Lions in the Garden

  I glanced back at Marc standing alone in the vast hall. His expression was uninterested. I would’ve thought him indifferent until my eyes trailed down to his hand—clenched into a fist so tight that his knuckles were white.

  Chapter Five

  Marc’s eyes burned into my back as Radek and I crossed Vladislav Hall’s cold marble floors. The duke and I reached the colonnade in silence, and the scents of jasmine and freesia infused the warm air as we walked arm-in-arm through the covered walkway. On the white lattice overhead, wild ivy with flowering lilacs grew, and we continued down a sinuous path until it ended at the bubbling fountain that marked the entrance to Rudolf’s Royal Gardens.

  Our pace turned to a leisurely stroll now that we were away from Vladislav Hall. Here in the gardens were all the foreign animals and flowers the king had brought from all over the world. At the moment, the exoticness of the gardens was overwhelming my senses. Birds chirped in the trees and the smells of hundreds of species of flowers made my head throb.

  “That was interesting.” Radek patted my hand, which was hooked around his elbow.

  I played dumb. “What’s that?”

  “Apparently, your friend is an extremely skilled swordsman. It’s hard to believe he’s only a blacksmith.” He lifted a blond eyebrow.

  I smiled, hoping my face didn’t betray any emotion. “I suppose if you work with metal all day long, you’d become well adapted to swordplay.”

  “Well adapted is an understatement. Why do you need to be a skilled swordsman if you aren’t a member of the king’s army? What is he preparing for? And what about those piles of weapons at this blacksmith shop?”

  I shrugged.

  “Is he a Protestant?” Radek asked.

  “How should I know? I’ve only just met him,” I lied.

  I was well aware of Radek’s view on Protestants, and I didn’t want anyone, let alone Marc, to become a target of the duke’s suspicions.

  Radek inclined his head. “Of course. I only ask because it’s worrisome to learn the peasants are so well trained and in possession of a stockpile of weapons. You’ve heard about this heretical Protestant movement—it’s toppling kingdoms as we speak.”

  I pretended to examine a white rose. The snow-colored flower grew as a long spindly cane and refused to blossom like its flourishing brethren. Stubborn and nonconforming. They were admirable traits, but if the rose refused to bloom, the gardener would snip its stem and kill it. The same was true for the residents who lived behind the castle walls.

  “I don’t keep up with the kingdom’s politics. It’s tedious,” I lied again. I was adding up the sins I’d have to repent for in my next confession.

  “Ludmila.” Radek shook his head like he was scolding a young child. “The Protestants want to abolish our way of life. They are trying to discredit the Catholic Church and the House of Habsburg. If people like that are gathering outside our walls, we are in grave danger—especially if they are as skilled as that blacksmith who was fawning all over you. We can’t have what’s happening in England and other kingdoms happen here in Prague, too.”

  “Meaning?”

  “England has been in a civil war for the last fifty years because of the Protestants. The country has broken ties with the church and then realigned again numerous times. One decade they call themselves Catholic, the next Protestant. Do you know how much bloodshed that’s cost their country? And how many Catholics have died as a result? Do you want that to happen here in Prague?”

  “Radek, you’re worried about one man. One blacksmith. Marc is hardly going to bring about a revolution.”

  “You don’t think one man can make a difference?” Color rose to Radek’s cheeks. “What about Martin Luther? Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses and look how this Protestant movement has spread. All from one man in Germany, just ninety years ago! Think about it, Mila: If the Protestants overthrow King Rudolf, imagine what will happen to all of us—you, me, your father, your maid. Those barbarians are not going to escort you outside the castle’s walls. They’re going to murder you or imprison you or worse.”

  “That won’t happen here.”

