CHAPTER 11
Katy
P
eppermint tea had become her friend. That, and the plainest bread the kitchen served.
Axel fretted like an old woman when she nibbled at her food, but Katy couldn’t bring herself to put his worries to rest. She didn’t want the physician to diagnose her lingering illness. She didn’t want her suspicions to be true.
Sitting on the edge of her bed, she rested a hand on her stomach and closed her eyes, willing the nausea to recede. Nearby, metal clanked softly as her husband buckled his sword belt around his waist. He had begun wearing it everywhere the last few weeks, but he wouldn’t tell her why.
“Don’t forget your dagger, my love.” He twirled a finger in her hair, then leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Are you certain you’re up to working with Otto today?”
She nodded and tried to smile. “It’s his first day back. I wouldn’t miss it.”
“You won’t overdo it?” Even with her eyes closed, Katy could see the concerned expression on his face; it colored his voice. “You’re allowed to rest so you can get better.”
“I’m not my mother, Axel,” she sighed, opening her eyes to stare him down. He was sweet, but his fluttering was beginning to grate on her nerves. “This will pass soon enough, and I’ll be fine again.”
“You’ve been saying that for weeks,” he replied, frowning down at her. His hands moved to his waist, but the left one settled on the nearby pommel of his sword.
Shoving off the bed, she poked him in the chest. “Stop worrying. Go take your beating from Bertram, and I’ll see you at breakfast.”
“Hey!” As intended, her comment drew a playfully offended expression from him. “I don’t always lose.”
“No, just most of the time.” Katy patted him lightly on the cheek and grinned. “Don’t let him send you to the infirmary.”
“Anything for you, Katy.” His face softened, and he bent down to drop a light kiss on her lips. “Until breakfast, my love.”
As the door closed behind him, Katy pressed a hand over her mouth and lowered herself back to the bed. She wouldn’t push herself in training, but not because she needed to overcome her nausea.
If you spin the straw, you win the prince, and your firstborn is mine.
She hadn’t known Axel when she was eleven. If the deal was real, it must have been for someone else. Her noble friend, perhaps. But not Axel.
It was the only way to escape the magical bargain.
The sick feeling in her stomach intensified with her unwelcome thoughts, but she couldn’t turn them off. Her course had been set since she let her heart push her practicality to the side, and now the time of accounting was at hand.
Rising once again, she stripped off her nightgown and pulled on a loose dress. Then crossing to her dressing table, she grabbed the sheathed dagger, clenching it until the hard edges of the sewn leather bit into her hand.
She doubted it would prove useful against a powerful magic-user. But at this point, she would try anything.
Except tell her husband.
~
“It may give you the element of surprise, but vomiting on your opponent is not a viable strategy, Kat.”
Katy lifted her arm an inch so she could glare at her cousin. He crouched next to where she lay in the middle of their training ring, a wry smile on his face.
“I didn’t. On you, or anything else.” She settled her arm back over her eyes. “I just need a minute.”
“People are looking, you know. The princess flat on her back in the training room makes for juicy gossip.”
“Let them look,” she groaned. “If I get up now, the gossip will be even—” She clamped her lips against the thought. Not helping.
One of his warm hands settled on her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re all right, Kat? Hasn’t this been going on for—”
“Ugh, I’m surrounded by worriers. I’m fine, Otto.” Taking a deep breath, she willed her stomach to calm down. “You’re as bad as your mother.”
“Consider it payback for my first week in the infirmary.” Based on his voice, he was smirking at her. “But seriously, if you aren’t able to stand yet, I’m sending someone for the physician.”
She pushed up on her elbows. “No. I’m fine.” Gripping the hand he offered, she let him pull her to her feet. “But I think we should be done for the day.”
“Agreed.” He steadied her when she swayed. “Can you walk?”
“Of course I can,” Katy replied irritably. Jerking away from him, she bent down slowly to recover her dagger, keeping her movement smooth so as not to jostle her uncooperative middle.
Otto offered his arm to escort her, but she ignored it. They were almost back to Axel’s study when he broke the silence. “Kat, let me take you to the infirmary. The physician should take a look at you.”
