CHAPTER 24
Katy
K aty tilted her head back, enjoying the sunshine on her face. The dull roar of shoppers haggling and gossiping and merchants hawking their wares surrounded her. The weather was pleasant: warm enough to have no need of cloaks, but cool enough that they wouldn’t perspire. Otto and two of Axel’s other guards trailed behind. Axel had assured her that she would have her own guards someday, but she hoped that time was far in the future, preferably far enough that she escaped her betrothal before it arrived.
Even if that hopeful eventuality seemed more unlikely with each passing day.
It was hard to remember to dislike Axel while wandering through the biggest Himmelsburg market on his arm. There was so much more to see than in the small market back home; so much more variety in the merchandise, so many new types of food enticing her with their delicious smells. Through it all, Axel whispered witty remarks to her under the guise of whispering sweet nothings in the ear of his beloved. His public face remained serene, but Katy couldn’t keep a smile off her face.
“Shall we find some lunch, fair Katrin?” Axel remarked, patting her hand and giving her an adoring smile – overdone for the benefit of the crowd. “I find myself losing the ability to resist the calls of the many succulent aromas drifting through this part of the market. Is there anything you most wish to try? ”
She elbowed him in the ribs. “Perhaps ham, since you are one,” she quipped.
He gave her a sly grin. “Are you admitting to having succumbed to my charms? May I at last bask in the unequaled knowledge that you want me?”
“No, just ham. Or pork, since that seems a more likely find in a market.” Scanning the nearby stands, she paused when her eyes landed on one. “No, beef! They have bierocks! Isn’t that your favorite?”
Giving her a funny look, he steered her in the direction that she was pointing. “They used to be,” he answered. “Two or three years ago, I discovered a similar dish that uses a pastry crust instead of bread.”
“Oh. We can get that, then,” Katy said.
He continued to watch her with a confused expression. “But how did you know that I used to like bierocks?”
“I suppose you must have told me,” she said.
“I told you what my favorite food used to be?” he replied, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
Shrugging, she said, “You must have. Why else would I think that? And if you want to debate it further, how did you know that my favorite color is green?” she challenged, dangling a newly purchased set of green ribbons in front of his face.
“You...must have told me,” he mumbled. When Katy strongly denied it, he amended, “Then Otto must have told me. He likes to talk about his favorite cousin when we walk through the town in the mornings.”
They both turned to look back at her cousin, but he shook his head without looking at them. “Not that I recall,” he said simply.
“Then ’twas a lucky guess, I suppose. For both of us.” The prince tugged her in a different direction. “It would be my pleasure to introduce you to my new favorite: pirogi. ”
They found an out-of-the-way place to stand and consume their snack. Katy offered some to their guards, but Axel merely laughed, correctly predicting that they would all refuse, even her cousin. She felt bad eating in front of them, but all three firmly told her not to worry about it.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Katy asked quietly. She couldn’t be too specific in public, especially since two of their guards were unaware of Axel’s unsanctioned activities.
Having just taken a bite, he chewed for a bit and swallowed before replying. “Of course. Thanks to your subtle prodding, I had ample time to prepare the rest. Are you ready for tonight?” He grinned at her. “Your first time enjoying a fine theatrical production from the best seats in the house?”
“I thought the box I sat in last time was pretty good.” Winking at him, she added, “It gave me a fine view of that new actor everyone keeps talking about. Too bad he won’t be there tonight.”
“Alas, no, I fear our tickets are for the wrong night if you wish to hear him perform again. But I think I like it better this way; I am not sure I could contain my jealousy were I forced to sit next to you while you openly admired another man.”
“And yet you take me tonight? What makes you so confident that I won’t be admiring Georg?” She shot him a mischievous grin before stuffing her final bite into her mouth.
Axel leaned over to whisper in her ear. His lips brushed her skin, sending a pleasant shiver down her back. “Perhaps only confident that you prefer me to an unknown on the stage.”
She pushed his lips from her mind. When her mouth was clear to respond, she calmly stated, “Overconfident, then. I didn’t know the new young actor before I saw him on the stage. And he entranced me enough to track him down in the dressing room.”