  “It already is. It’s happening everywhere,” Radek said as we passed a row of olive trees. “It’s even worse for Prague, because not only are we dealing with the Protestant problem, but we’re also under scrutiny from the House of Habsburg and the Catholic Church, all because of Rudolf’s impassiveness toward this infestation. Rudolf is losing control. He’s already lost a significant portion of his lands to his brother Matthias. As the days tick by, he grows weaker—”

  I sighed. “Can we please talk about something else? Something pleasant? All of this talk of revolution and war . . . upsets me.”

  Radek placed his hand on my lower back and guided me forward. “My apologies, Ludmila. The topic gets me heated. I don’t know how to stop myself sometimes.” He glanced at me sideways with a sheepish grin. “Can you forgive me?”

  “I suppose.” The corner of my mouth twitched into a smile. I couldn’t help it. Despite his sometimes warped views and arrogant outlook on life, Radek was still my friend.

  Practically my only friend.

  After my mother’s suicide, most of the children in the castle would repeat the horrible things their parents were saying about my mother. They would tell me my mother was burning in Hell and cursed forever, and I always ended up running away before the tears could fall. Radek was the only one who ever stood up for me, and afterward, he would find me under a rosebush in the king’s garden silently crying. He would never say anything about it. He would just crawl beneath the branches and quietly lie beside me as I wept.

  “I heard you barely escaped a life in Moravia with Lord Otto,” Radek said.

  I cringed. “Don’t remind me.”

  Radek laughed. “How many chins does the lord have? Three? I sat across from Igor at dinner the night I returned from Vienna. I daresay I lost my appetite watching him eat.”

  “I’m forever grateful to my father for declining Lord Otto’s request.”

  The duke smiled at me. “How are your studies coming?”

  “They’ve added astronomy to my already full curriculum. Now I have French, geography, violin, the wars of ancient history, geometry, music, and astronomy.”

  “Astronomy? When did that become a required lesson? Is Rudolf handpicking the curriculum now?”

  I shrugged.

  “Have you decided on a dress to wear to the revealing of the crown jewels?”

  “Not yet.”

  “The blue one from Vienna will look divine on you.” Radek pointed to a bunch of orange-yellow tiger lilies blossoming from an overgrown bush. They were the biggest flowers I’d ever seen—the carpels and petals were larger than my hand.

  He picked a lily and handed it to me.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, surprised by the kind gesture. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Not as beautiful as you. I thought about you frequently when I was away.”

  “Is that so?”

  “About how lovely it would’ve been if you were on my arm as we strolled the streets of Vienna. I’ll take you there sometime. I’ve become close with King Matthias. We will receive the royal treatment. You’ll love it. It’s much different from Prague. It’s more . . . refined. Less dark and dreary.”

  I was unsure what to say, but fortunately, there was a distraction—a sharp roar cut through the chirping of the birds.

  We followed the curious sound around the curving path to Rudolf’s prized lion. The animal was a gift from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire during a short-lived peace treaty between the two warring kingdoms. Rudolf kept the lion in the Royal Gardens.

  The dark blond beast was inside an enormous gilded cage. Radek and I stopped a few feet in front of the imprisoned animal. Thick muscles flexed beneath the animal’s fur as the lion angrily paced back and forth behind the bars.

  “See, Ludmila, this beast is the perfect example of the problem we’re having with the
Protestants.”

  “The lion? How so?”

  “It’s angry and depraved and once it breaks free of its cage, all hell is going to break loose.”

  It was stupid and reckless.

  But as I checked for the guard, I contemplated the idea that maybe this meant I was a stupid and reckless person. I’d never thought of myself in that way, but my behavior over the past week seemed to suggest so.

  I flattened against the Eastern Gate and whispered through the bars, “Hello?”

  I waited. The path—the same one I’d ridden in on with Marc—ran parallel to the castle walls. Beyond the trail lay only dense forest. Without a torch or lantern it was impossible to see into the woods.

  “Mila.” Marc’s voice floated through the air like a ghost in the wind.

  “Marc?” I whispered.

