And then she found a rolled up painting, unrolled it, saw that it was a portrait of her that her father had once sent to the emperor when he was alive and trying to find a husband for her, and rolled it up just as promptly. She opened up another piece of paper. A drawing of just her eyes. Then one of her face, then one of her face from the side. And then one of just her hands.
She closed the trunk as if a fire had caught inside of it. She understood that her life had gone mad, but she couldn’t fathom this.
She picked up one of the books at random and brought it along with her to a nearby lantern, determined to ignore everything she saw. Any infatuation Gerhard might have had with her simply didn’t matter. He had said himself that she was his prisoner, and that she would be taken to Vienna, and the time between now and then was too short to care about anything, particularly whatever her enemy had seen in her eyes.
Chapter Two
A different Gerhard came into the pavilion than had put her in the company of Rennio. Gerhard that morning had been a grimy man of war. The man who stepped into the pavilion, however, was clean… and without a shirt.
He looked at her and spoke as soon as their eyes met. “Put a fur around yourself, princess. You’re going to catch your death sitting on the ground there.”
“Not any more than you’ll catch yours,” she said, unable to keep from looking at all the bare flesh. She found it extremely difficult to keep her bottom lip from dropping straight to the floor.
He stood, giving her a twisted expression filled with confusion, and then looked down. It was as if he had just realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. “Ah, well—movement warms the flesh,” he replied, but he walked toward a nearby trunk, opened it, and began rustling out a clean tunic.
She doubted that; she had a feeling he had cleaned himself off before stepping into her presence.
After pulling the shirt down on himself, he turned and seemed surprised to find Rennio sleeping there. “I see you’re well looked after,” he mentioned to her grimly.
“Believe me, he’s better company when he’s asleep,” she found herself retorting under her breath.
He suddenly gave a laugh that had her looking up, loving the sound. She never thought she’d hear laughter again. “Oh, I believe you. I’ve known him over twelve years.”
Although it was not exactly in good manners, she was unable to restrain her grimace at that.
Again, he laughed and then fished out a fur-lined vest from his trunk and pulled it on. “Oh, I have some stories to tell, my lady.”
He stepped toward her and grabbed a blanket that was near her, then slowly dropped it over her shoulders. “There,” he said, apparently now satisfied.
She leaned her neck back to look him up and down with new eyes. She had known he was good-looking before, but she hadn’t thought of him as handsome until just this moment.
“Princess?” she heard above her, and found that Gerhard was looking at her, his head slightly cocked to the side, as if he had asked her a question.
She blinked at him.
“I asked if you were hungry. Thirsty? Both? I could get you most anything you might desire,” he offered, gesturing to the entrance to the tent.
Susanna frowned, unable to see what his design was. If he was trying to get on her good side, than he should know better than anyone that she didn’t have any power left behind her crown. In fact, her crown was still behind the castle walls, probably being pillaged right about now, if Eberhard hadn’t taken it on his way out.
Then she decided to do what she’d always done. Demand to know. “Why are you bothering to be kind to me?”
He seemed to freeze, even stop breathing for a second, and then he said, “There’s no reason not to be kind.”
“You have lots of reasons to not be kind to me,” she argued firmly, feeling her cheeks flush. “I am the ruler of a castle you have just vanquished. Who are you? How did you come to lead this army? Are you a prince? A duke?” Her tone was a little brazen, but she let it be. She felt out of her skin at the moment, awkward and strange and alone, and she didn’t like it.
He hesitated a few moments before speaking. “I’m not a prince or a duke,” he admitted finally, straightening his shoulders. “I’m the bastard son of one of the emperor’s uncles, born to a maid in the imperial household and a cousin to the emperor by blood though not under the law. We were quite close as boys, the emperor and I, and often practiced our swordplay together.” Gerhard paused, then continued, “I have no noble title. I earned my current position by fighting well and winning many battles over the years.”
She could understand his place in the world better now, but knowing his connection to the emperor made her heart sink. He was definitely going to hand her over, and there was nothing to be done about it.
His jaw locked as he ground his teeth together. “Does that displease you?” he asked, his lip curling slightly with simmering agitation.
“I don’t know if I could be any more displeased than I was this morning, commander,” she replied. “My plate’s very full. Mostly with my impending demise. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, at the very least.”
He pursed his lips together, his eyes looked over her, and he frowned. “I’m getting you something to eat.”
“No, thank you.”
He left, anyway. She sighed and shook her head. A cold breeze filled the tent when he strode out, and she realized that it was already dark outside. She hadn’t noticed because of her nearby lantern. “Stubborn man,” she grunted to herself.
When he returned, which was only minutes later, he gave Rennio a good kick with his boot and he woke up with a start, splattering his mead all over the tapestries covering the ground. “Wh-What? Oh. It’s you.”
Gerhard grunted. “It’s me. And if you’re not done being useless, please do it elsewhere.”
Rennio’s eyebrows rose and he said, “You just want me to leave you alone with her?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Gerhard verified snappishly.
Rennio took a swig of his mead. “Not proper. You’re a hot-blooded man. She’s an unmarried woman. Bad precedent to set after you just gave all your men blue ballocks.”
