Chapter 8
****
As the man walked, the flickering candles created a lingering shadow.
The black shadow cast over the carpet grew longer and longer with his every movement. When it finally engulfed him, Louise held her breath with a strange fear.
She went to the table and sat down across from him. The round table was set with an array of soups, fish, and meats, centered around colorful candlesticks and seasonal flowers.
It was a sumptuous meal, but it did little to diminish the sense of menace that the man before her exuded. She'd been starving most of the day, but her appetite hadn't been stirred.
While the awkward introductions rolled around in her mouth, the margrave spoke.
"We'll talk while we eat," he said, "Caius von Burg, owner of this place, and Miriam's brother."
He held his fork nonchalantly as he ate. Louise swallowed dryly and grabbed a napkin.
"Louise Henriette.................. Ermoli."
Her tongue was stiff as she pronounced the name.
He spoke first, so she had no choice but to speak, but unlike the Melk people and the pawnbroker, this was a man who would recognize her name at a glance.
"Ermoli."
He’d asked for an interview after seeing her name, so she expected him to play it cool.
"Exterminated Pretender nobleman."
Caius did not.
"You don't resent your parents, do you? They must have once had fertile lands and lived in a mansion of this size in the Isles."
The man's piercing gaze swept over Louise as he spoke. Her fingertips trembled as his eyes lingered over her thin cheeks, hunched shoulders, and frayed sleeves.
Her cheeks flushed with insult. She was glad the candlelight was not bright enough to reveal the flush on her face.
"I was born shortly after the current Emperor ascended the throne, and I have never been a noblewoman, so how could I be resentful or bitter?"
Caius paused, slicing the lamb with a nonchalant hand, then said, as if realizing something.
"Maybe the parents changed their tune at the last minute to save their child, after all, only Ermoli is left of the hardline former Emperor's nobility."
Louise smiled weakly, pretending to scoop up her soup.
"Well, I was very young, so I don't remember what happened then, but the parents I knew weren't very political."
How could it be a sin to be loyal to the emperor they served? Louise felt ashamed to have to hide her parents' deeds.
But history was the record of the victors. She didn't dare sit at the table of the Burg and say she was proud of her parents, who had lost their titles for their loyalty to the Emperor.
If she did, she wouldn't have enough money to bury her mother in a mausoleum.
She thought she'd said enough, but the man's gaze grew cold.
Something about it offended him. Louise added in her performance.
"My............... father died young, but my mother has given me a lifetime of aristocratic education, and if you entrust me with it, I will do my best to teach Miss..................."
His golden gaze melted the tension in the room, and he twisted one lip into a smile.
"It takes more patience than knowledge to teach Miriam, as I'm sure you've realized since you've met her."
It was an uncharacteristically cold assessment of his sister.
Suddenly, Miriam's fear of her brother's face and the maid's rude demeanor made sense. The more she looked at him, the more she realized where this was coming from.
She dropped my gaze, lest the rising resentment show on her face, and he spoke.
"You're the only one who's been with her for hours without fuss since day one. It's late, so go to bed, and I'll have the carriage to take you back tomorrow morning."
Louise blinked her emerald eyes.
"You have decided.................. to employ me?"
"I will not charge you a small fee for your services, even for the child's uniqueness."
Caius didn't give her an answer, but said something else.
"But I would ask you to pack your things and return early. The maids can't handle her, and she tends to make a lot of noise. I don't like loud noises."
Normally, one would not speak so affectionately about a hunting dog. Louise felt hot under the collar, as if she had been taken advantage of, but for now she could only nod.
She would have to get used to the curmudgeonly margrave’s way of speaking, he seemed to expect his hired help to follow orders without being told.
"..................Thank you for your kindness in offering your carriage."
Caius continued eating, seemingly satisfied. Louise, who had been idly scooping up soup, suddenly transferred the tea lamb leg to her plate in a matter of minutes.
She slid the meat into her mouth with a knife as skillful as the man across from her.
Her mother had somehow managed to teach her to use all the utensils, even on days when she only drank mulled soup.
She's well fed, and she'll be stronger. If she tried hard enough, Miriam would be treated better than she was now.
If all he wanted was for her to keep quiet, one day she would surprise him with what she would accomplish.
Caius lifted his gaze and glanced at the tiny lips that smeared the meat.
She would reassure herself with pink cheeks that disguised her shyness, with full lips that spoke of gratitude, and then run away and disappear again if necessary.
She had sunshine blonde hair and emerald eyes. Even the sound of her voice and the way she spoke gave him chills.
He hated everything about her.
***
"Take this, and swear you'll come back for me."
"She's like the sun," the young Caius said, and held out a jewelry box of a pearl.
Elizabeth reprimanded him with a stern glare.
"I have taught you not to give it away, even when someone holds a blade under your chin; this one pearl is your lifeblood until you come of age. Do you, wise one, choose to let this Elizabeth down?"
But Caius looked.
The full-term nanny placed one hand on her swollen belly, trembling.
The Marquis and Marquise entered the palace shortly before half-past and somehow managed to get him out. After that, they moved from place to place, but one of them always stayed by his side, protecting him.
They said they were gods, but to Caius, they were like parents, and it was hard to bear the reality of them having the last word.
"I trust no one else," said Caius, "and the earl who is supposed to be in charge of me guarantees that he will not give me away for a pearl, a man I have never seen before!"
He thrust the jewelry box of the precious pearl into Elizabeth's hand, which she refused repeatedly.
"Stay alive," he said, "evade their pursuit, promise me you'll return. You said my life was more important than yours, more important than your baby. No, Elizabeth, don't leave it to others, come back and protect me with your own hands."
"Your Majesty, I'm................"
"Instead, I will protect you when I grow up. I’ll protect your baby, too. I promise, I swear."
Whatever she was thinking in that moment, Elizabeth hesitated, then took the jewelry box and hid it in her arms. Then, instead of swearing to return, he said.
"You must trust Count Boyna. We've all bet everything on you, and I'm sorry to put the weight of an empire on your tiny shoulders... but please survive and grow up to be a good woman."
But after Elizabeth left, no one visited the hut.
Caius was thus abandoned in the hut for the winter.
***
His eyes flashed open. The sun hadn't risen yet, and the sky was still dark.
It must have been the young Ermoli he had met in the evening that had caused the dream.
He pushed himself up and reached for the glass of water on the bedside table. He cooled his fingertips on the porcelain cup that had cooled overnight, and for a moment, he remembered the woman who had shamelessly teased her mouth.
"It's just that the parents I knew weren't very political."
She sat across from him and talked so casually that he could have been fooled.
If he hadn't known the Marquis, he might have been deceived.
The traitorous Ermoli had crawled back to life.
Was that what he was hoping for? It was, to say the least.
***
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