The Beautiful Pretender (A Medieval Fairy Tale #2)(73)

“No! I will not leave.” Lord Thornbeck would die and no one would let her see him.

Finally, the men—Lord Thornbeck’s guards and servants—started moving out of the corridor, their faces covered in soot.

“The fire is out,” one man said.

They continued to come away from the corridor. Finally, Endlein, the addled old woman, emerged through the smoke, followed by Lord Thornbeck. Both their faces were covered in soot.

Two servants took charge of Endlein, who was muttering questions and obviously confused. They urged her to go with them and spoke soothingly to her.

Avelina rushed forward and grabbed Lord Thornbeck’s arm.

“Let us go,” she said, eager to get him somewhere Geitbart would not find him.

She hurried him down the corridor, ignoring the people standing around who seemed to want to talk about what had just happened. Two of Geitbart’s guards stood straighter as they noticed Lord Thornbeck approaching. They exchanged a look, then took a step toward the margrave.

Three of Lord Thornbeck’s guards stood nearby. Avelina got their attention.

“Those men are trying to molest me!” She pointed at the two red-and-black clad guards.

Lord Thornbeck’s guards immediately blocked Geitbart’s men’s way and began a shouting match with them. Avelina and Lord Thornbeck hurried away, rushing down the stairs.

Not sure where else to go, she led him to her own bedchamber.





26



LORD THORNBECK SEEMED to suddenly notice where they were. He yanked the door open, waved her in, then followed and closed the door.

Avelina went to the water pitcher next to her bed. It was still full. She poured the two goblets full of water and held out a goblet to him while taking a sip. “It’s a little stale tasting, but it’s water.”

He drank the whole goblet without pausing, letting a trickle of water run down his sooty neck. For some reason it reminded her of his fingers caressing her cheek in the tiny room. But that thought, along with his exposed throat and intense eyes, was too distracting and was making her cheeks grow hot.

“Sit down and tell me why you felt you had to put out that fire yourself.” Avelina hurried to find a clean cloth and poured some water in a bowl for him to wash his face. “You know you might have had a chance to escape if you had not done that.”

He didn’t speak for a few moments. “I seemed to go back to the night my brother died. I only knew I wanted to put it out. It was foolish, perhaps.” His eyes stayed locked on hers the whole time he was talking.

She handed him the bowl of water and cloth.

“You need this as badly as I do,” he said.

Avelina grabbed the small looking glass on her table. She gasped. Her face was covered in soot, almost as much as Lord Thornbeck’s, and there were bits of ash in her unkempt hair. “Why did you not tell me I looked like this?”

He stared up at her from the chair where he sat. “I think you look rather becoming.”

She quickly found another cloth and dipped it in the water. Turning her back on him and looking in the mirror, she quickly washed her face, cleaning her forehead and cheeks, around her eyes, rinsing her cloth and cleaning her chin and around her mouth. Finally, she turned to face him while she picked the ashes out of her hair.

“Did Gerhaws start the fire?”

“I think Geitbart probably instructed her to, thinking I would try to escape the castle during the tumult.” Lord Thornbeck was washing his face and watching her out of the corner of his eye. “She fell to her death. After the fire was out, I went over and looked.”

“Horrible.”

“Especially since Gerhaws was the only witness to who actually killed my brother.”

“The king would not have accepted the word of a servant anyway.” Avelina continued cleaning her face and neck. “I was terrified Geitbart would seize you. Why do you think he did not? I don’t suppose he expected you to be putting out the fire.”

“No, and Geitbart would not risk his life by going anywhere near a fire.” Lord Thornbeck rubbed his sooty neck with the cloth. “And only a few of his guards were nearby, while my own guards were there helping to fight the fire. But he will hear that I was there.”

“Yes, he will be looking for you. You must escape the castle as quickly as you can.”

“May I have some more water?”

Avelina poured him another goblet. He took it and drank it. His stomach immediately growled.

“I’m famished too,” she said. “I’ll go down to the kitchen and get some food. You can take it with you as you leave.”

“Wait. It may not be safe for you to be seen.”

“Me? Why not? Do you think someone knows I warned you?”

“They may suspect it since you disappeared the same time I did.”

“I don’t think so. Frau Schwitzer was aware that I was spying last evening. She would have covered up my disappearance to Geitbart’s guards.”

He pointed behind her. “Why is your candle still burning?”

The candle was in a candlestick, but it was strange that it had not burned out yet. A piece of paper on the desk caught her eye. “Magdalen must have been here. She left me a note.”

“What does it say?”

“ ‘Avelina, my mother’s guards have come to escort me back to Mallin. I have no choice but to leave with them early in the morning. If you get this note, please come and say farewell to me.’ ”