Page 103 of Heart of Snow
“I keep worrying I’ll wake up, and this will have all been a dream.” He lifted my hand and brushed a gentle thumb against my skin. “You can’t imagine what agonies I’ve felt. When I arrived and saw the crowds in the streets and then the black horses go by, drawing behind it that glass coffin—”
“There was a procession?”
He ground his jaw. “The prince’s idea, no doubt. All the pomp and display, and you at the center of it, lying still and perfect. My heart stopped beating, Margaretha. I swear it did. I’ve never known such”—he took a slow breath—“torture. Hours of waiting for deep night, pacing dark alleys and hiding from soldiers, all while driving myself to distraction wondering if you were alive or dead.”
I squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry for it all. I never meant to worry you.”
“You’re taking the blame for that now too?” He quirked a smile, making me chuckle.
Nuzzling my head against his neck, I let my fingers caress his hand. “Though it’s not my fault, I’m sorry just the same. But let us think on it no more.” I lifted my chin to rest against hisshoulder, waiting for him to look down at me before I reassured him, “I’m here now, with you.”
He leaned over and touched a soft kiss to my forehead. “When I learned about your dangerous plan, I prepared myself for the worst. I was ready to walk into the crypt and find you dead and ruining inside that glass coffin. But I imagined saving you too, reviving you and holding you in my arms.”
The pleasant trilling in my stomach was a stark change from hours of hunger and gut-wrenching panic. I scooted closer, pressing my side against his, and he took my hand, cradling it. The quiet, continual hissing from the tomb faded further until it was almost nothing.
“But how did you know to come find me?” I asked. “Where is Ilsa?”
“Gone. It seems your whole household left as soon as Count Samuel was released.”
Hearing those words aloud was surreal. My brother was truly free. But I would need some time adjusting to the reality of it. “If they were gone, how did you—”
“Ilsa,” he answered, taking the flask from my hand and tucking it back in his satchel. “She sent an urgent missive to Ulrich, knowing I would return to the castle. She spoke of your stepmother’s treachery and of your plan to take the physician’s toxin.” His eyes watched me, his expression soft as he muttered, “Margaretha, you’re either brave or mad.”
“Maybe a bit of both.” I chuckled, shaking off the chilling thoughts of what could have been had Friedrich not come for me.
He smiled and shifted to his feet, lifting the satchel strap over his head and settling it across his chest. “I know you must be tired, but we only have a few hours before sunrise. We should be going.”
“To Wildungen?”
“If you wish it.” He took both my hands and pulled me to stand. While Friedrich collected his jerkin, I picked up the lantern, my thoughts a distraction.
“Friedrich, Father will never allow us to be together.”
He slipped an arm through the hole of his jerkin, his movements slowing. “He won’t. But I shall take you to Wildungen if that is where you want to go.”
“And if I don’t?”
His eyes danced over my face, inviting me closer. “I don’t have much to offer, Margaretha.” He watched me move toward him. “It is selfish of me to even ask, when it means separating you from your family, but...”
“But you love me.”
He took hold of my hand, his thumb caressing soft circles over my skin. “But I love you.”
“And you wish to marry me.”
He shook his head with a chuckle. “And I wish to marry you.” Then he rested his forehead against mine, his voice turning serious as he whispered, “I wish it desperately.”
My heart swelled, and I blinked back the prick of tears, bringing my hand to his face to trace every line, every curve, every freckle. Did I really deserve such happiness? “Then, Friedrich, I will be your wife.”
His face lit with a stunning smile before he wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight enough to make my cuts and bruises ache. I almost didn’t notice. He dipped his head, and I twisted out of his grasp.
“There shall be no kisses until I’ve had a chance to at least change my clothes and clean my teeth,” I announced.
He looked properly annoyed, prompting me to laugh.
“And then you may kiss me all you like.”
“Is that so?” His lips turned up in a wicked smile. “Then what is keeping us here?”
