They followed Frau Hartman, and Lord Thornbeck dropped back and walked beside Avelina. Her heart trembled instead of beating. What did the margrave mean, coming with them? Who was she that he would want to accompany her on her tour?
“This corridor is where most of the second-floor bedchambers are located,” Frau Hartman said. “All the ladies are staying either here or on the third floor.”
They passed several closed doors, then came to the stairs. “This way to the main floor.”
Avelina was painfully aware of Lord Thornbeck walking beside her, silent and scowling, his walking stick thumping on the floor as he limped. Since the stairs were wide enough for all of them, they walked down the elegant staircase with Lord Thornbeck on the side with the handrail. His expression was tense as he made his way slowly down the steps.
“Are you in pain, Lord Thornbeck?”
The margrave growled deep in his throat.
Odette gave him a look over her shoulder, almost as if to scold him.
He cleared his throat. “I have some pain. In my ankle. From the accident. When my brother died.”
“Oh. I’m very sorry.” Stupid that she should have asked him such a question, reminding him of the fire when his brother was killed—the accident that many believed was no accident at all, but the margrave’s deliberate murder of his brother. Her heart began to pound.
He cleared his throat again and said gruffly, “Is your room comfortable?”
“Yes, my lord. Very comfortable, I thank you.”
“The staircase,” Frau Hartman said, “is part of the newer section of the castle, along with the ballroom here at the bottom where Lord Thornbeck hosted a masquerade ball some weeks ago. Did you attend that ball, Lady Dorothea?”
“I regret that I did not.” Though not altogether truthful, it was the polite thing to say.
They walked across the beautiful, gleaming floor as Odette went on. “This part of the castle was begun by Lord Thornbeck’s father and finished two years ago by his brother. The floor is made from marble that was quarried nearby.” They made their way across it, heading toward a doorway.
“And this is the gallery where the previous margraves’ portraits are displayed, along with the large painting depicting the battle scene of Prussian invaders being driven back from the nearby border. At the end of the gallery is a balcony. Would you like to see the view?”
“Yes.”
They walked slowly across the narrow room. “Lord Thornbeck, will you supply the names of the portrait subjects?” Odette asked.
He rattled off the names of his father and brother, not offering any other information about his family.
They reached the end of the gallery and Lord Thornbeck stepped forward and opened the wooden door wide, then held it for both Avelina and Frau Hartman with one hand, his cane with the other.
“It is getting colder,” Lord Thornbeck said. “We can stay inside if it is too cold for you.”
“No, it is not too cold for me, my lord.” Avelina stepped out onto the broad balcony and walked to the railing. Below was a densely forested ravine, the leaves mostly gone from the trees, as the limbs stretched, like spindly skeletons, toward the overcast sky. There was a wild beauty about the rugged, steep terrain. Somewhere beyond the trees was the town of Thornbeck.
The air was crisp and cold. Would it be even colder when she and Irma had to make the long trip back to Plimmwald? But she would not mind so much as long as Plimmwald and its people were kept safe by the margrave. Which gave her an idea.
She spun on her heel and faced Lord Thornbeck. “What are your duties to the king, my lord? I know you are charged with keeping the border safe and defended from invaders, but what about preventing attacks on other castles in nearby regions? If you don’t mind my asking.” She bowed her head to soften her pointed questions.
When she glanced up, he was staring into her eyes in a way that made her heart stutter and stammer. He seemed to have no idea how good he looked, which made him even more attractive.
“I am a knight. Even if I were not the Margrave of Thornbeck, I would come to the aid of any ally who was being wrongfully attacked.”
Any ally, he said. She hoped he considered the Earl of Plimmwald an ally.
“I am pleased to hear that.”
“Why do you ask such a question?”
“Oh, well, I . . . I was thinking of . . . of my father, the Earl of Plimmwald. I’m afraid he has reason to fear that someone might try to take over Plimmwald and its castle.”
“And who might this someone be?”