“Perhaps. Shall we continue?” Instead of offering his arm, he reached for her hand. She whisked it out of reach, settling her hands safely around his solid upper arm. His smile faltered for a moment. “Then let us be off.”
~
“Katy!”
Waving her maid aside, Katy leapt from her chair with her hair half done, rushing to respond to the insistent knocking at her door. She threw it open. “Axel! What’s wrong?”
Instead of responding, he pushed past her, freezing when he looked up and saw the maid staring at him with wide eyes. Pasting on a playful smile – with only a slight hint of panic around his eyes – he said, “Would you give us a moment, Britta? I find I cannot wait another minute and simply must have my fair Katrin to myself for a mite of conversation.” He waggled his eyebrows and winked.
Britta pressed her lips together, clearly hiding a smile. “Yes, Your Highness. As long as Miss Katrin desires it?”
“Yes, of course, Britta,” Katy hastily said, waving her out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind her, the mask slid from Axel’s face and the look of panic returned.
“What’s wrong?” Katy asked again, keeping her voice low as they walked farther into the room. “What happened?”
“I just found a letter from the operations director.” Pulling a folded paper out of his pocket, he handed it to her. “It was delivered while we were out. I dropped by my study to glance through my correspondence while waiting for you. That was lying on top of the stack.”
Katy took the note, opened it, and scanned it as quickly as she could. “But this—!” she gasped. Looking up, she saw her own distress mirrored in his eyes. “He has no right to demand this of you!”
“You’re right, he doesn’t,” Axel replied grimly. “And he isn’t. But if this note can be trusted, I don’t have a choice.”
She returned her attention to the paper in her hand. “Do you think the note-writer would do it? Would he really hurt Georg if you don’t sing tonight?”
“I don’t know.” Axel paced away from her and buried his hands in his hair. “I don’t know anything about this person. But I can’t risk that he would. It wouldn’t be the first time Georg was injured, and I’ve had my doubts about his first accident.”
“This has happened before?”
“Opening night of The Tanner’s Secret ? He would have been performing the part of Lars if a falling curtain hadn’t broken his leg a week before.”
Katy felt her throat constrict as the realization hit her. “If he hadn’t broken his leg, we never would have met.” The grinning red-haired stranger danced across her mind. “Someone could have dropped that curtain on him just so that we would meet.”
“I don’t see how someone could anticipate that,” Axel said, frowning. “Besides, we would have met anyway. Just not until you finished spinning gold.”
No, perhaps their meeting at the theater could not have been predicted. But she was willing to bet she knew someone who would have taken the chance.
Someone with a vested interest in Katy marrying the prince, no matter the cost.
Someone that she knew could work magic.
“Whatever the reason, it doesn’t change the situation.” The prince gripped his hair with both hands, pulling as if to rip it out. “What am I supposed to do? I always attend opening night. If I miss a second one, despite having bought tickets, and in both cases the mysterious Gunther plays the lead role, how do I convince anyone that I’m not him?”
How, indeed?
~
The setting sun lit up the sky in brilliant pinks and reds behind the theater building. Katy adjusted the set of her cloak on her shoulders. The evening was barely cool enough for a light cloak, but if Axel was to make it backstage without being seen, he would need to hide his face until he could apply his disguise, so he, Katy, and Otto all wore theirs.
Tobias was with them, but he knew nothing about their trouble. He slouched next to Axel, arms folded loosely across his chest as he lazily surveyed the crowd. “Now I know why you always arrive early. It avoids the line.”
“But is it not grand to be surrounded by so many members of our fine populace?” Axel smiled and waved his free hand in an encompassing gesture. “I have always missed this part of the experience in my eagerness to arrive.”
“How does it differ from sitting in the auditorium with them?” his friend grumbled.
“It is easier to view them spread out like this,” the prince rattled off. He was always a tad ridiculous in public, but his replies were off tonight. Katy could feel the tension in his arm, even if she couldn’t see it on his face.
Tobias nodded slowly. “I see. You’re hoping Heidi will show up for opening night again.”
“Why would I wish for that? I have no need of a girl who would crush my heart when I have the world’s most beautiful flower on my arm already.” Smiling softly, Axel brought his hand toward her face, but Katy jerked her head away and took a step back, dropping his arm. A man’s wellbeing was in the balance, and they had only a vague plan to stage an undetermined emergency with plenty of witnesses. And he was flirting ?