She pursed her lips and kept her eyes forward. “No.”
A pair of guards nodded to her as they strolled down the hallway. Katy’s eyebrows bunched together. Inside the castle, guards were usually posted at specific locations; she didn’t see them wandering very often.
“It’s not just that you’re feeling nauseous.” Otto paused, letting the sound of their footsteps fill the space. “Britta told me—”
“Your wife doesn’t need to be carrying tales about me,” Katy snapped. In her peripheral vision, she saw his eyes widen as his face jerked toward her. “It’s my business, not hers.”
“It’s not just yours,” Otto said quietly after a few moments. “If nothing else, your health matters to your husband.”
He was right. She knew he was.
But that didn’t make it any easier.
All I ask is your firstborn child. You see? Nothing too costly.
“I’ll think about it,” she finally said. Her cousin nodded and dropped once more into silence, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
Pushing open the door to the study, she froze at the sight of Axel crumpling a piece of paper and hurling it into the fireplace.
His eyes blazed brighter than the flames, and his lip curled as he spun on his heel and stomped to the far side of the room.
For a moment, as he raised his fists, she thought he was about to punch something or sweep everything from his desk in a fit of rage.
Instead, he pumped them a few times before burying his hands in his hair.
She stepped into the room and carefully closed the door, her own irritation forgotten. “Axel? What happened?”
He kept his back to her. “Trouble with some nobles,” he tersely replied. His fingers clutched at the hair between them, then released as he dropped his hands. “You’re back sooner than I expected.”
“Yes.” Explaining why would worry him, so she left it at that. “Is everything all right?”
“I’m sure it will be.” He finally turned and gave her a tight smile. “How was training?”
“Passable. The floor hurts more than the ground outside.” Her eyes drifted over to the window, where the grounds were covered with a blanket of white, with large, beautiful snowflakes filling the air. “What are the nobles up to now? Is there anything I can do to help?”
When she looked back at Axel, she was surprised to find sorrow in his eyes as they slowly scanned her face. “No, my love. It is nothing that either of us can change.”
“Axel, is there something you’re not telling me?”
Instead of answering, he folded her in his arms, tightening them until she thought her ribs might crack. She put her hands on his sides and pushed lightly. “Axel, I can’t breathe.”
He released her immediately. “Sorry.”
Katy watched him with concern. While her husband didn’t hide his feelings from her like he did from most everyone else, it was rare for him to be so worked up.
He took most things in stride, rolling with the punches that life threw him instead of yelling at it for taking cheap shots.
“Maybe when the snow lets up, you should go by the theater. They’ve started rehearsals, haven’t they? ”
Axel shook his head and turned to stare morosely out the window. “It isn’t worth it. I’ll go to the show when it opens, but it isn’t worth Otto’s life, or Bertram’s, or anyone else’s for me to watch rehearsals.”
“What? I thought there hadn’t been any more accidents.”
His eyes didn’t leave the window. “No, the theater itself is safe. But the last time I was out, someone attacked me. And I am not convinced...” He trailed off, still watching the snow.
Then he turned and met her eyes. “Your cousin and I believe it may not have been as coincidental as it first appeared.”
Katy’s jaw dropped as she stared at him, aghast. “You think it was an assassination attempt?”
His eyes bored into her. “I don’t know. But until...some other things are settled, it’s not worth the risk.”
His ever-present sword and his insistence that she carry a dagger and learn to use it suddenly made sense.
She hadn’t imagined the increase in guards roaming the castle, either.
It was on the tip of her tongue to berate him for keeping it from her, but the sight of his fingers digging into his bicep held her back.
She might not agree, but she could understand him not wanting to sound paranoid.
But now, he needed something to ease his mind.
“It’s been a while since we visited the music room.” She gently pried his fingers loose from his arm. “Why don’t we brighten it up a little?”
A tiny smile tugged at his lips. Relinquishing his death grip on his upper arm, he squeezed her hand, reaching up with the other to play with the loose curls by her face. “Anything for you, Katy.”