“He never arrived to do that?”
“He did. He’d been told before he got there that the princess was safe and he looked at my child and said, ‘Yes, she is, thank God.’ ”
Leonard frowned. “Was he part of the plot to have her killed?”
She laughed a little hysterically. “No, just a man who didn’t do his job. I thought he’d had a good look at her the day he came to check on her, but I can only guess that he had too many things on his mind, in particular, his anger that a man as important as he was had been sent on what he considered a lowly task. That grievance he made clear with how abrupt he was with me that day.”
Leonard was incredulous again that all of that had occurred without his knowing or guessing any of it. “So he confirmed the baby still there was the princess and you went along with it?”
“What else could I do? Admit I snuck the man in who stole her?!”
She screamed that at him. She was too emotional. He put his arms around her. It didn’t help, it just produced more crying.
“That must have been a very difficult time for you. I’m sorry, Helga, truly I am. I should have taken you with me, you and your daughter. But you still had her—”
“I didn’t! They soon took her away to hide her. They knew that all I did day and night was cry, so they wouldn’t let me go with her. I begged them to, but they expressly forbid it because I was in such deep grief over losing my baby. They praised me for what I’d done. They rewarded me! But I never saw her again.”
“I’ll find her for you wherever they still have her hidden so you and she—”
She leaned back to pound on his chest in anguish. “She’s dead! She died when she was seven! And for every one of those years I was terrified every single day that as she grew older she might start to look like me and the king might suspect what I had done. She was already lost to me, I would never see her again. And living with that fear for so long, it was almost a relief when she died! It was Frederick himself who came to tell me. Even in his own raging grief, he spared a thought for me, assuring me that what I had done had at least given him seven years to love her.”
Leonard sighed with the realization. “So that wasn’t a mock funeral after all they had for her.”
“No.”
“And Frederick let the country think she was missing so it would never happen again.”
“Yes!”
Leonard was stating things tonelessly, not actually asking for confirmation, but then his thoughts continued down the logical path and it finally occurred to him: “My God, they haven’t believed Alana’s story, who she really is? Instead of convincing them, they’ve now convinced her she’s yours? You let her think that?!”
Helga covered her head with her arms, thinking he was going to hit her. He thought he heard her cry, “They’ll kill me. I can’t tell them, I can’t.”
“It’s all right, you don’t have to. I’ll let her know even if I have to break into the palace to do so. This can’t go on any longer.”
“Don’t do that. I think he already knows.”
“The king?”
“No, his captain of palace security, the man who brought her to me. I could see he was suspicious. And he left a man there to take me to the palace without telling me why. It was to confront me without her being present to hear him! I know it!”
“Hush,” he said, trying to soothe her with his hands. “I won’t let that happen. I’ll take you away from here where you will never have to be afraid again. I owe you that much—for trusting in me.”
Chapter Forty-Six
SHE’S ALIVE!” NIKOLA SAID as she returned to the sitting room where she had left Auberta to find out what was keeping Frederick from joining them. “She’s with him right now!”
“My goodness, you’re so excited,” Auberta said. “Who’s alive?”
Nikola was so thrilled by this news she simply couldn’t contain it. “Frederick’s daughter, Alana! He didn’t admit it, he only said he had a wonderful surprise for me, that he would join me soon. But he didn’t have to say. I’ve seen the portrait of her mother. She looks just like Avelina!”
Auberta appeared to be in shock, and Nikola realized too late why her friend might not be ecstatic about this news. “I’m sorry,” she added gently. “I know you hoped Frederick would name Karsten as his successor, and Alana’s return changes everything.”
“I am amazed, of course, but—actually, Nikola, I must confess I had a much happier hope so long ago when Princess Alana was born, that she and Karsten, nearly the same age, would make such a perfect couple.”
“You mean marriage?”
“Certainly. It would do what we have both hoped for, unite our two families and put an end to all this dreadful hostility and fighting once and for all.”
Nikola bit her lip. “I don’t know if Frederick would welcome that idea after the attack on the palace. . . .”
“I told you that was a mistake. Karsten didn’t even know his men took it upon themselves to avenge the assault on him. He was beaten terribly, the dear boy. He was barely able to get out of bed last night, though he assured me no matter how painful it is, he will come this very night to tell Frederick how appalled he is over this mistake. It was one of his young, hotheaded cousins who rallied his men to blame Frederick for the deed. It was not Karsten’s doing, Nikola, I promise you. He loves Frederick. He would never do anything to harm Lubinia. And this is the very sort of misunderstanding that will never occur again if our two families are joined in matrimony. You must agree it would be the ideal solution.”
“Yes, I do, but—”
“Then use your influence with your husband. He’ll listen to you. Remind him of your many miscarriages caused by all this turmoil. By the way, are you pregnant again, my dear? You do look a little peaked. Shall I pour you another cup of tea?”