Snorting, Tobias asked, “Trouble in paradise?”
“Naturally not,” Axel chided as he stepped toward Katy and gently wrapped his hand around hers. “My fair Katrin is simply shy, and I have embarrassed her.”
“Stop it, Axel!” she hissed, pulling her hand out of his. “This is not the time!”
“Then when is the time?” His brow furrowed slightly, but the rest of his mask remained in place. “I don’t seem to have found it yet.”
She glared at him as her tight nerves began to take over. “Why are you still looking? I’ve told you plainly that I don’t want this.”
“I know,” he frowned, “and I’ve communicated that to my father. With absolutely no effect, I might add.”
“Then why are you still pretending that I do?”
The crease in his forehead became more pronounced. “Because as you’ve said, we can’t change it, so we might as well accept it. I would prefer to marry willingly. Wouldn’t you?”
“Of course!” Her fists clenched at her side. “That’s why I’ve been trying to convince your father to let me out of this stupid deal!”
“Because you’d rather marry Fritz?” His voice had lost its perfect modulation. “What will it take, Katy? What do I have to do to make you happy?”
“If you want to make me happy, then let me go!” she bit back. Her voice had risen as well, and she was dimly aware that the chatter surrounding them had disappeared, but it didn’t break through her irritation. “I never asked for any of this. I never asked for your father to drag me here or tell me to marry you!”
“None of that is my fault!”
“No, you made your own choice to lie to me. You think you can cover that up with walks and flirting?”
“I would hope that sincerity and honesty could convince you to forgive a mistake for which I have apologized. Repeatedly .”
“Why should I believe it?”
“As if you’re one to talk!” He flung an angry hand in her direction. “Hot today, cold tomorrow, and I never know if I should believe that you might like me a little or that you hate me. Sometimes, I’m not sure why I’m even bothering!”
“Then why do you?”
One side of the prince’s lip lifted in a snarl before he jabbed his hand into his pocket and pulled out two slips of paper. Grabbing her hand, he stuffed them into her palm. “Fine. I won’t. Enjoy the show without me if you want. I’m done.”
Spinning on his heel, he shoved past Tobias and stormed off down the street. The fury-induced haze surrounding Katy dissipated quickly at the sight of his cloak bouncing from the back of his stiff shoulders. “Axel, where are you going?”
“Away from you!” he yelled back without turning.
She started to chase after him, but Otto grabbed her arm. “Stay here,” he murmured before striding after the prince. “Your Highness!”
“Stay with Katy, Otto.” Axel angled his head back but didn’t slow. “I don’t need a guard.”
“But—”
The prince whirled to face them. “That’s an order. If my father doesn’t like it, he can take it up with me.”
Then he turned again and disappeared into the crowd.
“That was exciting,” Tobias muttered, facing forward again and ignoring Katy. “Temperamental would-be actor.”
Katy looked at the wrinkled paper in her hand: the tickets Axel had purchased. The ones he had planned to use, up until two hours ago. That he’d been so excited to share with her.
“Clever of him to use your temper,” Otto whispered in her ear. “I think it was convincing enough.”
Looking up, she fought to focus on her cousin. “What? Oh, yes.” She dropped her gaze to the tickets again. Was that what that was? Their staged emergency? Did that mean Axel wasn’t really mad at her?
She’d seen him act angry when he was practicing for the stage. It had been convincing. But tonight…tonight had been different. The hurt in his eyes, the twist to his mouth – it had been real. He might have used her temper to provide his excuse to leave, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t meant what he said.
He’d been trying to make her happy with the situation they’d both been dealt, and her wavering had hurt him. Deeply, if their scene was anything to go by.
She knew trying to escape the wedding would hurt him, but she hadn’t meant to hurt him that much. Especially when she knew that it was futile.
Since she wasn’t willing to walk, maybe she should take her own advice, accept that she couldn’t change it, and make the best of it. Disastrous deal with a red-haired stranger and all.
“Kat, are you all right?”
She lifted her eyes to Otto’s concerned face and gave him a tremulous smile. “I hope to be.” Holding up the tickets, she asked, “Want to watch the show from the best seats in the house?”