Page 76 of The Beautiful Pretender

“What else did she say?”

“She said . . . I don’t remember.” Gerhaws belched again.

Avelina stood. She had to tell Lord Thornbeck the truth about what had happened to his brother. “I have to go to the privy.”

Avelina slipped out of the dark room. She made use of the garderobe, and as she was leaving, on a sudden whim, she sneaked behind the screen at the back of the Great Hall. She heard hushed voices nearby, male voices, and peeked around the edge of the wooden screen.

Geitbart was standing with four guards in front of him. “Go apprehend him now. Lady Fronicka saw him enter the library earlier and he should still be there. If he puts up a fight, kill him withthe sword. I shall tell the king he attacked you and you were only defending yourselves.”

One of the guards asked a question, but Avelina did not wait to hear what was said. She slipped back through the door to the outside, her heart pounding. She ignored the pain in her ankle and ran. She ran past the kitchen and back into the castle through another door. She ran through the servants’ passage and into the corridor, past several rooms, and into the library.

“Lord Thornbeck!” she cried in a loud whisper. “They are coming for you! You must hurry!”

24

REINHART STOOD UPfrom his desk. Avelina ran to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him forward. “Quickly! Please, you must.”

Several men’s footsteps were coming down the corridor, drawing closer. Avelina gasped. “Hurry!”

If the men found her here, they would likely do to her whatever they intended to do to him.

“Come. This way.” Reinhart hurried toward the opposite wall and pulled on the end of one bookcase. The wooden shelves swung out, revealing a hidden space behind it. He pushed Avelina inside and followed her into the darkness. Then he pulled the bookcase back into place.

Avelina held on to his arm with both hands in the complete darkness of the tiny hidden chamber. A voice in the other room said, “Lord Thornbeck, you are requested by the Duke of Geitbart to come with us.”

For a moment there was no sound except Avelina’s breathing, which was a bit labored, no doubt from running to warn him.

“Search the room,” came the command from the other side of the bookcase.

The men stomped across the floor, followed by a loud crash—they must have upended his desk. Footsteps came toward them.Did they know of their hiding place? They came closer. At any moment they would yank open the bookcase-wall. He tensed, preparing to defend Avelina.

The steps moved away.

More voices, but this time they were too quiet to make out any words. The sounds gradually died out.

He whispered, “You should not have been running on that ankle.”

“I did not want them to hurt you.” Her voice was strained.

“We are only prolonging the inevitable.” He shook his head, but of course, she could not see him in the dark room. Not even her outline was visible.

“What are you saying? Are you going to let Geitbart take you? He wants to kill you.”

“Be calm and tell me what you heard.”

“I heard the Duke of Geitbart tell four of his guards to come here to the library and take you. He said if—” Her voice hitched and she stopped talking. After a few moments she went on. “If you resisted, they were to kill you.”

Her hands tightened around his arm. Did she care so much for him?

“I wish you would leave this place and go to the king.”

“A margrave running away from danger? That would not impress the king.”

“Your men can fight. They can defeat Geitbart’s guards.”

“He has a larger force of men nearby. My scouts have seen them. If I had known of his treachery I could have gathered enough men to defeat him. But if my men were to fight now, they would be slaughtered.”And maimed, like me.And a soldier who could no longer fight would rather have died fighting than to be crippled for the rest of his life.

She said nothing. Her breathing had calmed. He could smell the lavender she used to wash her hair, bringing back the memories of the two times he had held her in his arms. How he longed to hold her again . . .