CHAPTER 28
Axel
K aty was quiet on the drive home the next day. They hadn’t left until after lunch, which meant a full morning of Axel sitting on the rocks overlooking the waterfall. If she had said yes, he would have happily spent that time with her and her family. If she had said no, he would have pushed his misery to the side and helped with arrangements for moving them.
But since she had asked for time... She had said from the start that she couldn’t marry him, and now he’d given her a way to avoid it. Asking for time was her way of letting him down easy. As such, he couldn’t insert himself into her family dynamics. And since he wasn’t needed for packing, he preferred to be alone so he didn’t have to hide his feelings.
Katy spent most of the trip staring out the window next to her. Axel spent most of it watching her. He tried to act interested in the scenery, but his attention was on the young woman across from him, her hair in a simple bun and a pretty dress gracing her sturdy form.
He should never have asked. He should have let her go and left it at that. Even if she wouldn’t be staying in Flussendorf, he’d seen how happy she was with her friends, how contented with her family. How quickly she had returned to dressing like a miller’s daughter. He’d been foolish when he hoped that she was adapting to her new life. Hoped that she was beginning to want that life with him.
He tried to distance himself over the next several days, giving her the space to make her decision and giving himself the space to accept it. He kept their routines, inviting her to the music room every morning, but he stood behind her instead of sitting beside her on the bench, and he avoided the songs with close dancing.
Why didn’t she just answer and get it over with?
The day before her birthday, she disappeared for the whole afternoon, vanishing from his study while he was in a meeting. He spent the rest of the day staring out his window, his work forgotten on his lap.
The next morning, Axel dressed quickly, but he took care to inspect his appearance before trotting out to the gardens. He glanced longingly at her door as he left the royal wing, but it was too early to knock.
When enough time had passed, he lightly tapped on her door. As usual, she opened it herself, even though her maid, Britta, was standing a few steps off.
Despite his melancholy, he couldn’t help a smile at her half-done hair. “Happy birthday, Katy,” he said softly, offering her a bouquet of freshly cut lilac blossoms.
She accepted them with a pleased expression. “They’re beautiful! Thank you, Axel.” Grabbing his hand, she tugged him into the room. “Britta, can you work some of these into my hair?”
Axel relished the feel of her hand in his, but he restrained himself from holding too tightly. Her enthusiasm may have dropped her into old habits, but that didn’t mean he was suddenly more important to her than returning to her family. “Aren’t they a bit big?” he asked skeptically.
“We’ll take one and break it into smaller pieces,” the maid replied briskly. “Never fear, Your Highness, Miss Katrin will be lovely with your offering.”
Dropping his hand, Katy scurried back to her bedroom with Britta in tow. “This dress is the wrong color, don’t you think?”
“Yes, but we could—”
Their voices grew muffled when they closed the door behind themselves. Left alone, he meandered over to the window and leaned against the sill, letting his forehead drop against the glass.
When the bedroom door opened again, he turned and felt his brain freeze. Instead of the green dress she had worn earlier, Katy was now attired in a pale purple gown with cap sleeves and a sheer layer over the skirt that made her look ethereal despite her bouncing walk. It was a perfect match to the tiny purple blossoms sprinkled through her braided crown. She looked like the princess he wished she was.
“Katy,” he breathed when he found his voice, “you look magnificent.” He forced his feet to move, offering his arm when he was close enough. “But isn’t it a little early to dress for the ball?”
Elbowing his ribs first, she took his arm and replied, “This isn’t a ballgown, and you know it. If it were, it would be much harder to move in.”
“Then maybe you should wear this tonight,” he cheekily replied as he led her down the hallway. “’Twould be a shame to be hindered in your dancing. And it would be equally shameful to trade such perfection for something that can only be lesser.”
Katy laughed. “I finally rate one of your outrageous compliments, do I? Should I be flattered? Or should I be offended to be on the same level as your many admirers?”
He glanced over at her merry face. “Neither,” he replied seriously. “You should simply be pleased, because I did not intend it as flattery. ”
She ducked her head, and he could see the hint of a blush on her cheeks. “Thank you,” she murmured.
They spent their music time reviewing the ballroom dances. It meant holding her in his arms, but regardless of her answer, it wouldn’t be right to let her fumble tonight for lack of practice.
