Page 76 of Songs and Spun Gold
“You’re asking me?” Bertram stood up and shook his head. “Next time, please tell someone when you plan to camp out. Hunting the gardens for you when you’re not in danger isn’t in my job description.”
Stooping to pick up his cloak, Axel paused and winced, pressing a hand to his head. “It wasn’t planned. I just went for awalk in the gardens.” He glanced around at his surroundings. “I must have gotten tired and laid down to rest?”
“‘Must have’?” his guard snorted. “Don’t you remember?”
Frowning, Axel muttered, “No, I don’t. I don’t even remember walking this far.”
“Tell it however you like, Your Highness,” Bertram sighed. He scooped up the fallen cloak and tossed it to him. Catching it with one hand, Axel gladly wrapped it around his shoulders. “For now, let’s get you inside and warmed up.”
Despite his protests, Axel found himself confined to his quarters for the rest of the day. Not at his father’s orders, but the physician’s. Oh, his father came in at one point and lectured him, but Father would have sent him about his normal tasks had the physician not insisted that Axel stay warm and consume an unreasonable amount of hot tea.
Since he had slept poorly on the bench and felt chilled outside of his covers, even with the roaring fire the servants had built in his fireplace, Axel found he appreciated the day off.
But being stuck in his room meant he couldn’t see Katy. What good was a day off if he couldn’t spend it with her?
He was settled in his favorite armchair, wrapped in a warm robe, late the next morning when a knock came on his door. Hoping it was the physician, coming to free him from his prison sentence, he sprang to his feet and hurried over to answer it.
“Good morning, Your Highness.” To his disappointment, a young woman stood outside his door instead. The pins stuck in her sleeve marked her as a seamstress, but he didn’t normally receive visits from seamstresses.
“How may I help you?” he asked, firmly fixing his politely interested expression on his face. It was tempting to take advantage of the pockets of his furry robe, but he tried to maintain royal posture in front of servants.
She smoothed her perfect black bun. “I know you aresupposed to be resting, but Miss Katrin is… We were hoping you would come speak to her.”
Music to his ears.
Restraining his grin, he gave her a regal nod. “But of course. If you will direct me to her, it would be my pleasure.”
He soon found himself in Katy’s doorway. Bolts of colorful fabric were strewn around her sitting room, draped over armchairs and settees, and leaning up against the walls. A pair of seamstresses were pleading with her. One wrung her hands while the other gestured with a knotted rope and a pen. Katy herself stood in the middle of the room in a thin, white, sleeveless garment. Her hair had come free from its styling and bushed out around her head, highlighting her wild appearance as she gesticulated widely.
“—don’t need a new dress and I don’twanta new dress!”
“But Miss Katrin, the prince insisted—”
“I don’t care who insisted! I’m not a lady, and I am most certainly not a princess; I will not parade about as one!”
Smothering a grin, Axel stepped into the room. “Katrin,” he said in a calm voice.
She stopped arguing as her eyes flew to him. Her eyes scanned his face and the heavy robe cinched around his waist. “G—Axel, are you all right? They told me you were confined to your room because you caught cold the night before last!”
“I’m fine,” he assured her with an easy smile. “The physician is simply an overly concerned mother hen.”
She brushed her hand over the warm sleeve. “Then why are you dressed as if you’re freezing? Are you sure you’re not feverish? Chilled?” Her eyes lifted to his, and he was a little surprised to see the near panic in them. “Your eyes look clear, but—”
“I’m fine, Katrin,” he said softly but firmly, catching one of her brown hands in his own. “I don’t have a weak constitutionlike your mother. A slight chill won’t hurt me.”
Relief and embarrassment flitted through her eyes before she dropped them, giving his hand a small squeeze before she withdrew. “Good. I’m glad you’re all right. I couldn’t bear the thought that I had—”
“What did you have to do with it?” He raised a questioning eyebrow.
She fiddled with the bare skin on her right wrist. “Otto told me—he said you slept out there because you were upset by my behavior.”
“He shouldn’t have told you that,” Axel sighed. “He was repeating what Bertram told him, but Bertram was wrong.”
“Then why did you?” she asked hesitantly.
His head throbbed a little. “Honestly, I can’t tell you. I’ve asked myself that same question many times over the last twenty-four hours, and I have yet to remember my reasoning.”
A crease appeared in her forehead. “You can’t remember?”
