Pinnosa tried to laugh, but all she could manage was a wheeze. “You can look at my feet and legs if you don’t believe me.” They were swollen to twice their normal size. “I would walk much farther for Sophie.”
The only way she’d been able to get away without raising the duchess’s suspicions was by faking her own death. She’d taken a bit of one of the duchess’s sleeping potions, which slowed her heart and breathing until people thought she was dead. She had bribed the mute son of a farmer to dig her back up after dark. It had been risky and terrifying to be buried alive beneath the cold earth, but if Pinnosa had left the castle any other way, the duchess would have sent her men after her to kill her. Duchess Ermengard was too powerful, too clever. Pinnosa was one of only two people still alive who knew that Duchess Ermengard had faked the death of her stepdaughter. The duchess had long ago killed everyone else who could have revealed this secret.
“Who is Sophie?” the young lord asked.
“Sophie is a servant in Duchess Ermengard’s service. A scullery maid. But the truth is she is the duke’s daughter.” Pinnosa managed to squeeze his hand. “I saw in a dream that the duchess will kill her soon if someone doesn’t intercede. Please … save her. If you don’t hurry, Duchess Ermengard will destroy her. She delights in tormenting her. Sophie … so kind and gentle … may God … watch … over her.”
It was done. Now she could sleep.
Chapter 2
The moment the woman stopped talking, her hand went limp in his. Gabe waited as Frau Lena examined her. After a few minutes, Frau Lena shook her head.
“Her heart has stopped. She’s gone.”
A chill passed over Gabe’s shoulders and he shuddered. What if it were true? A beautiful girl, born to be a duchess but being used as a scullery maid, tormented by her own stepmother. How would he feel if such a thing happened to one of his sisters? His chest tightened at the cruel injustice.
He couldn’t stop staring at the old woman’s body, trying to divine the truth from her features. But what reason did she have to lie? Someone had to at least investigate the old woman’s claims and attempt to help this Sophie.
Valten should save her. His brother Valten was the warrior, always excelling in tourneys, in jousting and sword fighting with the best knights of the Holy Roman Empire and beyond. But right now, Valten couldn’t even walk without help.
“Gabe.” His father touched his shoulder, pulling his gaze away from the face of the dead woman. “Come. We must discuss this with Valten.”
Gabe followed his father through the castle corridor to Valten’s chamber. What would his brother think of this woman’s claim? Would he believe it? And who would their father send to uncover the truth in Hohendorf?
Gabe should go. His father had too many concerns and duties at home to go cantering off on a wild chase after a kitchen maid who may or may not be a dead duke’s daughter. And Gabe couldn’t imagine his father sending one of the knights out to handle something so intimately connected to their family.
He also had to admit that the thought of saving this girl himself was strangely appealing. No one thought of Gabe as a warrior. He was a rambler, a fun-loving friend, but certainly not a knight. He had never cared for fighting or jousting and left the tournaments to his older brother and his father’s knights. As the second son, Gabe should have trained as a knight or applied himself to a trade such as a master mason or even joined the church. But none of those things appealed to him — a life of chastity least of all. He preferred roaming the countryside with his friends, sometimes drinking too much and doing other activities he was glad his parents knew nothing of. His few skills included flirting with fair maidens, playing the lute, and archery. In fact, archery was the only war sport in which he could best Valten.
If Gabe rescued his brother’s betrothed while Valten lay helpless in bed with a broken leg, it would be perfectly ironic. Valten traveled the world entering tournaments and winning glory and gold. But Gabe could do one better — rescue a girl from a terrible fate, thwart an evil ruler, and complete a quest that should have been Valten’s.
Perhaps Gabe wasn’t as tall or as muscular as his brother, had not the sheer girth or physical power his brother possessed. But here was his opportunity to impress his parents, his brother, and even Brittola, the girl he was expected to marry.
Gabe followed close behind as his father entered Valten’s bedchamber. The heir to the duchy of Hagenheim was propped up by pillows and reading a book.
“Thank God you’ve come.” Valten closed the tome with a loud snap. “I was about to come out of my skin from boredom.”
Valten was indeed pitiable in his forced confinement to his room. With all his purpose and energy and strength, the passivity of healing didn’t fit him very well.