CHAPTER 27
Katy
I t was a strange replay of the morning that he had walked into the throne room. Her heart swelled with the knowledge that this young man wanted to marry her, a common village girl with a drunken miller for a father. She had been a little in love with him from the moment he sang his first note at The Tanner’s Secret . After more than two months of constant companionship, it was more than a little. To hear his declaration was a boundless source of joy.
But.
The stranger’s claim of her deal hovered over her, filling her with dread and threatening to steal every bit of joy that Axel’s adoration brought her. It had been bad enough when she believed that she didn’t have a choice. It was so much worse when she truly had one, and the choice she wanted to make wasn’t the one she should .
She was grateful for the freedom that Axel had offered her. But she was selfish. She didn’t want to take it, because what she really wanted was him. And here he was, freely offering himself as well.
There was no coercion, just her choice. And it was still terrible.
“Katy?” Axel ventured after a minute of her silence. “Aren’t you going to say something?”
“I—” She didn’t have an answer. To buy herself time, she looked back at the bracelet in his hand. Gasping, she exclaimed, “Where did you get that? I thought—”
He gave her a funny look. “I made it with some stones that have been in a box in my wardrobe for years; they reminded me of the bracelet you used to wear. Although I hoped it would make you think of me, not the man you were looking for when we met.”
She traced the stones with her eyes. “A box in your wardrobe, you say?” He nodded. “Are you sure you’re not a noble?” she murmured, her eyebrows pulling together. If she weren’t certain of that one fact…
“I think we’ve already established that I am not.” He squeezed her hand and gave her a small smile of mixed sadness and hope. “You haven’t answered my question. I know I’m not your noble friend, nor am I Fritz. But will you marry me anyway?”
It was so tempting to give in to those warm brown eyes and her own warm feelings for him. If he had been nothing but the humble understudy she met at the theater, she would have said yes in a heartbeat. But he was the prince.
“Can I have some time to think about it?” she asked tentatively. “I—I wasn’t ready for—I mean, it’s a lot to—”
The muscles along his jaw stood out as he closed his eyes and turned his face away. When he looked at her again, the expression in his eyes almost broke her heart.
He swallowed. “Of course. I would tell you to take as much time as you need, but my parents are expecting to host a wedding in less than two months. I would prefer to give them ample notice of its cancellation. If necessary.”
She tried to give him a smile, but she knew she failed. “I promise I won’t make you wait that long.” Another tear spilled out onto her cheek. This was even worse than the aftermath of their argument .
He dropped her hand as he slowly put the bracelet back in his pocket. Offering his arm, he said, “I should take you back to your family now.”
She took his arm, wiping her eyes with the other hand. He trudged slowly back to the mill, his eyes on the ground or staring off into the distance across the river. Katy worked on settling her emotions, taking deep, calming breaths and focusing on the comforting roar of her rapids and the sunshine dancing on the water’s surface. She lacked the prince’s skill to simply paste on a pleasant expression.
“Kat? What’s wrong?”
Looking up, she saw her cousin standing behind the mill. The expression on his face told her that she had not succeeded in taming her own.
Axel gently removed her hand from his arm and passed her off. “I will leave her in your care, Otto. Is Bertram still out front?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then I shall join him there and take him with me when I go. Please stay with Katy as long as she has need of you.” With a nod to each of them, the prince strode off.
Her cousin looked torn. He clearly wished to race after the prince and demand an accounting, but he didn’t want to leave Katy with her tear-stained cheeks. “What’s wrong?” he asked in a low, dangerous voice. “What did he do to you?”
Katy shook her head as she stepped into him, wrapping her arms around his torso. His own wrapped around her in automatic response. “He asked me to marry him,” she whispered into his chest. “He gave me the means to walk away, and then he asked me to marry him.”
“And that’s...a bad thing?” he asked. The confusion was evident in his voice as he rubbed her back.
“The worst.” She loved his desire to make it right, but, “It would have been so much easier if he had simply let things be.” If he hadn’t made the choice truly hers.
“But why?”
She shook her head, unable to confess even to Otto. He would be ashamed of her, just as the prince would hate her for what she had agreed to.
He would find out someday. They all would, unless the stranger was lying or she found a way around it.
The easiest solution would be the option Axel had given her: refuse to marry him and accept the aid of his friend. It was practical. It would only cost Axel himself.
She could marry him anyway and hope to figure something out before their first child was born. If she failed, it would only cost their child.
Only.
Either one would cost more than she could bear to give.