  I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see anything until a shadow oozed from behind a tree trunk. A man’s outline formed and advanced from the confines of the woods. A second later, Marc stood in front of me with the iron bars between us.

  “You came.” He smiled, but his gaze fell behind me. He scanned the grounds. “How much time do we have?”

  “Not much. The guard will be back soon.”

  He squeezed the bars. “You don’t happen to have a key, do you?”

  “No. Only the guards have keys.”

  Marc’s eyes rose to the sky.

  I realized he wasn’t stargazing, but inspecting the top of the gate. “You’re going to climb over?”

  He flashed a grin. “I doubt you can climb in that dress, and I don’t believe the guard will hand over the gate keys. Step back, Mila. I don’t want to crush you if I fall.”

  “Marc—”

  But he was already scaling the fence. One foot wedged against the stone and the other on the bar. He shimmied up the towering structure like a monkey climbing a tree. I hardly had time to wonder how he was going to get over the pointed spears when he swung his legs over and climbed down. He landed gracefully beside me.

  His grin faded when he saw my face. “What?”

  “Where did you learn to do that?”

  He laughed. “Come on, we need to go before the guard returns.”

  I didn’t know where we were going. I imagined he didn’t know either—only somewhere that the guards, or anyone for that matter, couldn’t catch us. We sprinted from the Eastern Gate past the ballroom and Vladislav Hall. Each time I glanced at him, he smiled at me like he was having the time of his life.

  I, on the other hand, was terrified of getting caught. Let me rephrase—I was terrified of Marc getting caught. I didn’t care what would happen to me, but I knew the consequences would be severe for him.

  “What do you think about stars?” I asked as we ran.

  “The stars?”

  “Yes, do you like them?”

  He glanced up at the sky. “I’ve never really considered that question, but I suppose I do.”

  “Then come with me.” We didn’t stop running until we reached the enormous building on the western edge of the grounds. We climbed the back stairs to the top floor of the king’s astronomy tower. Luckily, the room wasn’t locked. I had the king’s permission to be here, so technically I wasn’t breaking any rules, but being up here with Marc changed things considerably.

  I was being paranoid, but it was hard not to be. No one would come here in the middle of the night. The king complained about how the members of his court didn’t care enough about science. Rudolf had placed the most amazing wonders of the world in the palms of our hands, but the court would rather gossip about Lord Tarek’s wife sleeping with the butcher.

  No wonder Rudolf hid in his wing of the castle.

  Marc followed me up the steps to the circular platform where the tower opened to the sky. Goosebumps rippled over my skin, but I was too eager to be bothered by the cold air.

  I pointed to the viewing instrument positioned on some sort of holding mechanism. “The king says you can see all the stars in the sky if you look through it.”

  Marc skeptically eyed the instrument. “But I can see the stars without looking through that thing. I can see them with my eyes.”

  “But this will make them look bigger. It’ll help you see farther in space. Do you want to try it?”

  “Ladies first.”

  I inhaled and lowered my eye to the lens. I stepped back with a gasp.

  Marc’s voice was anxious. “What happened?”

  I swallowed. “It’s . . . it’s just—”

  “What?”

  “I can see everything. It’s wonderful.” I approached the instrument with more confidence. I held my breath and placed my eye to the lens.

  Stars filled the sky—more than I’d ever seen in my life. Thousands upon thousands of stars glittered like diamonds in a sea of absolute blackness. They sparkled with varying degrees of brightness and it felt like I could touch them with an outstretched hand.

  I waved Marc closer. “Take a look.”

  He was much taller than me and had to bend awkwardly at the waist to see through the lens. He didn’t shout out or stumble backward like I had, but the muscles in his back tightened and his lips parted in wonder.

  “What do you think?” I asked.

  “It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. This came all the way from Italy?”

  “From a man named Galileo,” I said. “I talked to the king’s head astronomer, Johannes Kepler, at dinner tonight. He told me that this Galileo man has been under scrutiny by the church.”

