He ran his hand through his hair and frowned. “The truth is,” he went on, “I only met Pinnosa briefly, but she was adamant that you were in danger.”
He hesitated, watching her closely, as though trying to read her thoughts. His intense brown eyes and good looks made her heart beat faster. She would have to be extra cautious with this man. He was much too handsome and flirtatious to be trusted.
Besides, Sophie already knew she was in danger. Anyone the duchess hated — and she certainly hated Sophie — was in danger. But this stranger could no more protect Sophie from the duchess than he could have saved himself from the beating Walther almost gave him.
At least Sophie knew what to expect from Duchess Ermengard. This stranger had no idea.
“What did she look like, this Pinnosa? And what did she say?”
“She was very old,” he replied. “She was hunched and had a mole below her left eye. Her hair was white and her eyes were faded blue.”
It certainly sounded like Pinnosa. Sophie turned away from him, trying to collect her thoughts.
“And what did Pinnosa tell you?” she asked again.
He stared hard at her. “She said you were Duke Baldewin’s daughter.”
Sophie returned his stare. He looked perfectly sane and serious. Her mind went back to when she was a little girl: The priest singling her out to teach her to read. Pinnosa and Petra whispering in the kitchen. Sophie had heard her name and the name of Duke Baldewin, but when the two cooks had perceived her standing behind them, they abruptly stopped talking.
Could it be true? Was she Duke Baldewin’s daughter? The duchess’s hatred of her would make sense, as the duke’s widow wouldn’t want to share Hohendorf with anyone. She wouldn’t want the king to learn of an heir’s existence either. King Sigismund might want to marry Sophie off to someone, after which she could safely reveal all the duchess’s evil secrets, including the fact that the duchess dabbled in magic and created potions and poisons.
But perhaps this was all a trap. The man could be lying. He could have been sent by the duchess to trick her. It was the sort of entrapment the duchess delighted in.
She turned away from him, as though the conversation were a waste of her time, and went on with her task of dipping candles. She pretended to ignore him while her mind raced. If this man knew she was the duke’s daughter, and if he forced the duchess’s hand, Ermengard would kill them both. It seemed so terrible, especially when she probably wasn’t the duke’s daughter.
Why would he come here, alone, to tell her this? Perhaps he was crazed, daft. After all, who else but a madman would climb the castle mount to Duchess Ermengard’s castle claiming to be a musician, wanting to play for her? And she was even dafter for thinking, even if it was only for a moment, that this inexperienced son of a rich man could help her. Could he defend her against the duchess’s entire guard?
She sent him a quick glare. “You shouldn’t have come here. You are in terrible danger.” She spoke carefully, pronouncing each syllable slowly. “Duchess Ermengard will kill you. She doesn’t like strangers entering her realm. And if she finds out you think I’m the duke’s daughter … you’ll find yourself dead before you even finish such a declaration.”
“But what if you are the duke’s daughter?”
Sophie pondered this. “I can’t prove that I am or am not. I never knew my parents, and the duchess claims I was an orphan she took in. Unless you can prove I am Duke Baldewin’s daughter … You were foolish to come here.” She had to be practical. She couldn’t let herself hope.
As she continued with the monotonous task of taking cooled candles from the line, dipping them in hot wax, and hanging them back on the line, she could feel him watching her. She turned and stared at him.
“Why would Pinnosa tell you about me? Why would you care?”
“Sophie.” He took a step closer to her, his voice a deep whisper. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but I’m here to find out if you are truly Duke Baldewin’s daughter. And if you are, I want to take you back to Hagenheim.”
Sophie turned her back on him. Against her better judgment, optimism rose up inside her. Her heartbeat quickened as something inside her told her he might be telling the truth. Again, she remembered whispers that stopped when she came into the room, the duchess’s special hatred of her, almost as if she were jealous. Something inside Sophie had always wondered if her parents were more than servants, were people who had enraged the duchess so much she was taking out her wrath on their daughter.
But how can I ever know for sure? “So you have no proof that I’m Duke Baldewin’s daughter?”
“No, I don’t. Do you know anyone who might know? Someone who knew the duke or his first wife? Which servants have been here the longest?”