CHAPTER 20
Katy
A
messenger from the Daric king arrived at Himmelsburg a few days later. Otto’s guess had been correct: Helena was in the capital of Daraigh and testing King Phillip’s patience by throwing herself at his married son.
“She couldn’t possibly have waited until after the council meeting,” Axel grumbled. He yanked his waistcoat from the back of a chair and stuffed his right arm in, then bent his left arm behind his back. “Lord Ulrich is going to have a field day with this.”
After the third time he swiped for it and missed, Katy reached over and grabbed the waistcoat. “He’ll have a field day with you if you don’t pay more attention.”
Fitting his arm through the armhole, Axel turned to her and pecked her on the forehead. “Thank you, my love.” He sighed as he fastened the buttons. “You are correct; if I am so distracted I cannot even dress myself, I shall make a poor opponent for his offensive strikes.”
“Will you and your father be able to convince the council without her?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Many of them saw her before she left, and gossip regarding her return has spread throughout the city.
However, her failure to appear will not win us points.
” Pitching his voice higher than normal and hunching his shoulders, he continued, “‘Flighty. Irresponsible. Unreliable. Why can’t you have one child that is dependable, Your Majesty?’”
“He wouldn’t really say that, would he?” Katy rested a hand on Axel’s arm as he straightened his cuffs. “I know he implies terrible things, but…”
“Lord Ulrich regularly says such things about me, both in the council and among the court.” Axel tugged on his waistcoat, keeping his eyes on the floor. “As such, I am sure he will not hesitate to include my sister in the sentiment, especially after this stunt of hers.”
No wonder Axel lacked confidence where his duties were concerned.
Her fingers tightened on his sleeve. “Maybe I should join you for this meeting,” she growled. “I have a few things I’d like to say to Lord Ulrich.”
“I appreciate the thought, my love, but that’s not a good idea.” He reached up a hand to play with the curls by her face. “I love your fire, but it won’t help with the council. Not with this.”
~
“Where Uncle Axel?” Greta bounced on Katy’s lap. “Uncle Axel sing!” She threw herself backward, nearly tumbling to the floor.
“Careful!” Katy caught her and pulled her back up. “We don’t want you hurt.”
Britta straightened the hair accessories on Katy’s dressing table. “Are you sure it’s all right that she’s here, Katy? I can take her to my mother; you needn’t feel obligated to play with her.”
“Nonsense; if she wants to play with me, she can be here.” Helping the little girl balance on her lap, Katy called over her shoulder, “Come sit down, Britta; pretend you’re a normal lady’s maid for once and take a load off.
If I have to rest at three months, you should be resting as well – you’re much farther along than I am. ”
The maid rubbed her round belly. “I’ve also had a much easier time with children than you have. I’m fine.”
“Then keep me company.” Greta wobbled, drawing Katy’s attention back to her. “Greta wanted to play because she misses her papa. I miss him, too, especially with Axel in Hartford still.” She glanced over her shoulder again. “It must be worse for you. How long has it been?”
Britta’s eyebrows pulled together. Setting down a brush, she finally came over and lowered herself into an armchair. “Three days. He leaves notes under the door so I know he’s safe, but he hasn’t been home.”
Axel had been gone for longer, but Katy knew where he was and when he would be back. She couldn’t imagine not knowing. “Britta, I—”
“How long will Prince Axel be away? This is the first trip he’s taken without you, isn’t it?” Britta’s eyebrows were raised with interest, but the upturn to her lips didn’t reach her eyes.
“The first overnight one, yes,” Katy replied, allowing the subject change. “He didn’t take me to Reineggburg two weeks ago, but—whoa, there, Greta!”
The toddler wriggled in her grasp. “Want down!”
A fond smile softened Britta’s face as Katy set the little girl on the floor to run.
Their conversation changed to focus on Greta and babies and the joys and struggles of pregnancy, and Katy let herself relax.
But as the ache for her husband’s company ate at her, she couldn’t help worrying for Britta.
If he was able to stick to the schedule, Axel would be back in another two weeks. How long would it be until Otto could return home as well?
~
Katy didn’t like being cold. She’d spent too many winters feeding chickens in her thin cloak while her fingers turned red and numb. Too many days shivering in the front room at the mill when she was so desperate for customers, she hovered below instead of sitting by the fire upstairs.
She didn’t mind the brisk air of a cool morning in spring or fall, and it was delightfully cozy to snuggle in a warm blanket when the air around her face was cold. But she didn’t like being cold.
So why was she wandering the castle gardens with a crisp, late-autumn wind fighting her hood?
Because Axel liked to wander the gardens in any weather, and she missed him.
A gardener was pruning some rosebushes on the path ahead. She couldn’t hear the snip of his shears over the blustery wind. His leather gloves gave his hands better protection than she had had as a girl, but she wouldn’t want to be in his position.
Only a few more days and Axel should be home. With his annoying little sister, but at least Ella would be free of her.
“Pretend to be interested in the rosebushes.”
Katy jumped when the low tenor hit her ears. The gardener kept his face toward the bushes, but there was no one else around. She could have sworn that voice belonged to—
“If you just stand around, you’re going to make people suspicious, Kat.”
Biting back her surprised exclamation, Katy turned her slow steps to the branches near him. “This seems more convincing in the spring. Why would I be interested in dead branches?”
“Dormant,” Otto chided. “They’ll return in the spring.”
“Dead, dormant. Either way, they aren’t much to look at right now. What are you doing here?”
“I should be asking you the same thing,” he calmly replied. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting?”
Katy wrinkled her nose. “So says the physician. But my stomach hasn’t bothered me lately, and I’m tired of sitting or lying around.”
“If you’re sure.” He snipped another branch and tossed it in the pile at his feet. “I’m checking in. I don’t want to report in writing.”
“Then you found something?” she asked eagerly.
“Sort of.” His face was mostly hidden by his cloak, but she could see his grimace. “My colleague lost Lord Ulrich in a crowd yesterday, so we don’t know who he met with. Based on the shifty way he was moving, he was up to something.”
Katy wrinkled her nose in frustration. “That doesn’t give us something to arrest him on.”
“No,” Otto said slowly. “But he has also been making and receiving visits.”
“Anyone we know?” Katy asked, running her fingers lightly over a branch.
“Mostly noblemen.” He glanced over. “One of the lords he visited was Carolus.”
Katy’s finger slipped and caught on a thorn. Hissing, she plucked her hand back and put her finger in her mouth. “Tobias’s father?”
“Do you know of another?”
The corner of her mouth tugged down. Tobias was the closest friend Axel had among the nobility. If he or his father was working with Lord Ulrich…
“I didn’t hear the conversation,” Otto cautioned. “They have legitimate reasons for meeting. But I thought Axel should know, especially with a council meeting the day after he returns.”
The last council meeting had exceeded Axel’s expectations. In addition to railing about Helena’s irresponsibility, Lord Ulrich had raised doubts about her identity, accusing Axel and his father of hiring an imposter.
“I’ll let him know.” Sucking on her wounded finger, she asked, “Anything else?”
“I’ll try to show up as myself soon; Axel’s excuse of my prolonged illness will only cover my absence for so long.” He scooped up the pile of cut branches. “Watch your back, Kat.”
“You too. Don’t make me give Britta more bad news.”
He lifted his shears in a brief wave, then wrapped his arm under his load and left her without a backward glance.