They weren’t going to hide Alana’s presence. The palace would soon be buzzing with the news that she’d been returned from the dead, as it were, and she’d been warned to answer no questions about it from anyone, that Frederick would make an announcement later, after conferring with his advisers.
Christoph remained behind with Alana when Frederick left to tell his wife the good news. Alana would be joining the royal couple tonight for dinner after she was settled in her new rooms.
She supposed she ought to thank Christoph. She might have returned to England, blithely unaware that she was Frederick’s daughter after all, if not for Christoph’s suspicious nature. But he was standing there so stiffly. The word dutiful came to mind. Did he find it onerous that he’d been ordered to be her protector? He hadn’t seemed to mind it before—when she wasn’t a princess. He’d even alluded to his duty never having been so pleasant before!
“Is something wrong?” she asked him as he took her arm to escort her to her new quarters.
“What could possibly be wrong? You are where you should be, and I am your humble servant.”
Her eyes narrowed at the sarcasm she detected. “So it’s to be like that, is it? Are you angry because I was right all along and you obstinately refused to see it?”
He was dragging her along behind him by then in his typical fashion. He didn’t answer, probably because it had been an unfair question, asked in annoyance. But she dug in her heels. She didn’t like this stiffly silent attitude of his at all.
“What?” he finally said, having stopped when she did.
She glanced up at him. Still so damn handsome he could dazzle her. But the outer shell didn’t make a man. What was inside did, and he definitely had a brute inside him that he’d let out much too often. When she was his prisoner, she reminded herself. Well, mostly. But there was that gentle, sweet side of him, too. . . .
She sighed to herself, but said to him, “Nothing,” and moved forward again.
The room she’d been given was too lavish, she thought, but then it was fit for a princess, she supposed. She didn’t feel like one yet, didn’t think she ever would. Big, too much room, two mai
ds already waiting to serve her. All she did was unpack and change her clothes for dinner—and sit on the big, fluffy bed for a while in a daze with her thoughts.
Then the knock came at the door. She was suddenly excited about seeing her father again, and meeting his wife. But it was him standing there, just as still and stoic as before, and that just brought her mood back down.
“Why do you have to escort me?” she demanded as she stepped out of the room. “I’m in the palace finally, I don’t need you guarding me in here—”
“Be quiet,” he cut in, though he didn’t appear annoyed. “You complain too much—Princess.”
“With good reason! Your attitude has been abominable since you turned me over to my father. If you don’t want to protect me anymore, just tell him so. I’m sure you think you have much better things to do, and I even agree.”
“I have been given my orders. Do not tempt me from them.”
She frowned, not quite understanding what he meant. “Tempt you to abandon your duty? Of course you won’t. But you obviously don’t like having to continue to guard me so closely, even to the point of escorting me about the palace. I’ll discuss it with my father tonight if you won’t.”
That brought a frown to his face as he took her arm to lead her down the hall again. “Leave it go. It’s my duty now to protect you, not just my wish to do so, but my duty. You need to get over your grievance with me and accept that.”
She clamped her mouth shut. Her biggest grievance with him was his treating her like a stranger—no, like a princess! Completely annoyed now, she tried to walk ahead of him even though she didn’t know where she was going! But when she saw the eight guards standing at attention outside the wide double doors, it was a pretty good guess that she could stop there.
The guards didn’t open the door for her, not with their captain by her side. But Christoph didn’t either. When she glanced at him, he was lifting off a pouch she hadn’t noticed that he’d hung over the hilt of the saber he wore on his hip. He handed it to her.
“This was delivered to me today, found in the house of the thief’s parents.”
It was a ratty pouch, not hers, and must have belonged to that guard. When she looked inside it, all she saw was glitter. Her jewelry.
“The bracelet?” she asked.
“No, apparently someone else got there before my men did.”
“Guessing I was back wasn’t enough, I suppose. They wanted proof.”
“You still think Rainier tried to kill you when he’s admitted everything else except that?”
“Which is the bigger offense?”
“True.”
“Not that it matters now, when my presence is no longer a secret,” she said, unable to hide her nervousness over that.
He started to touch her cheek, but drew his hand back. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Alana.”
He opened the door for her as he said that, but he didn’t follow her in. She was so aware of him that as soon as she stepped through the doorway, she noticed he wasn’t at her side and glanced back.
“You’re not coming in?”
“I wasn’t invited.”
He smiled and she couldn’t even tell what it implied—tenderness, regret? She couldn’t tell! But then it occurred to her that he was probably just glad to finally have some time away from her. Annoyed with that thought, she said, “Good,” and closed the door on him.
But she had to take a deep breath before she approached her new family, to shake off the bad mood Christoph’s reticence had brought on. He was behaving as if they were strangers now, and she was afraid it was because her identity had been confirmed. Did he consider her so high above his station that he could no longer be himself with her? But this cold, stiff alternative was infuriating her so much, it was making her testy about everything.
