Page 6 of The Beautiful Pretender

Avelina’s heart pounded sickeningly against her chest. It was true. She had known all along what was transpiring.

His eyes narrowed as he stared at her, his face a craggy stone and just as cold. “You knew what it would cost my daughter, and yet you never told me.”

“Please forgive me, my lord.” Avelina’s voice shook. None of her reasons would sound good enough to Lord Plimmwald. They seemed rather foolish now, even to her.

“The deed has been done, my daughter is gone, and there must have been many others who knew what was happening. I, the lord of the land, was the last to know.” Bitterness and anger infused his voice. He stared at the wall, then pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

“Now, I have a task for you,” he said, finally looking at her again, “that is far beyond being a lady’s maidservant for my spoiled daughter. I only hope you will be able to succeed in it as well as you kept my daughter’s secrets.”

What could he mean?

“We need the favor of Lord Thornbeck. We need the margrave’s help to defend us from Geitbart. I have little hope of finding Dorothea and bringing her back, and the Margrave of Thornbeck has asked that she come to Thornbeck Castle for two weeks. You must take her place.”

Avelina stared into his wrinkled face. “Take her place? Do you mean, pretend to be Lady Dorothea?”

“Precisely. You are the only woman I know who is fair enough. My daughter was a renowned beauty, but with fine clothes and someone calling you ‘my lady’ and treating you like a noble-born woman, anyone might consider you as beautiful as my wayward daughter.”

Her thoughts spun around and she couldn’t quite catch hold of one. The earl was speaking again.

“You must not ever let Thornbeck realize that you are not Dorothea. He must never suspect. He must also not choose to marry you, but you must not offend him in any way. He is by far our most important ally and our best hope of defeating Geitbart. It is rumored that Thornbeck killed his own brother to become margrave.” He shook his finger at her face. “What do you think he would do if he realized he had been duped by us, that I had sent him a servant instead of an earl’s daughter?”

The blood drained from Avelina’s face, and she swayed on her feet.I must listen.No matter how dizzy his words made her.

“You must understand that you will be saving us all. Every person at the castle and in the town will be in danger. Geitbart will certainly kill at least some of the people when he takes control of Plimmwald. And though Dorothea has gone away with Sir Dietric to no-one-knows-where, the margrave must never know that.” The corners of the earl’s mouth dipped in a grim frown.

How would Avelina, the daughter of a crippled former stablemaster and a lady’s maidservant, ever fool the Margrave of Thornbeck and all his guests into believing she was an earl’s daughter?

“Cannot you simply write to the margrave and tell him that your daughter is sick?”

“No, I cannot, impertinent girl. I wrote a letter to the king complaining about Geitbart sending his men to scout out our land, and also advising the king about the rumors surrounding Thornbeck’s brother’s death. The king apparently told them both about the letter, and now I am certain Geitbart intends to attack us. Thornbeck will not be inclined to help since I accused him of murdering his brother. That is why you must go and try to make peace with the Margrave of Thornbeck.”

The earl sounded nothing like he did when he was speaking to Dorothea, the way he often pleaded with her to behave more like a lady. Instead he growled the words at Avelina.

“When he attacks, Geitbart will kill innocent people simply to prove that he is master and frighten the rest into submission. Your own family could be killed.”

The earl spoke in a cold, quiet tone.

“And now you must take the rest of Dorothea’s clothes and jewelry and prepare for the journey to Thornbeck. You will leave in two hours.”

He was not asking her if she would do it; he was ordering her to.

She must think. She must be wise and ask something for herself. “If I do this, I will be deceiving one of the most powerful men in the Holy Roman Empire. I am risking my life.”

Unmoved, Lord Plimmwald stared back at her.

“If I succeed, you must give me a sum of money . . . enough to constitute a dowry so I can marry. And—and a goose and a side of pork every month for my family.”

“Very well. It shall be as you have asked.”

He agreed so quickly. She should have asked for more.

“But I warn you, if you should in any way destroy what little alliance I have with the margrave by being found out to be a servant instead of the Earl of Plimmwald’s daughter, I will not spare either you or your family. I will banish you all. And you will have failed every person in Plimmwald.”

Avelina’s throat tightened at the cruelty in the earl’s voice, cruelty that would hurt her father as well as her little sister and brother. She swallowed past the constriction.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes, my lord.” She would not fail. She could not.