“Please, you do not need to say it. She looked like me, and it was not your fault. Someone tricked you.” She stared down at her folded hands in her lap, her lips parted in a way that made his heart pound against his chest at the thought of kissing them.
He shoved the thought away.
“Odette, you should consider that the person who is responsible for trying to trick me could possibly be your uncle.”
“It was not Rutger,” she said quietly, not looking up at him. “It was Mathis.”
Heat spread through him and he turned away from her again. He tried to breathe, not to lash out in a rage. How dare that weasel? Knowing this, Odette was still willing to marry the little schemer? But he shouldn’t be angry with her. She had little choice. Jorgen could not keep her out of the dungeon—at least, not for long—but Mathis probably could.
He would deal with Mathis later.
“I am sorry, Jorgen. I found out the day after I discovered Rutger was selling the deer I was poaching.”
Mother walked in carrying a tray of food. “We shall eat in here with Odette tonight.”
She stopped and looked from Jorgen to Odette and back again. The tension between them must have been obvious.
“You do not have to disrupt your mealtime for me.” Odette pushed herself up, trying to sit higher, and winced.
“Nonsense. Jorgen and I want you to keep us company, and you need to stay off your leg. Susanna said as much, and you must obey your healer.”
It was sweet that Mother wanted to protect her. If only Odette didn’t have to marry someone she didn’t love to protect Rutger and herself.
Odette awoke to darkness—and to pain. Sharp pains were shooting through her leg from the wound, as they sometimes did.
She saw something on the floor in front of her doorway. Frau Hartman had offered to leave a candle burning, and Odette had accepted it after the fitful night she had had the night before. Perhaps a light would help chase away the painful, fearful thoughts. And now the pale light showed something large in the corridor.
Her heart thumped wildly. She would never be able to go back to sleep unless she found out what it was. “Who is there?” she whispered. The large mass did not move or respond, so she asked again, a bit louder, “Who is there?”
The large thing was a person that turned over and whispered back, “It’s Jorgen. I am guarding your door. Go back to sleep.”
Her heart slowed back to normal. “You are not lying on the floor, are you?”
“I have a pallet of blankets.”
Warmth spread through her, much as it did when Frau Hartman was so attentive and kind to her, bringing her food and straightening her pillows. “Danke, Jorgen.”
“Bitte sch?n.”
28
THE NEXT MORNING Jorgen was talking with his mother in another part of the house. At the sound of his deep, mellow voice, Odette’s heart skipped a beat.
She got up on her own to take care of her morning needs. She determined not to lie in bed all day, no matter what Frau Hartman or the healer said. Even though she limped and putting weight on her leg made it throb, she could walk now and didn’t want to be a burden on Jorgen’s mother.
Odette managed to slip unseen out the front door and hobble to the well to get some water. It felt good to be outside in the fresh air, so she stood propped against the side of the well, drinking a ladle full of water and listening to the morning songs of the forest birds.
“Odette!” Jorgen called from inside the house. In a moment he stood at the front door. When he saw her, he grabbed at his chest.
Frau Hartman came out behind him. “My dear, you gave us a fright! We did not know where you were. You should not be walking around by yourself.”
“I am sorry I frightened you. It does not hurt so much to walk now, and I am trying to do more things for myself.”
Jorgen approached her. “Please, come inside.” He stood close to her side and held out his arm to her.
Odette leaned on him as they made their way into the house. All the time, Jorgen was glancing one way, then another.
“Are you expecting someone to attack?” She tried to sound teasing and lighthearted.
At first Jorgen didn’t answer. Then he said, “I don’t want you to fall and get hurt.”
“Thank you.”
He handed her a cup of water his mother brought.
A knock sounded on the front door. Jorgen seemed to be listening as his mother answered it. There was a murmur of voices, then Frau Hartman came back into the room.
“It was a messenger from Thornbeck Castle. The margrave wants to speak to you, Jorgen, right away.”