Rose was stunned by her mistress keeping a secret from her, and by her having a reason to correspond with the Duke of Marienberg. Should she ask what was in the letter? But her mistress looked much too preoccupied to be patient with Rose’s questions.
Rose walked toward the door and made a clicking sound with her tongue. Wolfie jumped up from his place in the corner and leapt out ahead of her. She gave Frau Geruscha one last backward glance before stepping out.
What could the letter be about? And why was Frau Geruscha trying to hide it from her?
Rose held up her skirts as she walked free of the town gate and headed out into the green grass beyond. She lifted her face and closed her eyes, the summer sunshine warming her shoulders. Passing the tree on the hill, she followed the stream into the shade of the forest. She ran her hand along the gray bark of the beech trees as Wolfie crashed through the bushes nearby.
After gathering herbs for some time, she came to a place where the stream waters pooled and then tumbled off the rocks into the stream bed below. Sinking onto the grass and pulling off her shoes, she dipped her bare feet in the pool of water at the base of the waterfall.
Her mind wandered over many events, puzzling first over Frau Geruscha’s letter and her strange behavior, then over Lord Rupert’s flirtations, then the budding relationship between Hildy and Gunther.
She placed her hands on the grass behind her and let her head hang back, closing her eyes and listening to the water splashing on the rocks and dribbling away downstream. Taking one deep breath after another, she let her thoughts wander—until she became aware of some noises across the stream, not far away. Probably Wolfie chasing a chipmunk. “Oh Wolfie, leave those poor animals alone.”
She listened but heard no answering movement from Wolfie.
Rose’s skin tingled along her arms with the sensation that someone was watching her. She opened her eyes.
Lord Hamlin stood beside his black horse on the other side of the stream, hardly five yards away. She jerked herself upright, snatching her feet out of the water.
“Forgive me. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Rose threw her skirt over her ankles. Her heart fluttered at the way he was looking at her. “Oh, no. I was just sitting here…with Wolfie.” She looked around but didn’t see the dog anywhere.
“You probably want some solitude. I can go.” Lord Hamlin took a step backward, holding Shadow’s reins.
“No, you don’t have to go. If you don’t want to.” Of course he didn’t have to go. The whole region belonged to him. “What brings you here?”
“Thought I would take one last ride through the woods before I go away. I won’t see this place for a while.”
Rose wanted to ask his destination, but was afraid to ask such a personal question. But he had volunteered the information that aroused her curiosity hadn’t he? “Where are you going?”
He patted his horse, giving him permission to drink and graze, then sat down on the grassy bank across from Rose. He leaned back against a tree and rested his arm on his knee. “To a region north of here, in the Harz Mountains, to look for Moncore.”
Rose nodded, struggling to hide how this news deflated her. She would miss him. “Do you have reason to believe he is there?”
“Duke Godehard’s spies believe he may have gone there to rendezvous with his pagan friends. We know he likes to hide in that area.” He leaned his head against the tree. “But sometimes I think he’s making up these rumors himself to throw us off.”
He looked tired, his shoulders slightly stooped, his eyelids low.
The silence was broken only by the crunch of Shadow’s teeth clipping and chewing the grass, the birds singing overhead, and the rush of the waterfall. Rose started thinking about Lord Hamlin’s betrothed. Her parents had been so afraid of Moncore demonizing the child that they’d hidden her away.
“Do you believe Moncore has power to demonize your betrothed?” Rose blushed, realizing she had asked the question out loud.
Lord Hamlin sat forward. “I believe he will do something to hurt her, if he can find her.”
“You believe in God and angels and miracles, don’t you?”
“Yes. God still performs miracles, and the Bible says that angels are spirits sent to minister to us. I just don’t agree that every failed crop, every illness, every accident is caused by a demon.”
“And you don’t believe they exist?”
“I’ve never seen one.” Their eyes met and he smiled. “You aren’t trying to get me excommunicated with all these questions, are you?”
Rose laughed. “I doubt I’m any safer from that than you.”
“Oh? What damnable philosophies do you adhere to?” He lifted a brow at her as he smiled in amusement.
“I’m a woman who reads the Bible. Isn’t that enough? It wouldn’t be wise to confess the rest.”