Nikola, the current queen, didn’t wait for her to reach the private dining alcove she and Frederick were seated at. She rose and rushed across the room with arms open, a beautiful smile on her lovely face. She wrapped those arms about Alana with warmth and feeling.
“You cannot know the peace your presence gives me, the weight it takes from my shoulders, that I am no longer solely responsible for carrying on my husband’s line.” That was said in a whisper, before Nikola released her and added, “You and I, we are going to be best friends, if you will it.”
Alana grinned. She hadn’t expected to be made that welcome by her father’s wife, but she had no doubt the queen had just meant every word. A new friend. Yes, she felt that, too.
Her father, beaming, insisted they join him, and before he seated her, he handed Alana the miniature of her mother. She began to cry as she looked at it. No wonder he’d known she was his daughter the moment he saw her. The portrait could have been her in an old-fashioned gown, except with blond hair.
“Remarkable, isn’t it?” he said.
“Indeed.” Wiping her eyes, Alana laughed. “If Christoph had just taken me around to find some of the people who had known her, we probably would have met much sooner.”
“We were both convinced—”
“I know,” she quickly assured him. “It’s all right. At least he figured it out in the end.”
“He does deserve the credit, I agree.”
This wasn’t said with glowing praise, and she had the same feeling again that she’d had in the throne room, that her father was angry with Christoph for some reason. She started to ask why, but the door opened again with a new arrival. Apparently this wasn’t to be just a family dinner after all.
She hid her disappointment as she was introduced to Auberta Bruslan, and hid her shock, too, when it became apparent that her father and stepmother considered this Bruslan a dear friend! But she soon found out why. Who couldn’t like such a sweet old lady? And she wasn’t a blood Bruslan, she’d merely married into that family when Ernest Bruslan had made her his queen. Auberta even cried a little, she was so overcome with emotion, genuinely delighted with Alana’s reappearance, and so happy for Frederick to have his daughter back.
The dinner progressed pleasantly, but then Alana was surprised again when the talk turned to the recent attack on the palace that had been perpetrated by Auberta’s relatives! Apparently, most of her family was appalled by it.
“I’m so glad you were understanding today when Karsten spoke with you, Frederick,” Auberta said. “He was so outraged that his men took it upon themselves to avenge him before he even awoke to say who had accosted him.”
“I know Karsten had nothing to do with it,” Frederick assured her. “Those of his men we captured admitted he hadn’t even regained consciousness before they took matters into their own hands. I’ve asked him to come by to meet Alana tonight, if he’s feeling up to it.”
Karsten Bruslan arrived when dinner was almost over. Alana was mortified to see how bruised he was, knowing Poppie had done that to him and she had to keep that information to herself. Despite the bruises, he was still handsome and courtly as he bent over her hand to kiss it. But then his eyes widened, recognizing her from the festival.
“Oh, good Lord.” He laughed. “That barbarian idiot didn’t realize who you were?”
She stiffened over the insult to Christoph, saying immediately, “He was still unraveling the facts. Did you expect him to just take me at my word when others had come before me, claiming to be the princess?”
“Interesting, how quickly you defend him.”
She blushed and returned to her seat. But Karsten didn’t say anything else disparaging; in fact, he was quickly entertaining them with his wit and charm. The man was actually likable, she soon realized, as much as his grandmother was.
But before the evening ended, her father took her aside, hugged her, and confided happily, “I’m delighted to see you and Karsten have taken to each other so quickly. It has already been pointed out what a great political union it will be, if you two marry, but also and more importantly, this will unite our country once more, putting an end to the infight
ing that has nearly brought us to war again.”
Alana was speechless with shock. Marry her into the very family that had probably tried to kill her? She groaned inwardly. Did her father have to make it sound as if this was his fondest wish? It couldn’t have been worse timing, when right now she felt such a strong desire to please him no matter what. But how could she marry Karsten when she suspected she was already in love with her barbarian—oh, God, was she? Was that why she was so hurt and frustrated that Christoph appeared to want to distance himself from her even though he was forced to still protect her?
Chapter Forty-Seven
AS TIRED AS SHE’D been from such an emotional day, Alana stayed with her father much longer than she should have last night. But she kept putting off leaving because she was afraid Christoph was still out there waiting to escort her back to her room, and she didn’t want him to sense how disappointed she was that she couldn’t think of a way out of marrying a Bruslan without having an argument with her father about it, which was out of the question. Did Christoph know yet what her father was planning? No, of course not. He would have said something. She was sure he would at least have warned her, so it wouldn’t have been such a shock.
Her ploy to avoid seeing Christoph worked because he wasn’t there when she finally left. Two of her father’s guards had escorted her to her room instead.
She still didn’t get right to sleep last night with so much on her mind. Poppie had warned her that her father would pick her husband for her, but he hadn’t thought it would happen so soon, neither of them did. But oddly enough, that wasn’t what was keeping her awake.