CHAPTER 24
Katy
M
usic swelled around Katy. The sparkling chandeliers filled the ballroom with light and turned the large windows into mirrors against the darkness of the night outside.
She would have liked to dance, but the physician had sternly forbidden her from engaging in the lively ones, and Axel was spending most of the stately ones on his political dances. A few nobles had offered, but she shamelessly used her four-and-a-half-months pregnant state to decline.
“When is Axel going to bring your sister back?” Helena asked, sending a semi-polite smile toward a young nobleman.
Smoothing her elegant red ballgown, she plopped into the chair next to Katy.
Her chestnut hair was brushed back into a graceful knot, emphasizing the smooth curve of her neck.
“Scaring away my suitors is easier with Liesl next to me.”
“My sharp tongue isn’t doing the trick?” Katy quirked an eyebrow at her sister-in-law.
Their relationship had improved over the last couple of weeks; Helena had reigned in her grumpiness about her studies and pouted less about “unfair relationships.” She still sent occasional sad, angry stares in the direction of Daraigh, but Katy could live with that.
Crossing her arms over her stomach, Helena twisted her lips into a wry grin. “I think they’re used to you; dancing with a princess is worth the risk of one of your barbs.”
“I would think they’d be used to Liesl too.” Katy set a hand on her stomach and grimaced at the strange feeling bubbling across her middle. “It’s your first Midwinter Ball, but it’s her third.”
“Are you all right?” Helena’s eyebrows pinched together as she watched Katy. “Do you need anything?”
Katy shifted and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m fine. The baby is kicking, and it feels funny.”
She hadn’t expected Axel’s wild, archery-loving little sister to be a baby person, but Helena’s face melted into a gooey expression at these words.
It vanished when a shadow fell across them.
“Good evening, Your Highnesses,” Lord Carolus said with a low bow. Beside him, Tobias took a sip of his drink and gave them a careless nod. “Tobias, doesn’t Princess Helena look lovely this evening?”
Helena stiffened at the obvious prompt, but Tobias lazily cast his eyes toward the dance floor as he replied. “Yes. Delightful as always.”
His father frowned. “Tobias—”
“Is that a new cravat?” Katy interrupted, leaning toward Lord Carolus. “I’ve heard the fluffy style is coming into fashion, but personally, I think it looks ridiculous. I’m glad Axel continues to refuse his tailor’s advice and to wear the old one.”
Tobias’s lips twitched at his father’s reddening face, but he kept his focus elsewhere. “Mother could use your help. Corralling Alina is always difficult.”
Katy couldn’t see Tobias’s mother or younger sister, but she doubted his claim. Alina was sweet and mild-mannered and tended to disappear in a crowd rather than require reeling in. However, Lord Carolus accepted the excuse, bowing out of the conversation with ill-disguised discomfort.
“Well done, as always,” Tobias muttered into his glass.
A mischievous light danced in Helena’s eyes.
“Father insists that I act like a princess now that my curse is over, but I am glad he hasn’t restricted you, Katy.
I’ll never grow tired of hearing you put courtiers in their place.
” Her eyes lost some of their warmth as she looked up at Tobias. “Why don’t you run off as well?”
He swirled the liquid in his glass and glanced over at her. “Your hair sparkles like the sun. Or something like that.”
Helena rolled her eyes. “Are you even trying?”
“Do you want me to?”
“No,” she replied emphatically, then muttered something in Old Ralnoran. Her eyes drifted to the south. “I wish every male in this room would leave me alone.”
Sauntering forward, Tobias sprawled across the chair on Helena’s other side. “Isn’t this your first ball? You should be leaping at offers to dance.”
Helena opened her mouth, but her eyes darted over to Katy, and she closed it again.
“It’s been a few years since you made it to Midwinter, Tobias,” Katy observed. “What made your family decide to spend it in the capital this year?”
Tobias’s eyes flicked sideways to Axel’s sister. “Father deemed the time right.”
Not having a reply for that at the moment, Katy smiled, folded her hands in her lap, and turned to watch the dancers.