“That wasn’t a suggestion. Just a warning that a pummeling will soon begin,” Gerhard replied dryly, looming over the bishop.
Rennio took that as his cue to pull himself noisily out of his chair and toward the door with an unsavory belch. “You’ve always been a tyrant,” he complained on his way out. He continued to murmur about how he didn’t get any respect for all the work he did, especially considering that his worth was twenty times that of most men’s.
Gerhard rolled his eyes and then set a plate on a nearby table. “Wine, and some food, my lady. Come have some. You have to be famished.”
“I’m not,” she assured, but she closed her book and rose to her feet as gracefully as she could. “Tell me the news from the castle. Are my people being treated well?”
He sighed and pulled the chair Rennio had been sitting in toward the table. “Yes, although your people, especially the women folk, have given me and my captains headaches all day. They probably will all tomorrow as well. Not just the castle matrons, either. Just about every bloody female in that bloody fortress needs a good birching.” He adjusted his sleeves. “Must be something in the water, making the women stubborn and silly as mules. And now I see they take after you. Eat it. You’ve already spent your whole day cold, and I don’t want to see you ill.”
“I wouldn’t mind getting ill,” she replied, though a surge of pride welled up in her. She was actually quite glad that so many were giving Gerhard’s men trouble still, not just sitting down and bending to their enemy’s will. “Hopefully I’ll catch something and be able to give it to the man who’ll lop off my head as my last hoorah.”
He rolled his eyes. “You shouldn’t think the worst. The Emperor is a good man. He’ll give you a fair trial,” he assured flatly.
She raised an eyebrow. “Do
you really think that?” She saw him take in a couple of deep, defensive breaths as he readied to verbally joust with her, but she didn’t wait for him to respond. “If you think the emperor can afford to let enemies get away unscathed, than you are woefully naïve.”
He pressed his lips together, but his gaze didn’t linger on her for long. “Your journey doesn’t start for days, in any case. I want you safe until then, and taken care of.”
“I thank you.” And then she just stood there.
He looked back at her, now much more intense. “I have a headache from dealing with the promise I didn’t have to make to you at all. Can you please do the smallest thing I ask of you?”
“Are you still going on about the food?” she asked, unable to even spare the plate a glance. She was too exhausted to eat, and interestingly enough, she liked making him upset. Somehow, it made her feel like she once again had at least some element of control in her life. “Are scraps of food supposed to make me feel better?”
“They’re hardly scraps. I gave you the best I could find,” he argued, even seeming stung. “Stop being a brat, princess. It’s less than becoming.”
She lifted her chin; she hadn’t been called a brat by anyone in her whole life. “I’m not a brat. I’m a princess,” she gritted.
“Not any more. Now stop acting like a child.” She had a feeling it wasn’t about the food anymore. He was trying to force her to do something just to show that he could, that he was the master, and that he could rule a princess.
She took a deep breath, but it did nothing to abate her anger. It only made her frustration simmer to a boiling point as he stood there, looking at her like she was being silly. “I am not acting like a child. You are acting like a deranged brute. It’s bad enough that you take my whole kingdom from me. My life. My friends. I’m not going to stand here and—” She picked up her cup of wine and threw it at him. Unfortunately, he ducked, but she never stopped her tirade. “—do what you tell me as if you’re my master! Bullying me like I’m a dog!” He stepped forward so she picked up a leg of roast chicken and threw that at him as well. That hit him in the forehead, despite his attempt to avoid it.
“Calm down!” he barked furiously, pointing his index finger toward her.
She didn’t listen. She couldn’t calm down; she was at the edge of her sanity, and slipping off the edge. “Treating me like a—a—!” She picked up the whole wooden plate and threw it, seeing it clip him in the shoulder and spill the extra food everywhere. “—child! I won’t have it!”
She continued throwing anything in arms’ reach at him, and then when she ran out, she turned to grab more things. She didn’t know why, but every time something cracked against him, the better she felt. It didn’t strike her that she was in any danger until he marched behind her, grabbed her elbow, and spun her around. He gave her a hard shake. “Stop this. Calm yourself, Susanna.”
She slapped him and enjoyed the resounding sound that echoed through the room. It didn’t quite seem enough to repay him for taking everything precious in her life away from her, but it was a start.
She didn’t regret it until she noticed that his face had become a glowering mask of rage. His lips were pursed, his jaw tight. “I have only one way I deal with tantrums, my lady,” he threatened, his voice a low rumble, but then he dropped his hand from her shoulders and began to remove his belt.
She blanched white and stepped back, her anger dissolving like mist and only fear remaining. She took a giant step backwards. “Don’t even think about it!” she growled.
“I’m done thinking about it,” he assured her, advancing just as quickly as she was retreating. “If you think this will give me joy, then…” he paused. “Actually, it will. Nothing is better than putting a spoiled child in her place, no matter how high she’s born.”
Her cheeks burned. “I am not a child.”
“The food wasted on the floor indicates otherwise,” he retorted, and then reached out to grab her arm.
