Friar Daniel sat eating some bread and no doubt watching them. Not trusting herself to look up at Valten, she turned away.
Valten went and picked up his crossbow from where it was leaning against the wall. “I’m going to find fresh meat. Stay close to the cave.”
Gisela and Friar Daniel both agreed to do so, and Valten was soon gone, walking quietly into the woods.
Valten came back with two large pheasants. He said he would wait until it was dark to build a fire and cook it. Meanwhile, Gisela slept most of the rest of the day. She hadn’t realized how tired she was.
As night fell, hoping Ruexner and his men were far away, Valten built a small fire at the entrance to the cave.
Valten took the first pheasant and put it on the ground, spreading out the wings. Then he took the legs and pulled until the skin slipped off the breast, and the wings came loose from the legs and entrails.
Gisela watched in fascination as he had the bird dressed and ready to be cooked in less time than it would take Ava’s nursemaid to change a diaper. He made a spit out of sticks and placed both the birds over the fire.
As Valten got more wood and Gisela turned the pheasants on the spit, Friar Daniel was in the dark part of the cave, praying—or sleeping, Gisela wasn’t sure which.
Valten sat down beside Gisela on the fallen tree. “I’ve been wanting to ask you … How did Ruexner abduct you from the ball? You were standing in the Great Hall one minute, and the next minute, you were gone.”
Gisela shook her head. It had been her fault. She hated to admit to him how gullible she had been, but he deserved to hear the story. “Rainhilda came and told me my stepsister Irma wanted to speak with me. Irma was standing in the doorway to the corridor, crying. She said she was afraid Contzel, my other stepsister, was about to do harm to herself, and she needed me to come and talk to her.” Gisela shook her head. “I should have known better, but I stepped into the corridor and someone — Ruexner or one of his men—threw something over my head and dragged me away.”
For a long moment, Valten didn’t say anything. Was he angry with her? She could understand it if he was. He could accuse her of being foolish and she would agree with him.
“I’m so sorry you had such a terrible stepmother and stepsisters.” His voice was low and kind.
The compassion in his eyes made her sigh. “I should have known not to trust her, that she would trick me. I was foolish.”
“No.” He picked up her hand and held it, caressing her knuckles with his thumb. “You couldn’t have known. I can’t imagine a sister of mine doing anything so evil and heartless.”
“I’m sure your sisters wouldn’t. They all seem so sweet. And your mother too.” A pleasant warmth went all through her at the way he was touching her hand.
“They like you very much.”
The way Valten was looking at her made her glad Friar Daniel was not around. But his mentioning his family only reminded her how she had fallen in love with them too, as surely as she had fallen in love with Valten. Could he feel the same about her? She thought back to what Friar Daniel had said about God loving her and placing great worth on her. Might the reason she struggled to believe that also be why she also struggled to believe that Valten might be falling in love with her?
“My father told me your father was one of his most trusted knights, Sir Christoff Mueller.”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t even know he was a knight.” The information settled over her like a blanket. It would explain how her father and Duke Wilhelm had seemed to know each other so well.
“How old were you when your father died?”
“I was seven, almost eight.” It had been so long since she’d talked about him. In fact, she never talked about her father.
“He was a kind man,” Gisela went on, staring down at the small crackling flames of the fire. “He never would have allowed my stepmother to treat me the way she did. Evfemia wouldn’t even allow me to have a fire in my chamber. When I was very young, sometimes I would build a fire in my fireplace anyway. And then when she made me put it out, I would sleep inside near the coals for warmth.” Now he would know just how different their childhoods had been.
She focused on the fire, on its friendly color, and listened to its cheerful crackling sounds. Valten didn’t say anything for so long that she looked up at him. He was staring intently at her face. He reached out and stroked her cheek with his thumb and cupped her chin with his palm.
“You deserved better.”