Page 9 of The Beautiful Pretender

“And he did not tell me exactly what he has asked of you. He only said you were going to Thornbeck and that I was to be your servant. He also said he would cut out my tongue and feed it to his falcon if I breathed a word to anyone that you are not Lady Dorothea.” But even with this dire pronouncement, her eyes did not lose their excited gleam.

“I must pretend to be Lady Dorothea, and I must not offend the margrave in any way. If he suspects that I am not Dorothea, bad things will happen.”

“Ach, ja, I suspected that was it. Your hair is more brown and not as light as Lady Dorothea’s, and your eyes are blue while hers are green, but with some pretty silk cotehardies and our departed lady’s necklace, you shall be just as beautiful. You should not look so worried. Besides, would it not be wonderful if the margrave should pick you to be his bride?”

Avelina turned wide eyes on Irma. “I cannot marry the margrave. You must not wish such a thing on me. But he surely would never pick me. He is looking for someone who can behave as a nobleman’s daughter would, a margrave’s wife, and I, of course, have no idea how to behave as a nobleman’s daughter.” Avelina muttered the last several words to herself. If her way of speaking did not give her away, her ignorance of the dances would.

She must try to speak and behave as Dorothea would. Afterall, she had been Dorothea’s servant for so many years, it should not be difficult. But she did not relish the thought of being rude and demanding.

The evening of the second day of their journey, Avelina felt bruised and sore beyond anything she had ever experienced before. The guards stopped to rest the horses and to inform them that they could reach Thornbeck Castle before midnight if they pressed on. Since the moon was full, there were no clouds to obscure the light, and they did not expect to see any bandits this close to Thornbeck, they would press on.

After stretching their legs, Irma and Avelina got back on their horses for the last few hours of the journey.

Avelina had slept little the night before, as they had been unable to find shelter and had lain on the ground on blankets. And even though she’d had two blankets to cover herself, her feet had felt like two blocks of ice long before morning came, and they had not thawed all day.

She had awakened several times, dreaming either of brigands attacking their horses or of wolves and wild boar snarling at them. She had overheard the guards, when they thought she was not listening, saying that there were wolves in Thornbeck Forest.

Darkness kept her from seeing very far ahead. Irma kept up an almost-constant chatter.

“What do you suppose they eat at the margrave’s table? Goose and suckling pig, no doubt. He probably never eats barley bread or porridge.”

Avelina wondered if Thornbeck still had cherries.

As the night wore on, she could barely force her eyes to stayopen. When they stopped again to rest, she curled into a ball on the ground and fell asleep.

She awoke to someone shaking her shoulder.

“Get up, my lady.” Someone shook her again. “Lady Dorothea.”

Avelina startled, jerking away from her, then remembered. It was Irma, and she was only practicing calling Avelina “my lady” and “Lady Dorothea” before they reached Thornbeck Castle.

“How much farther?” Avelina asked as the guard helped her mount her horse. He boosted her up, and she had to cling to the horse’s mane to keep from falling off, as if exhaustion was making her so heavy it was pulling her back down to the ground.

“Another hour or two.”

They continued on their way. Irma had all but ceased talking, and when she did speak, it was usually to say something such as, “I can’t remember when I’ve ever been so tired. I may fall off this horse yet.”

When Avelina’s head bobbed forward, forcing her to jerk herself back upright, she started pinching her arms and then her cheeks to stay awake.

“I see something,” Irma said, the old excitement back in her voice. “Is it the castle? No, I think it’s the town.”

A walled town lay below them in a slight valley. They skirted around it, following the wall to the east of the town, then came around the south side. They started moving up a winding road, and that’s when Avelina saw the castle.

Thornbeck Castle stood high on a ridge that rose out of the forest. A single road led up to it, with tree-lined ravines all around. Several towers of varying sizes, some with pointed roofs and others flat and ringed with crenellations, stood out against the moonlit sky. She could see no other details in the dark, except that the terrain around it seemed steep and heavily forested. The castle itselfstretched out along the ridge behind it, giving it a somewhat narrow facade, but it appeared much larger than Plimmwald Castle.

A bend in the road blocked Thornbeck Castle from view. The air had been getting steadily colder since they’d left Plimmwald, and now a gust stirred the loose strands of hair around her face. She shivered. Finally, this exhausting journey would end. She had been dreading the moment she would reach the castle, but now she was all too thankful at the prospect of getting off this horse and out of the cold.

They drew close to the front of the castle. A guard and a stable boy came toward them, and Lord Plimmwald’s guards caught the harnesses and brought their horses to a halt.

I must remember I am not a servant.I must behave as Dorothea would . . . as the daughter of an earl.

She did not wait for someone to help her down. She slid off the saddle and handed the reins to the approaching stable boy. Her backside and thighs were so sore, it hurt to move, and exhaustion made her weave and list to one side as she walked.

She should be pretending perfect grace.

The guard announced her as Lady Dorothea, the Earl of Plimmwald’s daughter. Irma allowed her, as the daughter of an earl, to go first. She put one foot in front of the other up the stone steps to the front door.

A white-haired middle-aged woman greeted her in the entrance hall. “I am Frau Schwitzer. Follow me and I shall take you and your maidservant to your room.”