Page 73 of Heart of Snow
“Why would I be angry?” His tone was curious.
“For my being related to your enemy?”
“I am surprised, not angry. When my attentions to you have been so marked, I’m astonished you’d suspect them so changeable.” He took my hand and slid it back into the crook of his arm as we approached his waiting horse. “If your heart is troubled with worry for your brother, let me ease it. I shall make inquiries to see how he fares.”
“You would do that for me?” It was a small favor, but a good beginning. Enough that excitement rippled through me. Without thinking, I lifted onto my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
He pulled me back with a laugh, holding my elbows in his hands. I found myself laughing too. A genuine laugh that erupted without rehearsal.
“But wait,” he said. “I do demand payment.”
My smile dimmed. “Of what nature?”
He led me behind his horse and leaned his face by mine, whispering, “I’ll have more of your lips.” And then he kissed me again.
Chapter 35
Friedrich
Shattering glass and curses wokeme from my sleep, and I shot up faster than my sore muscles were ready for.
“Sorry to wake you.” The physician groaned as he bent, picking up pieces of a broken vial from the floor. “Or perhaps I’m not all that sorry, as I’ve been waiting to talk with you about your story. How is it that you find yourself in such a dangerous position?”
I froze, not sure of his meaning. Just how much about me had he guessed? I watched him with narrowed eyes, but between his casual posture and mynotbeing in a dungeon cell, it was safe to assume he didn’t suspect the full truth of my task regarding Count Samuel. After relaxing my tense posture, I noticed the sting of pain in my leg. “What dangerous position is that, sir?”
The physician dumped his pan of broken glass out the open window, then, leaning against the windowsill, he turned to face me with his hands clasped over the pan. “Your mistress is very beautiful. In a court of glittering jewels, she shines brightest.”
I didn’t move.
“I’m sure you have noticed. You’d have to be blind to not see—”
“I prefer women with dark hair,” I blurted.
The physician studied me before an understanding smile lit his face. “Dark hair,” he repeated. “Ah, well, ’tis nothing, then. She seems a sweet, intelligent girl, whose affections for you are none too concealed. But as her hair is too pale for your liking, I see you’re in no danger from her. I’ll let you be on your way, then.” He pointed his pan toward the door.
I tilted my head, confused. “That’s all you wished to say?”
He nodded, and I haltingly tried to stand, but the moment my foot touched the floor, fire shot up my veins. I smothered a cry and dropped back against the table.
The physician tapped his temple and shook his head. “Thoughtless of me.” Putting down the pan, he offered me a walking stick. “For the next few days, walk only when you must. If you heal quickly enough, you may even be ready to dance the masque away with an assortment of dark-haired women.” The odd little man made no sense, but I didn’t trouble myself to try to understand him as I took one tentative step after another. I was almost to the door when I turned back to him.
“You’re wrong about my mistress. She wields her beauty as a weapon, using it to gain her own ends. You don’t know the harm she’s done me—done her whole village.”
“Aha! There it is.” Vesalius snapped his fingers and paced in front of a long table. “I knew there was more. So she’s hurt you, has she?”
“No, I didn’t mean . . . not just me.”
He squinted an eye at me, tugging his beard. “But yours seems a particular kind of injury. She won you over with her beauty and sweetness, didn’t she? And now you think to blame her for your pain while remaining obstinately oblivious to her suffering?”
I snorted. “Living in luxury while you charm your way into any man’s heart you desire doesn’t look much like suffering to me.”
“Because you’d rather be blind to it.”
“I know exactly the—” I stopped myself, suddenly struck with a thought. “Pray, why do you take such interest in whether the countess and I are on good terms?”
The physician released his beard and lowered his eyes. “I have a long history with the Habsburgs. I can pretty well guess the prince’s designs for any woman he distinguishes above another, and he has taken a strong interest in your mistress.”
I ground my teeth.