Susanna was very used to be being treated like glass, so this was an awful lot to be taking in so suddenly. Her mother made sure her nursemaid or a servant held her hand whenever she went up and down the stairs in fear of her falling. Her food was sampled by a trusted taster before it ever reached her mouth in fear of sickness or poisoning, and not even her father had ever raised a hand to her. That’s what her whipping girl had been for—and she thought it worked because she had been good friends with the whipping girl until she was married outside of the kingdom. She studied and obeyed as well as she could back then to make sure that her friend wouldn’t get whipped.
That being the truth of things, Susanna had never felt so physically threatened in her life.
“Let go of me!” she cried, trying to jerk his grip off her arm. She began to fight him with all the strength she had in her. Eventually he had to come behind her and pin her arms up against her chest as he brought her over to the desk and sat down upon it.
“The more you struggle, the more I’ll enjoy this,” he told her warningly, trying to wrestle her down across his knees.
She used all of the strength she had to wrench her body to the right and stumbled onto the ground. He made a second reach for her and she made a squealing noise she usually reserved for when she was surprised by very large rodents and very hairy spiders, and darted away from him, waving her arms in the air. Even she was surprised when she actually made it to the flap of the pavilion and into the cold winter air around them.
“My lady, not one more step!” she heard Gerhard’s voice boom from behind her. She spun in place and realized with surprise that he wasn’t as close as he had sounded. He was at the entrance of his pavilion, looking at her like she was a child standing at the edge of a cliff with a mixture of horror and anger on his face.
Chills ran down her arms, and not because of the cold air. His anger was unbearable, mostly because she was very unused to dealing with anger from anyone but her uncle. No one else had ever dared to be angry with her, and the fact that he still had his belt in hand didn’t make her want to return to him.
She turned back around and, running as fast as she could through the sea of men, whores, swords, tents, and fires, she made for the tree line. She was already worried that she had no plan for when she got there. She couldn’t escape, she had no idea how to keep from getting hunted back down, she knew, but at the same time she couldn’t very well just submit to a punishment like she was some disobedient child.
Not used to running, she tired easily, and her toes quickly felt numb in the thin layer of snow under the soles of her slippers. She kept clipping the sides of tents and people, and eventually she tripped over a branch that jutted out from the ground and her body very ungracefully tumbled down next to a fire with two rabbits spitted atop it.
“Well, well! What do we have here?” a voice said above her. She was already beginning to acquire flashbacks from Rennio’s fight earlier that day. Two of the largest boots she’d ever seen stood in front of her face.
She put her hands out in front of her and slowly raised her upper body so that she could crane her head up toward the largest and hairiest man she’d ever encountered in her life. How her fortress had been taken had suddenly become oh-so-clear. They hadn’t needed to ram the door down. They’d just needed this man to come and smash it in himself. “It looks like you’re far from home, little girl.”
His dialect was that of eastern Bohemia, and she had the hardest time deciphering his tone, so she had to assume that he planned to eat her next—either that or something equally horrifying. Now, she was too frightened to move. “I thought they had all the maidens up in the keep?”
“Maybe they did, but some have been married off already,” another man said with a shrug. With immense relief, she was beginning to realize that they hadn’t recognized her as the princess. “Maybe she got away from her husband? Or hell, Arlo, she might be running away from the keep itself!”
“Well, she certainly got quite a ways!” Arlo hummed,
but then bent down and grabbed her arm to yank her into standing. As soon as she was on her feet again, however, she felt the desire to crumple herself into the fetal position. Somehow, that position seemed safer.
She looked him in the eye, which was habit since the princess looked down to no one, but she quickly regretted it. Firstly, it strained her neck, and secondly, the eye-contact seemed to confuse the beast.
“Why, hello there, beautiful…” he finally said, grinning widely and exposing the fact that he was missing two of his front teeth. He sat down on a nearby log and pulled her along with him. “Don’t you fancy a seat on my knee, love? No need to go out into the dark. You’ll get eaten by a bear!”
She felt like she was going to eaten by a bear, anyway. Even when she jerked with all her strength she couldn’t seem to move even a single inch away from him. “Let me go!” she demanded sharply through her gritted teeth.
He laughed as if she was playing some sort of cute game, and then said, “Be nice, now. That’s no way to treat your future husband, my dear.”
“Future husband?” she echoed, narrowing her eyes at the furry brute. “You’ve got to be out of your mind! Unhand me now!”
“Future husband, aye! I’m not married, and I could see myself plowing some striking lads into this lovely belly of yours!” He reached his hands around her waist and put them up toward her breasts. “Got some tits on you, too!”
She gasped as his meaty hands grasped her breasts through her bodice, squeezing her flesh painfully. She tried to push his hands down and off of her, but he and all the other men around the fire only laughed and hooted merrily. She had a horrible feeling that everyone except her found her horror and disgust amusing.
“Let go of me this instant or I’ll scream!” she warned.
“You’ll be screaming anyway, lovely—I’m a big man!” the laughter around her was renewed. She scanned the darkness outside of the circle for Gerhard or Rennio, but she could barely make anything out of the shadows moving around. It was far too dark, far too noisy. Gerhard was never going to find her.
The Conquered Brides Collection Page 3