Lost Princess (13 page)

“Why only me?” I asked.

“Because people treat him differently because he’s a cripple,” Max’s voice had turned hard.

I waved that away. “Everyone has their problems. That’s what Papa used to say. I, for example, tend to shock people with my behavior. You tend to shock them with your temper. If Devlin shocks people by his appearance, how is that any different? Have you seen how most people look at me because of my height?” I rolled my eyes. “Besides, he’s a handsome man.”

Max turned with some menace to look at me. “Is he now?” he asked me.

I backed up shaking my head at his expression. “You know what I mean.”

“Perhaps I do and perhaps not,” he said, still stalking me.

“He’s handsome because he looks somewhat like you!” I said before he grabbed me.

He picked me up in his arms. “That was a good save,” he said to me, a grin on his face. “Handsome, am I?”

I rolled my eyes. “You know you are.” My voice hardened a little as he tossed me on the bed. “Why else would the ladies ‘throw themselves’ at you?”

“Ah, well, there could be many reasons for that,” he said, amused.

I wasn’t very pleased to hear him say that, and I rolled away from him. “Really? Name one,” I challenged.

“My ability to make my wife scream out my name?” he asked innocently, coming around the bed to head me off as I rose on the far side.

“Am I likely to hear someone screaming out your name?” I asked as he caught me again. He tossed me back on the bed and grabbed me before I could escape again. He lay down and used his weight to keep me still.

“What nonsense are you talking now, Katrina?”

“Nothing,” I said, my courage flagging.Max looked down at me, his slate blue eyes piercing.

“I remember being halted this morning in the middle of something,” he said slowly. I looked up at him.“And now that you’ve had the whole day to accustom yourself to the idea, it’s time for action.” Max gave me a promising smile. “Take off your dress, my lady wife. I have an urge to hear my name on your lips.”

Chapter Ten

I woke again before Max the next morning. I lay back and looked at the ceiling. The night before had been incredible. Max had indeed started where he’d been interrupted in the morning. I’d still been unable to completely accept what he was going to do—it was so far out of my belief of what happened between man and woman. So again I’d struggled and tried to talk him out of it. I’d half expected Max to get angry, but he hadn’t. He’d teased me, made me laugh, and gone very slowly. Not surprisingly, he had eventually gotten his way, and I’d been very vocal in my appreciation of that fact. He’d been right. I did like it. A lot.

I think he’d enjoyed my shock over him using his mouth there so much, he’d promised to do something else new tonight. I could feel my stomach tremble now just thinking about it, and he wasn’t even awake. Or, should I say, he wasn’t awake…yet.

As softly as I possibly could, I let my fingers glide down his back where it was turned to me. He sighed, moving slightly. I stopped, waiting until it seemed he was back to sleep. Then I carefully moved the sheet, shifting so I could kneel near him to look my fill. He suddenly turned on his back, his eyes opening. I bit my lip and smiled at him, embarrassed to be found like this.

“Good morning, my lord,” I said, blushing.

“Wife,” he said, stretching. “Why are you poised over me like that?”

I laughed nervously. “I was thinking.”

“Thinking?“I bristled. “Do you believe a woman can’t think?”

Max rubbed his eyes and blinked at me. “Katrina, I’ve been awake nearly a minute now. How is it possible I’ve already managed to upset you?”

I shook my head, feeling ridiculous. “I’m sorry, Max. I just…well, I’m embarrassed. You caught me…thinking.”

Max reached up and pulled me down, so I was lying on his chest. “Wife, if you’re going to do so much blushing this morning, I’d like to give you something to blush about.” He pulled my head down, so he could kiss me.

I felt strange on top of him like this and tried to slide off to the side. He caught my hips and repositioned me back over him. “Where do you go, wife?” he asked with a grin.

Like yesterday, a knock sounded at the door. “My lord? I’m sorry, but during the night—”

Max growled and said, “Hold.” He looked up at me. “We’re going to have to start getting up earlier,” he said ruefully. He set me off him and grabbed his clothes. He looked back at me and shook his head. As he went to the door he chuckled as I dove under the covers, letting only my head peek out.

