The Beautiful Pretender (A Medieval Fairy Tale #2)(16)

A pang of guilt smote her breast at the envious, disloyal thoughts. Her own father might not know how to read or write or control his own fate, and he might never tell her he loved her or appreciated all she did for her little brother and sister, but he was still her father, and he had never tried to marry her off to the first person who asked for her, or betroth her to some rich and powerful nobleman she had never even met, as a titled father would do.

A knock at the door made Avelina jump. “That will be Frau Hartman to take me on a tour of the castle. I think you are supposed to come with me so you can learn where everything is.”

Irma jumped up. She set down the plate of cake and hastily brushed the crumbs off her chest.

“At least Lord Thornbeck won’t be along.” Avelina glanced in the mirror. “It should only be you, me, and Frau Hartman.”

Irma was still brushing herself, muttering, “Very well.”

Avelina took a step toward the door, then remembered she was supposed to be an earl’s daughter. “Irma, you have to get the door.”

“Oh yes.” Irma scurried to the door and opened it.

Frau Hartman entered. “Is Lady Dorothea ready?” Her gaze fell on Avelina. “Shall we take a look around the castle?”

“Of course.” Avelina came forward. “This is my maidservant, Irma.”

Irma curtsied.

“Lord Thornbeck is also coming with us. Shall we go?”

Avelina’s throat suddenly went dry and she swallowed. Why was Lord Thornbeck coming with them? She distinctly remembered Magdalen saying he had not accompanied the other ladies on their tours around the castle. Oh dear. He looked just as severe as she remembered.

Irma actually started back at seeing him behind Frau Hartman.

Avelina faked a smile and placed her hand at Irma’s back, trying to be discreet as she pushed her forward.

They followed Frau Hartman, and Lord Thornbeck dropped back and walked beside Avelina. Her heart trembled instead of beating. What did the margrave mean, coming with them? Who was she that he would want to accompany her on her tour?

“This corridor is where most of the second-floor bedchambers are located,” Frau Hartman said. “All the ladies are staying either here or on the third floor.”

They passed several closed doors, then came to the stairs. “This way to the main floor.”

Avelina was painfully aware of Lord Thornbeck walking beside her, silent and scowling, his walking stick thumping on the floor as he limped. Since the stairs were wide enough for all of them, they walked down the elegant staircase with Lord Thornbeck on the side with the handrail. His expression was tense as he made his way slowly down the steps.

“Are you in pain, Lord Thornbeck?”

The margrave growled deep in his throat.

Odette gave him a look over her shoulder, almost as if to scold him.

He cleared his throat. “I have some pain. In my ankle. From the accident. When my brother died.”

“Oh. I’m very sorry.” Stupid that she should have asked him such a question, reminding him of the fire when his brother was killed—the accident that many believed was no accident at all, but the margrave’s deliberate murder of his brother. Her heart began to pound.

He cleared his throat again and said gruffly, “Is your room comfortable?”

“Yes, my lord. Very comfortable, I thank you.”

“The staircase,” Frau Hartman said, “is part of the newer section of the castle, along with the ballroom here at the bottom where Lord Thornbeck hosted a masquerade ball some weeks ago. Did you attend that ball, Lady Dorothea?”

“I regret that I did not.” Though not altogether truthful, it was the polite thing to say.

They walked across the beautiful, gleaming floor as Odette went on. “This part of the castle was begun by Lord Thornbeck’s father and finished two years ago by his brother. The floor is made from marble that was quarried nearby.” They made their way across it, heading toward a doorway.

“And this is the gallery where the previous margraves’ portraits are displayed, along with the large painting depicting the battle scene of Prussian invaders being driven back from the nearby border. At the end of the gallery is a balcony. Would you like to see the view?”

“Yes.”

They walked slowly across the narrow room. “Lord Thornbeck, will you supply the names of the portrait subjects?” Odette asked.

He rattled off the names of his father and brother, not offering any other information about his family.

They reached the end of the gallery and Lord Thornbeck stepped forward and opened the wooden door wide, then held it for both Avelina and Frau Hartman with one hand, his cane with the other.

“It is getting colder,” Lord Thornbeck said. “We can stay inside if it is too cold for you.”

“No, it is not too cold for me, my lord.” Avelina stepped out onto the broad balcony and walked to the railing. Below was a densely forested ravine, the leaves mostly gone from the trees, as the limbs stretched, like spindly skeletons, toward the overcast sky. There was a wild beauty about the rugged, steep terrain. Somewhere beyond the trees was the town of Thornbeck.

The air was crisp and cold. Would it be even colder when she and Irma had to make the long trip back to Plimmwald? But she would not mind so much as long as Plimmwald and its people were kept safe by the margrave. Which gave her an idea.