Page 8 of The Piper's Pursuit

“That is enough of that. I should be asking you all the news of Hagenheim. It has been more than two years since Duke Wilhelm paid us a visit.” Herr Hennek held eye contact with Steffan. “But Lord Hamlin was here nine months ago, just before all our trouble started.”

“I am surprised he did not come at once to help hunt down the beast.” Such a thing was just what his oldest brother, Valten, loved.

“He may not have heard about the beast yet.” Herr Hennek glanced away.

“That seems like something the duke should know about.”

“We do not like to ask for help with problems we can solve ourselves. I would not worry the duke with things that do not affect him.”

Steffan opened his mouth to say that such problems were very important to the duke, since they had to do with the safety of his people. But just then Frau Ayla entered the room, the servants behind her carrying large platters with bowls and spoons, and began setting four places.

Hennek sat at the head of the table while Frau Ayla sat across from Steffan and smiled. The servants placed pottery bowls in front of each of them, with an extra one beside Frau Ayla. They served the bread and spooned frumenty into the bowls.

“Do we need to wait for Katerina or will she not be joining us?” Bürgermeister Hennek cast a hard stare at Frau Ayla.

“She is readying herself and should be here any moment.” The lovely woman smiled, but her eyes darted past Hennek’s head, down to the table, then down at her lap. Still smiling, she glanced up at Steffan. “What brings you to Hamlin, Lord Steffan?”

“Can you not guess, my dear?” Hennek’s voice boomed, filling the room. “Do you truly need to ask?”

Just then Katerina caught Steffan’s eye as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She approached the room slowly as her stepfather went on.

“Are you so daft as not to guess his intentions? He has heard of our daughter’s beauty and has come to win her by killing the beast!”

Katerina entered the room, her jaw set, her chin rigid as stone. She sent a narrow-eyed glance at Mayor Hennek, paused, then sat down across from Steffan. She kept her head high as one of the servants placed a bowl in front her.

He didn’t have to wonder what she thought of him or what she thought of the Bürgermeister offering her as a reward. Her jaw was still hard and her lips pursed.

Something stirred inside his chest. This beautiful young woman might already be predisposed to hate him, and he might not be the most worthy son of his father, and he didn’t intend to marry her even if he did win her. But he had an inexplicable desire to change her mind.

***

Katerina’s fury at her boorish stepfather was like a fire in her head. How dare he speak to Mother in his usual arrogant way in front of this equally arrogant man? And why had her stepfather invited him to sup with them? Probably Mother, feeling sorry for him, invited him before she had time to think. He did look a bit hungry, but he was strong. He could kill and eat the small game that ran wild all over the forests of this region. If he wasn’t afraid to hunt the beast, he should be able to get his own food.

And why should she care? She had more important concerns—namely, what was happening to the town’s children. She was beginning to wonder if the rats were carrying them off. They seemed to be getting bigger and bolder and more numerous by the day.

She would kill the beast herself. And she would not be “given”byanyone ortoanyone. Especially not to this man.

“You were late, Katerina. Were you killing rats again? You know that frightens people.”

“And the rats do not frighten people?” Katerina said the words in a low voice and immediately wished she’d kept silent. Heat crept up her neck to her cheeks as her mind went on alert.

“Lateness is a very bad trait. If you had a husband—”

Katerina’s mother’s frumenty bowl slipped off the edge of the table and crashed to the floor, breaking and spilling at her feet.

It was just like her mother to cause a distraction when Hennek was saying something especially malevolent. Katerina laughed, a quick bark. She glanced at her stepfather, knowing he’d be furious at her mother for breaking the bowl. Indeed, Hennek wore a pinched, hard look on his face.

A servant rushed into the room and began cleaning up the mess while another servant girl quickly brought in a full bowl and placed it in front of her mother.

Mother would rather endure Hennek’s sullen, cold treatment of her for the next several days—which would be the punishment for knocking her frumenty onto the floor—than allow Katerina to be humiliated by her stepfather’s words in front of this stranger from Hagenheim.

She also did it to stop Katerina from saying what she would have said next, which likely would have turned into one of their heated arguments. Katerina did not often argue with Hennek, but when she did, it always grew ugly, with him accusing and insinuating nasty things—that she was coldhearted and would never marry, that she was greedy, and that she only pretended to love her mother but was actually too selfish to care about anyone but herself. She’d long noticed his practice of accusing others of what he himself was guilty of.

Katerina would somehow find a way to save herself and her mother from Hennek. And she would not have to marry some man in order to do it. First she would kill the beast and make sure no other children were harmed. Then she would force Hennek to give her the reward money. And then she would somehow convince her mother to leave Hennek, who was more evil and insidious than any beast, and they would begin anew in a new town.

Her thoughts darted to the little girl Bridda. She almost trembled with the impulse to run over to her home and ask her questions. But that would not be wise. Better to let her soak up her parents’ love for one night, to feel safe again. Then she’d be more apt to answer Katerina’s questions.

She just had to wait.