He opened the door, and I found myself glad that for once that angry face wasn’t looking at me. “What?” he barked.

The man, not Caius this time, stumbled as he tried to get the words out quickly, “A messenger has come from the King. The messenger would only wait until now but demands to see you immediately.”

Max nodded. “Fine, I’ll be there directly.“The man, relieved of his message, nearly ran away down the hall. Max turned and strode back to me. “Wife?” he said as he pulled me up to give me a brief kiss. “I will send someone back here to you
within the hour
. If you aren’t here waiting, I’ll have you whipped in the hall. Do you believe me?”

I looked at him, eyes wide. “Yes, my lord,” I said in a whisper.

“Don’t forget and don’t find someone to rescue.“I nodded again. He kissed me again, more softly. “Thank you.“I gave him a tentative smile back. He kissed me again, gathering me closer. Finally he put me away from him with a groan and stood. He strode to the door and reminded me, “Bar the door.“I nodded again, bemused, as he disappeared from view as he closed the door.

The King
, I mused as I ran across the room to set the heavy bar. I pulled on my clothes and began to pace. Maximus was a Regent, which meant he had taken over several areas that used to belong to various lords. The land used to have several Regents, once as many as five, but now there was just one—Max. The land ruled by the king was large indeed, so large that to travel from one end of it to the other would take weeks, even if many fast horses were used.

The King had been in power for only two years now, having taken over when his brother had died without heirs.  There had been talk when the change had occurred that pointed at the current King for setting an assassin on his brother to succeed him. Nothing was sure, and even if something was sure, it was too late now. The King had been crowned, and he was the ultimate power in the land.  The old King had counted on Maximus to keep the peace here in the land furthest from the capital city where the king resided. While doing this Maximus had obtained a great deal of power, some said almost as much as the King himself. But the old King had appreciated Max’s help and relations between the Regent’s land and the rest of the Kingdom were good, as was the relationship between Max and the King.

Now there was a message of some urgency from the new King, and Max had felt it necessary to have me bar myself in again.  Was that simply because he still felt the castle wasn’t safe after the slaying yesterday?  I railed at myself for perhaps the twentieth time since Max left for not asking him to tell me what had happened.  Max and I didn’t seem to talk much—get us together, and we ended up either arguing or in bed.  Or on a desk, I thought, grinning to myself.

The hour that Max had promised dragged as I waited for him. I was beginning to consider the wisdom of looking out into the hall when a knocking made me run to the door. “It’s me,” Max said. I threw the bar and let him in. He looked at me and said, “Katrina, I’ll take you to get bathed, and then to breakfast. After that, we need to talk.”

“About what?” I asked.

“About your father,” he said, but wouldn’t tell me any more no matter how I pestered him.I bathed and sat at the table with Devlin and Max. Callista came slightly late, her face flushed. “I’m sorry, my lords,” she said. “I was talking with another lady and lost track of the time.” She slid in next to me and gave me a significant look.I tried not to look at Devlin, hoping to spare him any embarrassment if he was trying to watch Callista to see where her feelings lay.

As soon as Max and Devlin were talking, she turned to me. “Kat, did you hear? The King’s messenger came early this morning.”

“Yes, I know,” I said. “What did he want?”

Callista glanced at Max and said quietly, “I don’t know, exactly, but…your husband was not happy at the message, and the messenger was kicked out of the castle without a reply.”

This was not good. The messenger was the King’s man. To insult him was to insult the King. “The King’s messenger was told to leave?”

“From what I heard, he was told to leave in no uncertain terms.” Again she glanced at Max. “The woman I spoke to said the man was lucky to have escaped with his life.”

I looked at Max and Devlin, seeing now that they both looked tense.I finished my meal in silence, my nerves taut, wondering what was going on. There had been talk, Papa had said before he died, that Max was growing too powerful and the royals weren’t pleased. He’d speculated that it could eventually come to war if the royals felt threatened by Max. At the time I’d suggested that the Regent could just break up some of his area and that would make the problem better. Papa had laughed and said that while it would work, certainly, a man like Maximus who had gathered the power over years wouldn’t be likely to simply give it away. Now that I actually knew Max, I had to agree.