It was torture, gazing into her fiery brown eyes while drinking in the faint scent of his lilacs in her hair and knowing that it might be the last time.
The evening came too soon. But then, every day since his proposal had passed too quickly; each one brought them closer to their inevitable parting. Each day, he forced himself to keep his distance, but at the same time, he treasured every laugh, every smile. He tried telling himself that she might say yes, but he knew better.
Nevertheless, he smiled broadly when they were introduced at the ballroom entrance, just as he had throughout dinner. He showed his pleased-prince fa?ade to everyone who congratulated Katy, both the genuine and the insincere. When it was time for them to open the ball, he maintained his perfect poise as he led her to the center of the floor.
“Are you ready?” he asked quietly as the musicians brought their instruments into position.
Smirking, she replied, “I am. But are you?”
Before he could ask what she meant, the musicians began playing, and his heart skipped a beat in a mixture of shock and horror.
“Do you know anything about this?” he hissed. Releasing her, he swayed back in the first step of the familiar dance. It was not the traditional opening dance that they had rehearsed.
“Of course,” she calmly replied. “I asked them to play it.”
“Katy, what are you—”
“You’d better get ready,” she interrupted. “Your entrance is coming up.”
This was a bad idea; what if someone questioned his knowledge of the dance? What if someone recognized his voice from one of the performances?
Distracted, Axel stumbled over the first few notes, but he took a quick breath at the phrase end and continued a little stronger. “The night is almost over, The day will soon appear. Hold fast, Our foe cannot touch you As long as I am here. Stay with me forever, Run from me no more…”
His eyes focused on Katy when he could and over the heads of the crowd when he couldn’t. Singing for so many people as himself was equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. Father was sure to be furious, but for some reason, Katy wanted him to sing tonight. So he would sing. For her.
Katy’s lovely voice took over for his. Hers was quieter; the part of his brain that stubbornly clung to hope whispered that, according to her eyes, she was singing for him and him alone. “How can I be beloved? You don’t know what I’ve done; There’s time, I might betray you By the rising of the sun...”
The song continued as Lars talked Astrid down. They parted, came together, and separated again, their dance a mix of individual movements and paired as the music drew them inexorably together, no matter how they fought it. Katy’s face was earnest, the song pouring from her as if the lyrics were her own words. Axel matched her; if he was going to defy his father by joining in this performance, he might as well make it memorable.
He was going to miss Katy when she was gone. For so many reasons.
Finally, he spun her in so that she landed with her free hand against his chest. Searching his eyes, she sang, “If I can’t convince you To let me be alone, I’ll stay, No longer fight it, Accept your string of stones…”
Axel wrapped his free arm around her waist as they joined their voices for the final lines. “Where’er you go Is where my heart shall call home; Tell me not to leave you anymore. At your side is right where I belong.”
As he held her tight, the truth of the words echoed in his mind as the musicians played the final few measures. Katy’s hand slid up to the back of his head. He leaned down, expecting her to use her hand to hide the gap between their faces, just as the actress playing Astrid had done.
Instead, she reached up and pressed her lips to his.
She lingered just long enough to leave a faint hint of moisture behind, then gave him a shy smile and buried her scarlet face in his chest. Axel stared at her, every thought in his head stalled, as the final notes released and the guests began clapping. His mind remained blank as he led Katy off the floor, his left arm still wrapped around her waist and her left hand still in his right.
His smile felt silly, and the little he registered suggested that his guests were a mix of disapproving and amused. But he didn’t care at the moment. He continued to smile and nod as he wended his way through the crowd, heading for the relative privacy of the balcony. A small bubble of hope blossomed in his chest, widening his smile and sending a single thought through his reawakening mind.
“So,” Axel began as he ducked behind one of the handy wall protrusions, “was that an answer?”
Katy turned in the circle of his arm to look up at him. “Yes.”
“So that’s your answer? Yes?”
“Yes,” she repeated, squeezing his arm and biting her lower lip against her smile.
If his grin grew any wider, it would split his face. Tugging her close, he leaned down and kissed her again. It was as awkward as the first time, but at least it wasn’t in front of a crowd. “I think we need more practice,” he murmured against her lips.
