Page 22 of A Queen's Match
Forcing a smile, Alix set down her croquet mallet. She could do this. She’d survived a year of being pushed toward Eddy, after all.
Her grandmother swept down the stairs, black lace skirts swishing behind her. She was accompanied by a man who looked a few years older than Alix. He wasn’t handsome in the traditional sense; his nose was too prominent, though it was somewhat balanced by a full, dark beard. And he was exceedingly tall: not as broad-shouldered as Nicholas and his cousin George, but lithe and lean, in a way that reminded Alix of Eddy.
“Alix, I’d like you to meet my dear friend, Maximilian of Baden,” Victoria explained. “Maximilian, my granddaughter Alix of Hesse, and her brother Ernest of Hesse.” Ernie’s introduction came as something of an afterthought.
“Alix, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I was wondering if you’d like to stroll in the gardens?” Maximilian suggested.
Ernie murmured something about accompanying Her Majesty inside, looping an arm chivalrously through their grandmother’s. As he retreated, he shot Alix a look that seemed to saygood luck.
“Thank you for walking with me.” Maximilian waited for Alix before he started into the gardens. “I fear that I’ve gone bowlegged from so long in the saddle.”
Alix almost remarked upon the fact that he had ridden here—surely not all the way from Dover? Wherever he’d come from, he must either have been in a hurry, or be a man accustomed to the outdoors. But she simply said, “It’s my pleasure.”
For a while, the only sound was their footsteps crunching over the gravel path. The gardens stretched out before them, camellias and roses spilling out of flower beds.
“You and I have met before, though you probably don’t remember,” Maximilian told her. “At your cousin Wilhelm’s wedding.”
“Oh, really?” Alix didn’t remember much about that wedding; she’d only been ten years old.
“I remember being downstairs when I heard the Crown Princess Victoria raise her voice. I snuck closer to listen.” Maximilian looked amused as he added, “She had caught you and your brother stealing something from the library.”
“I remember! Ernie and I had broken into Aunt Vicky’s glass-fronted cabinets. We were searching for pirate treasure for our game, but I got distracted by a butterfly.”
“A butterfly?” Maximilian asked. “As I seem to recall, your uncle has a wonderful collection of Japanese samurai swords.”
“No, it was a butterfly. I remember thinking that it couldn’t be real, that such a vibrant shade of blue must have been created by a paintbrush. It reminded me of my mother,” Alix breathed, caught in the strands of memory. “My father used to call her his butterfly. He didn’t mean it the way most people do; he wasn’t saying that Mother was flighty or social: more that she was delicate, and beautiful, and tirelessly working. We forget that butterflies aren’t just ornamental,” Alix added, with a glance at Maximilian. “They are forever on the move, pollinating flowers for us.”
“That’s lovely,” Maximilian said quietly.
“I think of that nickname my father had for her, and I can’t help wondering if he knew that she was ephemeral. That she was too good to be always with us.” Alix paused. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to speak of such sad things when we’ve only just met—”
“Please don’t apologize.”
Alix was startled when Maximilian reached for her arm. He quickly released her and retreated a step, running a hand through his hair.
“I wish more people shared the truth of their feelings, as you just did. Sadness is not something to hide or be ashamed of,” Maximilian insisted. “As you say, we have only just met, but I can tell that you’re not artificial. I am weary of dealingwith false people, the sorts who turn on their smiles the way one switches on an electric light.”
It was shockingly similar to what Alix had thought on countless occasions. “I know the people you mean. They are always at crowded parties, asking shallow questions and digging for gossip.”
“Exactly! That’s why I avoid large parties at all costs.”
Alix looked at him in surprise. “Surely you must throw parties at Karlsruhe?”
“Our parties are quite provincial compared to those in London.” Maximilian smiled shyly. “I’m sure Her Majesty would be horrified to learn that my family decorates our own Christmas tree, instead of having servants do it for us.”
“My father used to take us out into the woods to select our tree,” Alix recalled. That was long ago, before her motherdied.
“All Christmas trees should be proper German firs, selected from the forest. I hope you hang it with candles and not those odd little ribbons everyone uses here.”
“Oh, yes,” Alix agreed. “We will hang it with candles until the year that we knock one over and burn the whole place down.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Maximilian replied, swallowing back a smile. It made Alix feel guilty. He had been nothing but honest with her; didn’t she owe him the same courtesy?
“Maximilian,” she began awkwardly, “I don’t know what Grandmama said about me….”
Hearing her distress, he slowed his steps. “You do not wish to be courting, do you?”
“I just—I don’t want you to have false hopes when itcomes to me. My grandmother keeps trying to interfere in my affairs. She doesn’t understand that I want to marry for love, or not marry at all. Some people might think that’s foolish,” Alix added, a touch defensively. “But it’s how I feel.”