I realized as I was thinking this over that Max was standing up. I rose as well and he led me off, going all the way back to our room. He went in and shut the door but didn’t bar it. He strode over to the window and looked out.

“My lord?” I asked finally.

He turned, looking troubled. “Yes, Katrina?”

“Is there trouble?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No. I saw you and your cousin with your heads close together. What did she tell you?”

I hesitated. His eyes narrowed. “She told me that you weren’t happy at whatever the messenger said.”

He frowned. “And how would she know that?”

I shrugged. “She usually knows what is happening about the castle. I’ve never been able to figure out how she does it. Perhaps the very walls speak to her,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

Max said, “She’s right in this instance, although it bothers me that gossip moves so very quickly.“I waited. Max shoved his hand through his hair, which was actually worn rather long for a warrior, curling slightly about his head. “Sit down Katrina, this may take some time.”

Worried, I sat at the small table near the window. He took the other chair, turned it so he was sitting on it backwards and leaned on the back of the chair with his arms. “Katrina, what do you know about your father?”

I frowned, not having expected this. “Papa? Just that he was a good man. He raised me alone because my mama died when I was very young.”

Max said, “Did he tell you he didn’t always live in Faralee?”

I said, “He sometimes talked to me about the capital city where the King lives, but I don’t know if he lived there or just visited. I know we didn’t have any family in Faralee.”

“No, that’s because he went to Faralee when you were young.”

I asked him a question I’d had for some time. “Max, how did you know my father?”

Max tapped one finger on his arm. “I met your father one day when he came to see my father, who was lord then. I, as his heir, was present at the time your father made his request. He…wanted a favor, and my father knew it would most likely fall to me to deal with the results of the favor, so I should decide if it was granted. I granted your father the favor he asked.”

“What was the favor?” I asked.

Max hesitated. “He wanted protection and…anonymity.”

I shook my head. “Why? From what?”

Max sighed. “You understand that the power of the King has always been less here in the areas that are furthest from the King and his armies, right?”

I nodded. “Papa said that it was important that the King keep the lords out here happy or they’d revolt.”

“Exactly. Now, my father had taken over another principality when the lord there—Lord Kennsing—was daft enough to try to attack us. Once I took over as lord, I furthered our power by bringing the entire area under my hand. I became the first Regent in some years, and the King made an alliance with me so that he needn’t fear that I would take over the Kingdom and install myself as King.”

I stared at him. “You were going to do that?”

“No, I wasn’t, but he didn’t know that. In my opinion the Kingdom as it stands now is too large for one ruler. So, essentially I’ve cut it into two more manageable pieces. In practice, I rule one and the King the other, but actually, the King still rules the whole kingdom. This worked out well until the old king died.”

“Or was killed,” I said.

“Right.” Max nodded thoughtfully. “And his brother, an ambitious man if ever there was one, took over. At first all was peaceful, but in the last year he has been sending increasingly strident calls that I come present myself to him at court. I’ve refused.”

“But don’t you have to?” I asked.

“According to the King’s law, yes, I do, but it doesn’t seem quite safe to me to put my head on the chopping block in the King’s own palace.”

“He means to kill you?” I asked, aghast.

Max gave me a small smile. “If I were him, I’d try to eliminate my largest possible enemy.”

“But you aren’t an enemy!”

“I’m glad you think so,” he said slowly. “Regardless, I will not go on such a foolish errand.”

“And that’s why you threw out the messenger?” I asked, intrigued.

“You heard that too?” He looked annoyed. “Perhaps I should give up trying to keep anything quiet.” He shook his head slowly. “No, that isn’t it, although it’s part of it.” He tucked one leg under the chair. “Katrina, your father used to work at the castle before you were born.”

“He did? Why didn’t he ever tell me?”

“He actually met your mother at the palace.”

“Oh,” I said. “I don’t really know much about my mother. Papa never wanted to talk about her.”

“I’m not surprised. You see, it was your mother he was hiding from.”