you.”
“From accidents?” Katy snorted. “In any case, if there is danger at the theater from which he can protect me, shouldn’t he be with you?”
“I—” How could he possibly explain about Lotti? Examining Katy’s belligerent posture and remembering her reaction to his failure to disclose his identity, he decided it would be worse to not try. “It’s my voice instructor. The one who helps me with my technique and taught me the blocking for The Tanner’s Secret . She’s been acting strangely since I met you.”
Otto straightened, his arms dropping to his side as he fell into guardian mode. “You think she’s dangerous? Your Highness—”
“Not to me,” Axel hastened to assure him. “I’ve worked with Lotti for years; she’s had plenty of opportunity to hurt me if she had wanted to. But Katy...” He directed his gaze at her, making sure both she and her cousin could see how earnest he was. “I don’t want Katy anywhere near her.”
There was silence for a minute as his two companions looked first at each other and then at him. “You realize that doesn’t make me feel better about letting you near her, don’t you?” Otto finally said.
“I have to meet with her, Otto,” Axel sighed. “The note-writer insists that either I or ‘Gunther’ perform, and I can’t do that unless I know the blocking. Lotti can teach me.”
“So can the production director.”
“If I spend that much time with him, he might realize who I am,” he argued back. “And if I’m bringing Katy with me, not to mention a guard, someone will figure it out.”
Otto pursed his lips. Axel could see the man’s duty to protect his prince warring with his desire to help him protect his secrets.
“Please, Otto. I promise, Lotti isn’t going to hurt me.”
~
Axel crept onto the stage. “Lotti?” he called softly. It had been weeks since he’d been there, but this was where he usually found her in the mornings.
It would also be the best place to rehearse. His guard didn’t like the idea of standing in the hallway – already a concession on Axel’s part – but Axel didn’t want Katy where she would be impossible to miss, as she would be inside a practice room. In the auditorium, Otto and Katy could lurk in the shadows of the audience chamber and avoid notice, just as Lotti did.
He hoped.
“Lotti?” he called again, his voice echoing through the open space. “Are you in here?”
Just when he was about to give up and begin searching the rest of the building, a slight scuffing noise caught his attention. Spinning, he saw the shadows move in the light of his candle.
He stepped closer, holding the light aloft. “Lotti? Is that you?”
“Where have you been?” Her sultry voice was hard. “Why have you not come to see me in weeks? How do you expect to be ready for Cesar?”
Despite his assurances to Otto, Axel took a step back at the vehemence in her tone. “I’ve been learning the music on my own, but I need help with the—Wait, how do you know I’ll be performing again?”
The dim light of his single candle wasn’t enough for visual clues, so he crossed to a candelabra, keeping one eye on the area from which her voice had come. “The same way I know the blocking. I observe what happens in this theater.”
“Right. I’ll be in trouble if I’m not back for breakfast, so can we get started? My parents have been a little jumpy since I spent an unplanned night outside. ”
“Not while she’s here.”
Axel froze, then turned his head in Lotti’s general direction. “Beg pardon?”
A single pale hand breached the shadows and pointed to the side of the auditorium. “The upstart for whom you abandoned me. Her companion, too. They leave first.”
Following the direction of her finger, he could just see the gleam of Otto’s sword hilt reflecting the candlelight. It shifted slightly, and the faintest movement nearby suggested a tanned hand gripping it.
“Do you mind waiting outside, Otto?” Axel called out. He shielded his eyes from the candelabra’s brightness and peered into the darkness, watching and listening for a response.
“I won’t harm your precious prince,” Lotti assured, raising her voice. “Just as I did not when you stood on the front steps, waiting for your master like a good dog.”
“Lotti—” Axel protested.
“Do you take offense at the comparison, little guard dog hiding in the shadows?” she cut in.
Muffled by the carpet underfoot, Otto’s footfalls were silent as he stepped forward into the light. Katy followed him, her chin lifted defiantly. “It is an apt description, whether I like it or not,” he responded. His quiet tenor carried where his footsteps did not. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“I want him to perform,” Lotti said flippantly. “I have no reason to harm him. Just as he has been safe the last ten years, so he will be safe today.”
“Why do you not wish us to watch?”
“Would I hide in the shadows if I did not value my privacy?” she retorted. “If you wish him to learn what he needs to know, you and the girl will leave.”
Otto had chosen a position that was a compromise between his need to be close to the prince and Axel’s insistence on keeping distance between Katy and Lotti. Axel couldn’t read the changes in Otto’s stoic face, but the guard’s weight shifted from one foot to the other and his right hand clenched and unclenched the hilt of his sword.
“It’s fine, Otto.” Axel settled his weight on his back leg and spread a lazy grin across his face, making sure to insert a carefree note into his tone. “She won’t even touch me to teach me the dance; she always makes me learn with an imaginary partner.”
Katy reached over and placed her hand on her cousin’s arm, leaning closer and saying something too quiet for the echoes of the auditorium to pick up. He angled his head toward her, keeping one eye on the stage. The two argued quietly for a few minutes before Otto relinquished his grip on his sword and gave a stiff bow. “As you wish, Your Highness.” Then he and Katy made their way to the back door of the auditorium, the slam of the closing door echoing through the large space.
“That was your theater girl,” Lotti noted with disdain. “I thought you were giving her up for the woman your father wishes you to marry.”
Turning to face her, Axel smiled. “That’s one of the great things about life; you never know what it will surprise you with next. As it so happens, my ‘theater girl’ and the woman my father wishes me to marry are the same person. Now, shall we sing?”
She didn’t respond for a few moments. He caught a flash of her flute as it lifted into the air, but instead of playing, she said, “Your theater girl or not, you barely know her. Yet you would marry her at your father’s command?”
“The hopeless romantic in me, I suppose.” He rubbed the back of his neck, gazing toward the door through which Katy had left. “I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve known her for years.”
“Romantic nonsense,” Lotti retorted. “Pure infatuation.”
“That’s what I keep telling myself.” He sighed and turned his back on the audience chamber. “But I didn’t come here to discuss my love life. Shall we start at the beginning, or is there a particular dance that I should learn first?”
“First, you demonstrate for me how well you have learned your song.” The clear notes of her flute drifted out of the shadows, and as they neared his entrance, Axel took a preparatory breath and joined them.