Page 53 of Songs and Spun Gold
Otto leaned forward. “We can help your family, Kat. If the king demands the money, we’ll help them through. You’re not alone.”
“That’s right,” Angelika agreed. “It will work out, Katy. Let us help you.”
“He’ll take the mill if I run,” Katy whispered. “If I stay here and spin and the miracle fails, we only owe the money.” Taking a breath, she continued, “Besides, I don’t want to get you in trouble. Either for helping me escape or for simply being my friends and cousin. It’s all right. I’ll stay.”
“Well, well, that’s—that’s ridiculous.” Angelika put her hands on her hips. Turning in a small circle, she said, “You’ve been awfully quiet, Fritz. What do you think about all this?”
He kept his gaze on the floor while he rubbed his hands together. The candlelight cast odd shadows on his face, coming from the floor as it was. At last, he pushed off the wall and slowly walked up to Katy. “This wasn’t quite how I pictured it,” he said softly as he lowered himself to the floor. Katy felt her heart simultaneously sink and swell as he reached into his pocket and drew out a leather cord. She was thankful for the dim light to hide her blush. “Katy, I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed spending time with you the last few months. I was going to ask you tonight when we went walking, but I guess that isn’t going to happen now.”
“Fritz, I—”
“Let me take care of you and your family, and then it won’t matter if you can’t spin the next two nights.” His blue eyes were dark in the reflected candlelight, but she couldn’t deny the earnestness in them.
His timing couldn’t be worse.
“Fritz, don’t.” Katy held up one hand. “I can’t put the care of my family on you. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Katy, I don’t mind—”
She pushed off her seat and walked to the other side of the room, twisting her hands. “No, Fritz. I won’t let you. It’s my responsibility, not yours, and I won’t put that on you! Besides—”
Behind her, Otto cleared his throat. “Kat, what’s wrong? You have that crease in your forehead again.”
“You can’t possibly tell that in this light,” she argued weakly.
“Katrin.”
“I—” She pressed her hand against the wall and closed her eyes. “I don’t want to risk upsetting the king further.”
“Why would the king be upset?” Fritz asked.
Licking her lips, she admitted, “If I succeed, he wants me to marry his son. Canceling the debt is to be a wedding gift.”
She could feel all three pairs of eyes on her. After a few minutes, she peeked back.
“Youwantto marry the prince, don’t you?” Angelika’s eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms as she glared across the room. “He’s a replacement for your noble friend.”
Indignation rose up in Katy at this unfair accusation. “Of course I don’t want to marry a stuck-up royal who can’t even be bothered to meet the young woman his father is proposing he marry! Not that I care – having met the man’s father, I have no desire to meet the man himself,” she fumed, stomping across the room while glaring at her friend. “And this has nothing to do withhim.Heleft. He’s out of the picture.”
“Then why are you refusing Fritz’s offer? Why trust to a miracle that would allow you to marry that ‘stuck-up royal’?” Angelika snapped back.
Katy stuck her face right in her friend’s. “Because I refuse to burden anyone else with my father’s mess! Not Fritz, not you, not Otto! Otherwise, I would never have asked the king for another option. He would have let me go with only the debt owed, and he would never have threatened to take the mill if I walked. My current spot of trouble is all my own fault, and I won’t let anyone else suffer for it.”
“And if your miracle repeats itself and the king insists you marry his son?”
“I’m hoping I can talk him out of that part,” Katy grumbled. “It’s one thing to say I can marry his son when he has set me an impossible task; it’s quite another when I’ve completed it. Surely, he can’t really want his son to marry a no-name miller’s daughter.”
Angelika crossed her arms. “And if he decides to stick to his promise?”
Shrugging, Katy replied, “Then I trust the prince will be my ally. He can’t want to marry a complete stranger any more than I do. Especially one that is the lowest of the low.”
Otto shifted on his feet. “I’m not sure I would trust to that, Kat,” he said quietly. “Rumor has it the prince is in love with a young woman from a poor family.”
“All the more reason he should agree with me, then,” Katy huffed, stabbing her fists onto her hips. “If he is in love with someone else, he can’t possibly want to marry me.”
Running a hand through his hair, Otto took a few strides toward the door before turning back. “Ireallydon’t think you should rely on the prince wanting out, Kat.”
“Then he is fickle,” Katy declared with a scoff, “and I want to marry him even less.”
