Page 84 of The Beautiful Pretender

“What is happening?” she called, but as a guard pushed through, he took hold of Avelina’s arm.

“You should not be here.”

“Where is Lord Thornbeck?”

“He is convincing Endlein to come with him, and the men are putting out the fire. Come.” He pulled her away from the smoke-filled, crowded corridor. “This is no place for you.”

“No! I will not leave.” Lord Thornbeck would die and no one would let her see him.

Finally, the men—Lord Thornbeck’s guards and servants—started moving out of the corridor, their faces covered in soot.

“The fire is out,” one man said.

They continued to come away from the corridor. Finally, Endlein, the addled old woman, emerged through the smoke, followed by Lord Thornbeck. Both their faces were covered in soot.

Two servants took charge of Endlein, who was muttering questions and obviously confused. They urged her to go with them and spoke soothingly to her.

Avelina rushed forward and grabbed Lord Thornbeck’s arm.

“Let us go,” she said, eager to get him somewhere Geitbart would not find him.

She hurried him down the corridor, ignoring the people standing around who seemed to want to talk about what had just happened. Two of Geitbart’s guards stood straighter as they noticed Lord Thornbeck approaching. They exchanged a look, then took a step toward the margrave.

Three of Lord Thornbeck’s guards stood nearby. Avelina got their attention.

“Those men are trying to molest me!” She pointed at the two red-and-black clad guards.

Lord Thornbeck’s guards immediately blocked Geitbart’s men’s way and began a shouting match with them. Avelina and Lord Thornbeck hurried away, rushing down the stairs.

Not sure where else to go, she led him to her own bedchamber.

26

LORDTHORNBECK SEEMEDto suddenly notice where they were. He yanked the door open, waved her in, then followed and closed the door.

Avelina went to the water pitcher next to her bed. It was still full. She poured the two goblets full of water and held out a goblet to him while taking a sip. “It’s a little stale tasting, but it’s water.”

He drank the whole goblet without pausing, letting a trickle of water run down his sooty neck. For some reason it reminded her of his fingers caressing her cheek in the tiny room. But that thought, along with his exposed throat and intense eyes, was too distracting and was making her cheeks grow hot.

“Sit down and tell me why you felt you had to put out that fire yourself.” Avelina hurried to find a clean cloth and poured some water in a bowl for him to wash his face. “You know you might have had a chance to escape if you had not done that.”

He didn’t speak for a few moments. “I seemed to go back to the night my brother died. I only knew I wanted to put it out. It was foolish, perhaps.” His eyes stayed locked on hers the whole time he was talking.

She handed him the bowl of water and cloth.

“You need this as badly as I do,” he said.

Avelina grabbed the small looking glass on her table. She gasped. Her face was covered in soot, almost as much as Lord Thornbeck’s, and there were bits of ash in her unkempt hair. “Why did you not tell me I looked like this?”

He stared up at her from the chair where he sat. “I think you look rather becoming.”

She quickly found another cloth and dipped it in the water. Turning her back on him and looking in the mirror, she quickly washed her face, cleaning her forehead and cheeks, around her eyes, rinsing her cloth and cleaning her chin and around her mouth. Finally, she turned to face him while she picked the ashes out of her hair.

“Did Gerhaws start the fire?”

“I think Geitbart probably instructed her to, thinking I would try to escape the castle during the tumult.” Lord Thornbeck was washing his face and watching her out of the corner of his eye. “She fell to her death. After the fire was out, I went over and looked.”

“Horrible.”