CHAPTER 18
Katy
A
light rap drew Katy’s attention to the study door. Otto’s blonde head poked through the gap. “Is this a good time? Or should I come back later?”
“Axel is in a meeting, but he should be back soon.” Folding her hands, she leaned her elbows on her desk. “How is Greta?”
Her cousin strode in, adjusting the position of his sword as he lowered himself into a chair. “Full of energy, as always; I don’t know how Britta expects to keep up with two. How are you this morning, Kat?”
“Same as usual.” She lifted a mug of lukewarm peppermint tea. “I haven’t lost my breakfast yet, but not for lack of trying.”
“At least you’ve admitted the reason for it.” He locked his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. “I’m sure your husband—”
“Don’t start, Otto,” Katy snapped. Having the burden of her secret lifted was a relief, but the guilt remained. Especially when she remembered the look on Axel’s face the night before. “I am aware of the mess I’ve made. I don’t need an ‘I told you so’ from you.”
“That wasn’t my intention.” He sighed and rested his elbows on his knees. “I could have told you about the trouble in the council, but I didn’t. I knew Axel hadn’t told you.”
The door’s hinges whispered open. “Another fault to lay at my door,” Axel’s pleasant baritone interjected. “I asked him to refrain out of my misguided desire to protect you; he would have preferred making you aware immediately.”
His tone was off, and his eyes lacked their usual twinkle. It could have been the result of a frustrating meeting.
Based on the way his gaze didn’t linger, it was unresolved frustration with her.
Instead of settling into the chair behind his desk, Axel sat on the armrest of the chair next to Otto. His eyes darted to the closed door before returning to the guard. “I need proof that Lord Ulrich is a traitor. Can you help me find it?”
Otto’s eyebrows shot toward his hairline while Katy’s eyes widened. She hadn’t known why Axel wanted to see her cousin, but she certainly hadn’t expected this.
“A traitor?” Otto echoed. “He’s done some questionable things, and we have our suspicions about that attack, but—”
“He and a fellow conspirator attacked me over five years ago, then magically suppressed my memories.” Axel’s pleasant tone hardened.
“Given current circumstances, I cannot accuse him without something more substantial than an old memory. But we already knew he arranged for Katy’s gold-spinning trial and met with a dangerous individual.
We now know he employed magical compulsion to ensure my father ignored Katy’s pleas to return home. ”
“We do?”
“Part of yesterday’s adventure,” Axel said, his jaw tensing. “We also suspect he was behind the physical attack on the two of us.”
Katy jolted. “Axel, you didn’t tell me that!”
He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I have recently learned that a magic-using stranger spun the gold for Katy in exchange for our child. It has therefore become imperative that I uncover the depth of this conspiracy.” A layer of steel wrapped around his voice.
“I want it dismantled. I want to stop these traitors before they can wreak more damage on my kingdom and the ones I love.”
Despite the topic, a smile tugged at Katy’s lips. There was the man who would one day make a strong king for Ralnor.
“Sorry—what?” Otto blinked a few times, his blank expression drifting to Katy. “I think I missed something.”
“Your honesty-loving cousin is surprisingly good at keeping secrets,” Axel casually said, crossing his arms over his chest. His voice retained some of its steely quality. “She informed me yesterday while excusing her secrecy about our child.”
Her cousin’s expression became shrewd. “That explains a lot.” Dropping her head, Katy avoided the gazes that were now both locked on her.
“He had red hair, too,” she blurted out. “The man who spun the gold. He had short red hair.”
Otto’s lips flattened. “It reduces the number of conspirators, but I don’t think it’s a good thing.” He fixed his serious blue eyes on Axel. “The red-haired stranger is Fabian, the sorcerer who cursed your sister.”
“What?” Axel dropped his arms in surprise. “How do you know?”
“Because he appeared at my gate the day she fell asleep,” Otto replied grimly. “He did something with his hands, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t attack him; my sword hit an invisible wall before it reached him. I lost consciousness soon after.”
“Wait. You almost died?” Katy exclaimed.
“No wonder you panicked,” Axel murmured. “My apologies for teasing you about it.”
