Page 67 of The Noble Servant

“Yes, I should say there is something wrong.” He seemed to be barely containing his emotions as he looked at Agnes and then at Magdalen.

Agnes glanced her way. “Go in the other room, girl.”

Magdalen hastened into the adjoining room, but she left the door slightly ajar so she could listen.

Alexander stared down at his hands as if he’d never seen them before.

“What is it? Please tell me.” Agnes sounded as if she was crying. She walked toward him, closer, until she was right in front of him. “Did I do something wrong?”

He didn’t lift his head but reached out and grabbed her around the waist, then bent to bury his face in her shoulder.

“Darling.” Agnes caressed his shoulders.

They stood like that so long, Magdalen rolled her eyes and huffed.

Finally, they pulled apart and Alexander said, “Lord Hazen told me you’re not Lady Magdalen. Is it true?”

“What? I ...”

“It is true.” He put a hand over his face. “He says I have to marry the real Lady Magdalen, as soon as he’s sure he’s found her.”

“But what about me? I love you. Doesn’t that mean anything?” Agnes’s voice rose to a high pitch as she clutched at his arms. She started to sob. “You don’t love me.”

He put his arms around her again. “I do love you, but Lord Hazen ... You don’t know how he is. He will have his way.”

The two of them actually seemed to have fallen in love. Would he tell Agnes that he was not who she thought he was either?

She put her ear up to the opening.

Alexander said, “I vow that I will do whatever I need to do to protect you.”

Magdalen’s heart twisted painfully. Would anyone ever love her like that? She hated that Steffan’s face loomed in front of her whenever she closed her eyes, the way he looked after he took the punishment for the hungry man who stole the loaf of bread. He was selfish and irritable, but he brought her food when their breakfast had been inedible. And her knees went weak just thinking of the way his brown hair hung over his forehead and the warm expression he sometimes had when he looked at her.

But she would be foolish to fancy herself in love with him. Steffan was like most other lords and noblemen. He scorned marrying for love.

She wiped her face with her hands and her nose with herapron. She pushed the door open and walked out into the bedchamber.

“If you are going to be in here any longer, I need to take my mending with me into the other room.”

Agnes and Alexander broke apart while Magdalen stalked to where her dresses lay. She took her time gathering them. Alexander whispered something in Agnes’s ear, then departed.

Agnes burst into tears. She went to the bed, lay down, and closed the curtains.

Magdalen put the dresses aside. Why alter her own dresses when Agnes might not be in a position to order her around much longer? But the thought of Lord Hazen forcing her to marry Alexander, or to at least pretend to be his wife ... She closed her eyes and prayed.

Magdalen did not see Steffan at the evening meal. Katrin helped her sneak some food, hiding a bread roll and a wedge of cheese in her apron pocket. When Agnes allowed her to retire to her own bed for the night, Magdalen waited in the corridor until she saw Steffan walking toward her on his way to the menservants’ bedchamber.

“I saved you some food.”

He walked past his door until he was only a step away from her. She gave him the cloth bundle.

“Thank you.” He opened it and immediately bit into the bread.

“Did you find a courier?”

He shook his head. “It’s as if Lord Hazen has sent away every man and horse besides his own guards and the horses in his own stable. I may have to steal a horse and deliver them myself.”

“Go yourself?”