A sandy blonde catapulted into the empty chair on Katy’s right. “Thank you for finding someone to watch the sheep again! I will never tire of attending this ball, no matter how much snow I have to slog through to get here.”
Katy laughed into her sister’s enthusiastic embrace. “All two inches of it this year. I take it you’re enjoying yourself?”
“Yes!” Liesl grinned up at Axel. “Thank you so much for indulging me in a dance.”
“A pleasure as always, dear sister-in-law.” He nodded in greeting as Tobias stood. “Decided to finally show up?”
“Mother couldn’t find her purse.” Tobias swept a bow to Liesl. “My lady.”
Liesl giggled, but Katy smothered her surprise. “Liese, you remember Axel’s friend Tobias? Tobias, my youngest sister, Liesl.”
As Liesl and Katy stood, his eyes swept over the green dress Liesl had borrowed from Katy and the riotous curls that they had left loose. “You present a charming appearance tonight. Why were you suffering our prince’s company? Did your husband stay at home?”
Liesl’s smile faltered. “Don’t be an insensitive clod,” Helena retorted. Stomping past Katy, she threw an arm around Liesl’s shoulders. “There are better ways of asking a young woman if she’s married.”
Tobias set his glass on a nearby table. “A faulty assumption on my part. May I redeem myself by giving you the next dance, my lady?”
A hesitant smile pulled at the corner of Liesl’s lips as she reached forward and accepted his hand. “I guess you can try. If you don’t mind dancing with the youngest daughter of a poor miller.”
He bowed very properly over her hand before leading her toward the floor. “It would be an honor to entertain the sister of our beloved Princess Katrin.”
Katy sidled over to Axel, her eyes glued to the young lord and her sister. In five years, she’d never seen Tobias take the floor.
“Did you see that?” she murmured.
“I did,” said an amused voice behind them. “He actually put down his glass.”
Spinning, Katy opened her arms to throw them around her cousin. She stopped when she saw him. “Otto! You look terrible.”
“Blunt as always, Kat. It’s good to see you, too.” His weary smile barely reached the dark bags under his eyes, and his clothes hung off stooped shoulders.
Axel set a hand on Otto’s shoulder and gave him a serious look. “Should you be here tonight?”
“I wanted to be here for a friend.” Otto raised his eyebrows meaningfully.
“It’s very good of you, but fair Katrin is correct: you lack the appearance of someone who should be out of bed. Come, I have something in my suite that may help you.” Axel offered his arm to Katy. “Helena, you don’t mind if we leave for a short while, do you?”
“No, of course not.” She looked at Otto with concern in her eyes. “Should I call for the physician?”
“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.” Otto avoided Katy’s eyes. A prolonged illness was his excuse for disappearing from the castle, but this didn’t look like an act. “I am concerned for my friend, however. If I leave...”
Axel started walking. “Never fear, my friend, we’ll find someone to handle it.” His voice had a worried edge to it, but his eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s. As they moved through the crowd, Otto shuffling along at Axel’s side, Axel leaned closer and murmured, “He’s here?”
Otto nodded toward the other side of the room. “He brought his new assistant with him. Otherwise, I might have left him on his own.”
Katy felt Axel stiffen under her hand. “That man standing next to him – the one with shaggy brown hair and the brown waistcoat. He was one of the men who attacked me.”
“I suspected as much,” Otto said in a grim voice. “He seemed a bit rough for our friend’s normal associates. An odd companion for a ball.”
Axel’s head twisted as he searched the room, pleasant expression still in place. “Where’s Bertram? We can arrest him before he hurts anyone.”
“And I thought Kat was the hot-headed one,” Otto grumbled.
Katy winked at her cousin. “I’m a bad influence.”
“As bad as can be,” Axel agreed lightly. “But I’m not keen on letting assassins wander free.”
Otto’s shoulders straightened for a moment before dropping again. “Your Highness. I came tonight because I’m certain they’re up to something. Wouldn’t it be better to catch them in the act?”
A hint of frustration pulled at Axel’s mouth. “You’re right, of course. We need proof to arrest our friend.” He tugged Katy in a different direction. “Let’s find Bertram and let him know.”