Waving it away, Otto continued, “He must have released me after that. Another guard found me and brought me to the castle. That’s where I learned Fabian’s name and what he’d been up to. A few hours later, we packed up our things and left.”
“I remember that,” Axel interjected. “It wasn’t a decision; we just went.
I couldn’t even remember what had happened.
” His voice turned curious as he focused on Otto.
“My memories told me that Helena had been in a country castle, no name. But you lived near Reineggburg and worked there for years. You didn’t remember anything about her? ”
“I thought a friend of the royal family was staying there. If I tried too hard to remember who or why, my temples began to ache.” Otto lifted one shoulder in a small shrug. “It wasn’t worth the trouble.”
The prince leaned forward. “Interesting. Since I knew I was visiting my sister, the location was obscured. You two were established in the area, so the magic altered our identities.” His eyes gleamed as he puzzled it out.
“It would be interesting to check the records again and see if they look the same. Did we simply miss details that—”
Otto cleared his throat. “That lines up with my own suspicions. But are we perhaps off-topic?”
Axel’s face froze for a moment. Then the curious light in his eyes faded to his earlier steel-like focus. “You’re right. We need information on both Lord Ulrich and Fabian. Information on his magic would be beneficial, but the intricacies of Helena’s curse are not important at the moment.”
They proceeded to discuss potential strategies for gathering data and the specific details they might require. Axel mentioned the possibility that Lord Ulrich was a magic-user. He promised Otto any resources that could help him to both stay safe and accomplish their goal.
While they talked, Katy sat back in her chair.
She picked up her pen and rolled it between her fingers.
What they were planning sounded dangerous.
Otto wasn’t a spy; he was a guard. One of the men he would be hunting had incapacitated him once before.
The other had likely hired the assassins that had nearly taken his life.
“You’ve been awfully quiet, Kat.” Otto turned to face her. “Surely you have some input on all of this? After all, you were always coming up with plans when we were younger.”
She cracked a small smile. “And most of them were half-baked. I wouldn’t think you’d want my input on this.”
“I certainly don’t want you to plan the whole thing.” His grin stretched across his face, and Axel’s eyes twinkled a little in response. “But I still want to know what you think. You don’t always think things through, but you are clever; you might have seen something we missed.”
“Besides the obvious problem of trying to catch magic-users when you know nothing about it? The last time you faced Fabian, he took you out without even touching you.” Her lips tried to quiver. “He could have killed you, and you would have been helpless to stop him.”
The two men exchanged a long look. Axel’s head dipped, his mouth turning down as the old guilt flitted across his face. “She’s right. I need them stopped, but that doesn’t mean I should risk your life for it.”
“Then whose will you risk?” Otto pushed up from the chair and straightened his shoulders. “The fact that I am Kat’s cousin does not make me special.”
“I can’t ask you to—”
“You’re not asking; I’m offering.” His voice was steady, his face resolute. “You aren’t ordering me as my prince. My little cousin and her husband, who is my friend as well, are in trouble. It is my choice to do everything in my power to help them.”
Shoving out of her chair, Katy strode to the window. She stared unseeing at the overcast sky and snow-covered gardens beyond the glass. On a practical level, she admired her cousin for his bravery. On a personal one, she didn’t want to lose him.
A slight creak of wood sounded behind her. Quiet footfalls followed the edge of Axel’s large desk before stopping next to her. Even with her eyes focused out the window, she could see Otto’s leather jerkin as he turned toward her. “It has to be done, Kat. Unless you want Fabian to take your child?”
“No, of course not,” she whispered.
“Then would you prefer that your husband be the one to do it?” Otto asked, keeping his voice low.
Ducking her head, she peeked back at Axel through one of the loose curls around her face.
He was angled toward them, but his eyes were focused on his open hands in his lap.
“I’m sure King Steffan has men who have trained as spies; they may even have knowledge of dealing with magic. I would prefer one of them do it.”
“But I know Fabian,” Otto gently disagreed.
He rested a hand on her shoulder. It was warm and meant to be comforting, but Katy crossed her arms and returned her eyes to the window. She refused to let it sway her.
“It has to be me, Kat. The king’s spies may know what he looks like, but he travels with his hood over his face. I can recognize him with or without it.”
