Page 5 of The Beautiful Pretender

At least not until he realized his daughter was missing and sent for her maidservant to tell him where she had gone.

Avelina could not run away, as she must think of her two young siblings. Jacob was twelve and Brigitta was only six. Her father needed her to help care for them. Besides, she had never ridden a horse in her life, and there was no knight waiting below to carry her away to adventure and love.

Avelina was left to await the consequences of Dorothea’s actions alone.

2

AVELINA WAS AWAKENEDby a shaft of sunlight across her face, pouring through the window where the shutter was slightly ajar. She jumped out of bed, nearly falling headfirst on the floor.

Why was she on Dorothea’s tall bed instead of her own narrow cot in the next room? Then it all flooded back to her—Dorothea’s flight, Avelina’s inability to sleep, how she had wandered into her mistress’s room and lay down on her soft feather bed. She’d been dreaming about being trapped in a gloomy, dark, half-ruined castle where there lived a beastly lord so hideous and animal-like that no one would go near him. The mood of the dream still enveloped her like a fog.

She fell back across the bed. For once in her life, there was nothing to do—no Dorothea to wait on, no hair to braid, no clothing to mend, no shoes to clean, no games to play to amuse her young mistress. So she lay thinking about her unsettling dream.

She could still see the castle, but its lord was a dark figure obscured by shadows. “He’s a beast,” a maidservant had whispered in her ear. Her skin tingled as she tried to get a better look at him. He suddenly growled at her and she jumped. That was when she woke up.

Avelina should be thinking about what she would say toLord Plimmwald when he discovered that Dorothea was missing. Would he know where she went? What would he do with Avelina? She needed this position as a maidservant to take care of her family. Her father could no longer work, and her younger brother and sister would starve without her pay.

A knock came at the door. That would be Dorothea’s breakfast.

“Come in.”

Hildegard entered with a tray of food. “Where is Lady Dorothea?”

“Uh . . . she, uh—”

Hildegard glanced up at the ceiling and frowned. “Never mind. Let her know her food is here so she can eat before it gets cold.” She slammed the door behind her.

That was easy. She didn’t even have to tell a lie.

Avelina ate Dorothea’s breakfast—or a small portion of it—before her stomach began to feel sick. What would the earl do when he found out his daughter had run away with a knight?

Avelina finally decided to work on a story she had been writing to amuse Dorothea. It was about the daughter of an earl who fell in love with a knight. Dorothea chose the premise of the story, but Avelina enjoyed making up all the details, of how the two fell in love against their parents’ wishes and were cast out of the kingdom, forced to run for their lives from various dangers and disasters. But always they were saved by the sacrifices they made for each other.

It was nearly noon and Avelina had been writing for hours when a sudden loud pounding came at the door. Avelina dropped her quill pen on the floor and jumped to her feet.

The door swung wide and one of Lord Plimmwald’s knights stood in the doorway. His eyes were cold as he looked at Avelina.

“The earl wishes to speak to Lady Dorothea’s maidservant.”

She preceded the knight out the door, then he led the way down the corridor to the Great Hall.

Though it was time for the midday meal, he was not eating. Instead the earl was sitting at his place on the dais with his head in his hands and his elbows on the trestle table. He must have heard the knight approaching, his sword clanging against his mail tunic, but Lord Plimmwald did not look up.

“I have retrieved the lady’s maidservant, my lord.” The knight spoke formally in an even tone, and Avelina sensed his cold disapproval.

She curtsied to her lord, although he still had not looked up at her. Would he order her punished and send her to the pillory to be humiliated, standing with her hands and head inserted in the wooden boards in the town square? She’d always had a horror of the indignity of the pillory. Perhaps if she pleaded with her lord he would punish her in some other less publicly humiliating way.

Lord Plimmwald finally lifted his head and caught sight of his knight standing beside Avelina. He waved him away with a languid flick of his wrist. The knight bowed and left the banqueting hall.

Avelina focused her eyes on the floor, but she couldn’t help taking furtive peeks at her lord. Dark bags sagged under his eyes, which were faintly shot through with blood.

“Avelina.” He finally looked at her, his bushy white eyebrows hanging low over his eyes. “As you know, the Duke of Geitbart is threatening to claim Plimmwald Castle for his own, since Plimmwald belonged to his ancestors, and I have no son or heir. Our allies have turned a blind eye to his aggression, and he has threatened to come and besiege our quiet, peaceful town and take Plimmwald Castle by force.”

He sighed and shook his head. “I had thought to seek the help of the Margrave of Thornbeck, and even hoped I might betrothDorothea to him. But he has decided to hold a two-week party and choose a bride from the guests—all the eligible daughters of the noblemen of the northern regions of the Holy Roman Empire.”

He leaned forward, piercing her with his gray-green eyes. “Now my daughter has run off with my best knight, Sir Dietric. My hopes are dashed. All appears to be doomed for me and for the people of Plimmwald.”

He fixed her with a stern look. “You are my daughter’s closest servant and confidant. You must have known my daughter was sneaking away to go on secret trysts with Sir Dietric. But you did not warn me.” He slapped his hand down on the table. “And now she is with child. I would be justified in having you banished from Plimmwald.”