“Well, I still think it was scandalous, even if she didn’t kiss him as brazenly as she did on his birthday.” An annoying voice cut through the silence of the late evening. “It’s no wonder he was willing to give up his original peasant girl after a kiss like that .”
“It was part of the dance,” another female voice replied, a shrug in her tone. “Actors do it all the time on the stage.”
“Actors!” the first speaker replied scathingly. Ah, yes, Lady Ilse was good at scathing, wasn’t she? “That may be fine for some poor village girl, but what about our prince?”
“Yes, our prince,” a third voice sighed. “Would you have imagined that he had a voice like that? I wish he would sing at all of the castle events!”
Katy squeezed his hand, beaming at him, but Axel gave her a tight smile in return. Just because one person had not recognized his voice did not mean no one else had.
“A singing prince,” Lady Ilse sniffed. “Whoever heard of such a thing? ”
One of her friends snickered. “You’re just jealous because ‘Miss Katrin’ has a prettier voice than you do.”
“Do you think we should stay?” Katy whispered.
“They’ll see us if we move,” Axel whispered back. “It’s not dark enough to slip out to the garden without them noticing.”
The ladies continued gossiping for several minutes while Katy and Axel lurked in their sheltered position. Finally, one of them said, “Let’s go back in. We shouldn’t deny all the young men waiting to dance with us, after all.”
“I suppose, but I’m most interested in dancing with Prince Axel,” Lady Ilse pouted. “Surely, he’ll be finished with his village girl by now. Did one of you happen to see where they went?”
“Didn’t he bring her out to the balcony?”
Katy caught Axel’s eye, and they both fought to hold in their snickers at the heavy silence that followed.
“He must have taken her out to the gardens, then.” Lady Ilse’s voice was half an octave higher than normal. “Let’s return to the ballroom to wait for him.”
Axel and Katy restrained their mirth until they heard the door close behind the ladies. Then they broke down, laughing heartily at the noblewomen’s discomfiture.
“Can you imagine the look on her face if she knew we’d overheard her?” Katy giggled. She moved toward the doors. “Come on, let’s go find out!”
Axel grabbed her arm. “Oh, no, you don’t. I’m in enough trouble tonight as it is. I don’t need to add to it by giving dear Lady Ilse cause to make a scene.”
Katy sobered, turning back to him. “Do you think anyone made the connection?”
“I don’t know,” he replied, shaking his head. “But whether they did or not, I just revealed to the entire court that I sing. My father has been working to suppress that information for years. ”
“But why?” Katy asked, furrowing her brow. “I don’t understand why your parents are so disapproving of it.”
“You heard Lady Ilse,” he said with a sad shrug. “A singing prince isn’t what they expect. The people want a strong king, not a musical one.”
“And you can’t be both?”
“I like to think that I could be, if I had to. That doesn’t mean that people’s perceptions would give me the chance to prove it.”
“That’s sad,” Katy said quietly.
“I’m used to it.” As he looked at her frowning face and wished that he could smooth away her distress, he suddenly recalled that she had agreed to marry him. They were no longer betrothed simply because his father said so; they were betrothed by choice.
And Katy had kissed him.
He grinned. “But right now, I don’t care. We have some practicing to do.”
And with that, he leaned down and kissed her laughing lips.
~
Dealing with his father the next morning wasn’t as bad as he had feared. Apparently, Father had received a number of compliments and only a few derogatory comments. In addition, Katy had jumped in and accepted blame for the unscheduled performance, which immediately softened the king. When Axel added that she had been accepting his proposal – at which point Katy proudly displayed the bracelet on her wrist – all was forgiven.
Preparations for their wedding began to accelerate shortly thereafter. His mother was planning a grand event, and Axel had plans for his own, now that Katy was his by choice. And now that his father had grown more lenient regarding his singing.
What better way to celebrate their wedding than with a performance at the theater?
Accordingly, he launched into discussions with the operations director. It would disrupt the theater’s schedule, but the accidents that had ceased after Axel’s performance as Cesar had picked up again after the show’s completion. Notes had begun demanding that Gunther or the prince return to the stage. And once the plan for Axel to star in a special performance was in place, the accidents became nothing but a memory.
He hoped no one drew the conclusion that he was behind the notes. No one was aware that he had already “benefited” once as Gunther. But the rest by itself might be enough to make someone question.
It was enough to make Axel very, very uneasy.