“He’s right.” Axel’s agreement sounded reluctant. “Fabian was banished from Ralnor almost thirty years ago. Otto is one of few people who has seen him since.”
“And who will you take with you to watch your back?” Letting her fear and distress fan her anger to life, she whirled to face her cousin. Katy’s eyes flashed, but the corners of Otto’s mouth curved up underneath his compassionate eyes.
Meeting her challenging stare with a steady gaze of his own, he lightly squeezed her shoulder and replied, “It’ll be easier to avoid notice on my own.
But don’t worry; I have no plans to confront him.
Since he has no reason to suspect me, I’ll be safe if we cross paths.
Besides, I won’t be looking for him until we catch Lord Ulrich. ”
“But you’re the only family I have here,” she all but whimpered, her whipped-up anger dissipating. “What if something happens to you?”
“You’ll have him.” Otto tipped his head toward Axel.
Katy lifted her chin. “You know what I mean.” Folding her arms across her chest in a show of confidence that was marred by her trembling lip, she loftily declared, “It doesn’t matter; you are my guard, and you can’t guard me while trailing him. I do not give you permission to take on this task.”
His hand dropped from her shoulder. “Despite my joking last night, you know that’s not how it works.
I am only assigned to you, and my assignment can change.
” Keeping his eyes focused on her, he stated in a louder voice, “Prince Axel, I request a transfer to the mission we have been discussing. Do I have your authorization to proceed?”
“Axel,” Katy pled, spinning around. Her husband leaned forward, burying his hands in his dark, wavy locks. His forearms blocked his eyes, but she could see the downturn of his tightly pressed lips. Katy squeezed her hands together at her waist, releasing her tension into her palms.
Axel’s fingers clenched in his hair. “Yes, you do,” he said in a hoarse whisper. Twisting his head in his hands, he let Katy see his tortured expression. “I’m sorry, Katy. But we need him.”
Katy mashed her lips together and turned her back on him.
Otto executed a sharp salute. “Thank you, Your Highness. If that is all, I will begin.”
Axel must have nodded, because her cousin disappeared from her peripheral vision. The sound of his boots on the stone receded, and the door latch released with a soft click. After a whisper of the hinges, the door thumped quietly against its frame.
She dug her fingers into her palms until the nails bit her skin.
Rationally, she knew she shouldn’t be upset with her husband.
His and Otto’s reasoning was sound, and making hard decisions like this was one of the unenviable tasks that rulers had to perform.
She should be silently applauding the strength of will that allowed him to do it.
But Otto was like a brother to her. She wanted there to be a different way.
The clock on the wall issued its quiet, rhythmic tick-tock, but it was the only sound in the study. Katy and Axel both stayed where they were, neither moving to resume their normal tasks.
Finally, Axel released a long, heavy sigh. His slow, dragging steps rounded the desk, then stopped behind her.
His breath tickled the back of her neck, but he didn’t touch her. The heat from his chest warmed her back as the cool air seeping through the glass chilled her front. His hands hovered near her shoulders for a moment, but then they disappeared from her vision.
“I really am sorry, Katy.” His broken voice rasped in his throat. “After the attack, I promised myself I wouldn’t put him in danger again, and now—”
She was upset with him, but Axel was probably more upset with himself. The initial suggestion had been his, and it had been his authority that sent Otto away. He felt the heavy weight of responsibility.
And he always felt everything more keenly.
“Stop blaming yourself, Axel,” she murmured. Closing her eyes, she let her head fall against his collarbone. “He knows what he’s facing this time. He’ll be prepared.”
Axel settled his cheek on top of her head and wrapped his arms around her. “That’s well in theory. But what can he truly do to prepare? Magic—”
“There must be ways to counter it.” Katy offered the assurance for herself as much as for him. “I get the feeling my cousin has resources we don’t know about. He’ll figure something out.”
Axel’s arms tightened around her. “Yes, and I’ll do what I can to help.” His voice grew determined. “I possess resources of my own.”
Thinking about her cousin stalking powerful magic-users made Katy’s stomach twist, but at least her husband was over his anger at her. They both had work to do, but for now, she settled into his embrace, soaking up the comfort of his arms.