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Then he waved me out of his room as if I was a maid. “I will bless your engagement announcement, but it will have to be before dusk as I am departing tonight.”
“So soon?” I asked.
His Holiness slurped his tea again. “I miss my dogs and gardens.”
You meanlovers,I almost corrected him. Rumors had it he always surrounded himself with young men at his castle.
“Is that a problem?” he asked.
Yes!
“No.”
“Good. Send someone for me when you are ready. Until then, I would like to remain undisturbed.”
I lingered a few seconds longer, in shock, then left the apartment feeling unhinged. Gunther and the monk were nowhere to be seen, and besides a few guards placed strategically along doors, there was nobody there but me. As much as I wanted to fall into a tantrum of self-pity, I couldn’t afford it. I had to find Rune and make him accept the marriage arrangement. Now that His Holiness was informed of the plan, there was no turning back. I would have to marry Lord Rune Blackwood, and not even the devil could stop it. Suddenly it struck me: What if Rune said no? What then?
As much as I hoped for it in my heart, the consequences would be catastrophic. This morning alone, Louis the Great had sent two messages to my chambers requesting a stroll in the gardens. And neither Gunther nor King Algar would take Gunther’s departure kindly. They might try another attempt at my life.
“Wimfred,” I mumbled to myself and strode swiftly down the hallway. I had to find Wimfred to prepare the marriage contract. Then we had to track down Rune, which in itself was no easy task. The man was like a ghost. Was he even still at the castle? Had he left?
My anxiety swallowed me like a dark cloud swallows the sun. How bizarre and cruel life could be. To provide me with a key out of hell, only to reveal that hell was a place made of many rooms.
