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Chapter 17
The hut in front of us looked peaceful. Colorful flowers aligned in front of the small rock structure. An even smaller barn was attached to it next to a well. Smoke came out of a chimney. A tiny stream ran behind it. The air smelled of fresh grass and flowers.
“It looks safe to me,” Henrike said. We were all hiding behind a line of bushes not far from it.
“It does, but looks can be deceiving. I have been ambushed in huts just like this one,” Alrick said.
My stomach growled. “What choice do we have?”
“She’s right,” Henrike said.
“Fine. But I’ll go first and wave you over if it’s safe,” Alrick insisted.
“That would not be wise.” A woman’s voice startled us from behind. “I never open the door for men traveling without women.”
I jumped to my feet and twirled around to find an old woman with long, white hair standing a few feet away from me. I stepped back to regain some space. Her gray eyes scanned me head to toe, completely ignoring Alrick and Henrike.
“Now that is a sight I’d hoped never to see again,” she mumbled. “It has been so long since the wedding was announced on that balcony at the castle.”
“Again? Balcony?” I wondered, confused.
The old woman smiled. “What is Her Highness doing this far north? Aren’t you supposed to journey south to marry the Rhine King? He will be heartbroken if you change your mind.”
“Marry the Rhine King?” I looked at Alrick for help.
He pulled me halfway into his arms. “My apologies for intruding on your home. My wife and I”—he squeezed me against his hard chest, unraveling an inferno of heat inside me—“we were traveling north with our maid”—he nodded at Henrike—“when, em, when we were robbed.”
The old woman’s intense look shifted to Alrick.
“Now I see why you don’t want to go south. Foolish young hearts.” She sighed and turned to leave.
We didn’t move, just watched her walk around the bushes and toward her house.
“I think she thinks I’m my mother,” I whispered into Alrick’s ear. His body felt warm and smelled of leather and lavender.
“She’s crazy. We should keep moving,” Henrike whispered.
Alrick stared at the old woman as, suddenly, she turned around. “I thought you wanted food and a dry place to sleep?”
“She might be crazy, but I don’t think she’s dangerous,” I said, still pressed against Alrick’s chest.
Henrike noticed and threw us a strange look. I blushed. “You can let your wife go now,” she said, crossing her arms. Alrick instantly stepped back.
“How do you know she’s not dangerous?” he asked me as I walked around the bushes to follow her.
“I have looked into the kind eyes of an old woman my whole life.” I pictured Frida reading fairy tales to me before bed. “I know what they look like.”
Henrike followed me. “What is she going to do, anyway? Kill us?”
Alrick frowned. “She might. I’ll get the horses. But don’t touch anything until I’m back.”