  “What could an astronomer have done to upset the pope? Viewing the stars is harmless.”

  “Apparently not. Kepler said that Galileo proposed some radical theories that the church disagrees with. Galileo claims the earth revolves around the sun. His proclamation is upsetting everyone because we’ve all been led to believe the sun moves around us.”

  Beams of moonlight illuminated the space with a mystical, whitish light. Marc sat on the top step. “I can’t believe the king said you could use this instrument whenever you wanted.”

  “Yes, I saw him before I found you in Vladislav Hall this morning.”

  “Ah, Vladislav Hall. How was your walk in the Royal Gardens with the duke?”

  I sat on the steps beside him. “He was furious with you.”

  Marc leaned in. “Good.”

  “That’s dangerous to say. He’s the duke.”

  “He fancies you.”

  I shrugged off the idea.

  “He does. I can tell.” Marc’s eyes slid down my gown. “He brought you dresses from Vienna?”

  “Yes.”

  “The one you’re wearing now?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Do you like him?”

  “We’re friends. Why are you asking me so many questions?”

  “I’m only curious,” he said. “You’re not like what I thought you’d be like.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He grinned. “Nothing. How well do you know the famous Duke of Prucha?”

  Marc scooted closer and his hand brushed against mine. The contact sent chills through me. Could he hear my heartbeat thumping in my chest? I hoped not. My mood fell when I realized he didn’t seem affected by our proximity.

  “I’ve known Radek since we were children. He works closely with my father on matters of the state.” I glanced up at the moon. “Radek asked me if you were a Protestant.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I said I didn’t know and I changed the subject.”

  Marc raised a dark eyebrow. “Radek hates Protestants. Do you?”

  “I don’t hate anyone, and for the record, I’m sitting here with you and you’re a Protestant.”

  The corner of his mouth twitched. “You know, the Catholic and the Protestant views aren’t that different.”

  “Then why are they fighting?”

  “It’s more about the struggle for power with the Catholic Church. Protestants don’t believe we shou
ld be taxed so heavily or that donating money should wash away your sins. That’s not fair to the poor.”

  “No, it’s not, but what do the rebels plan to do? Topple the Catholic Church?” I shook my head. Visions of the Protestants storming the castle and defiling my beautiful Saint Vitus Cathedral made me shiver. “Is that what your father and uncle are doing in Kladno? Gearing up for a rebellion?”

  “We’re not the enemy, Mila.” Marc leaned his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. His shirt had short sleeves and the muscles in his tanned forearms rippled. The single strand of black thread was still tied around his wrist. Before I could ask him what it represented, he moved like he was going to say something.

  “What? Tell me.”

  Marc hesitated. “Are you aware of what they’re doing to Protestants?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Marc grimaced. “Some—not all, but some—Catholics are terrorizing Protestants. I’ve heard Radek is one of them. It may just be a rumor, but the duke isn’t as kind as he appears. Trust me.”

  “Radek isn’t sympathetic to the Protestants, but I don’t understand what you’re implying. What could Radek do to them? The king signed the Letter of Majesty a year ago.”

  Rudolf II supported the controversial law, which granted religious freedom to every citizen, including all peasants, in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Protestants were free to worship as they pleased without the Crown dictating which religion they must follow. The Catholic Church was furious with Rudolf, who ironically held the title of the Holy Roman Emperor.

  Radek, ever the devout Catholic, held tight to these beliefs. I bit my lip. However radical the duke’s views were, I didn’t believe he was a physical threat to anyone. I knew him.

  No, Radek was harmless. All bark and no bite.

  “The Letter of Majesty is only a piece of paper,” Marc said.

  “It’s the law.”

  “Things are settled differently outside the castle’s walls, Mila. People are saying that a few in Rudolf’s inner circle are angry at the king’s tolerance toward the Protestants. I’ve heard rumors that some in the court have aligned with the Catholic House of Habsburgs in Vienna.”