Page 24 of Lost with a Scot
“Thank you, it is an awful mess.”
“Not to worry—I can handle it,” Lydia assured her. “Besides, I can’t wait to see how Aiden reacts when he sees how beautiful you look.”
Anna couldn’t either. If she could make him smile, that would be a wonderful victory against the sorrow he carried in his heart.
* * *
Yuri Stravonov,half brother to the former king of Ruritania, leaned over the large table covered with maps of the surrounding countryside close to the Summer Palace. He frowned as he studied the series of maps that he’d recovered from the palace library before he’d burned it to the ground. He hadn’t bothered to salvage anything else from the library. Those books and records belonged to Ruritania’s past, and Yuri believed only in the future he planned to create. Soon he would have libraries full of new books about the grand changes he’d made to the country and his wealth and power as he spread his control over the rest of Europe.
“We’ve tracked the rebel camp to the Dark Forest, but we can’t seem to find where they are sleeping.” Yuri’s captain of the guard, Radovan Fain, pointed to several places on the map that had been marked with a set of small black stones. “There have been signs of camps, but nothing recent.”
Fain was a tall man with bricklike shoulders, a square jaw, and cold blue eyes. Both he and Yuri were in their forties, but Fain had the strength and agility of a man ten years younger. It had proved a valuable attribute when he’d led the attack on the palace and killed King Alfred.
“They must be moving every night,” Yuri muttered. His nephew was a more cunning adversary than he’d expected. Fain had been in charge of the king and queen’s security detail, and he’d been the one to kill them in their beds as they slept.
Alexei had been the next threat. Unfortunately, one of the young guardsmen had woken the prince as the attack began. The two men had sought a retreat with the remaining guards still loyal to Yuri’s half brother, and now the little pest was playing hide-and-seek in the woods and stealing food and money bound for Yuri’s treasury and larder.
“What of the princess?” Yuri asked. Yuri knew his captain was most interested in Anna, and before the coup Yuri had promised Fain that the princess would be spared and given to the captain as his bride in payment for the man’s loyalty.
“We found witnesses at the harbor who say she and her maid boarded a royal merchant vessel bound for England,” Fain informed him. “If she reaches London, she could appeal to King George, and he might send troops,” Fain warned. “We should send someone after her and bring her back.”
Yuri did not believe a woman, even a princess, could convince the English king to go to war. George was a man who enjoyed his pleasures and entertainments. He was not a warrior. Ruritania was also not necessarily an ally of England, even though an English-born queen had sat on the throne.
“She’s just a woman, Fain. My envoy is already in London convincing the king and his advisors that this transition of power is in the best interests of Ruritania and her trade partners. He will spread the story that I came into power after my beloved half brother died at the hands of rebels. No one listens to women in matters of politics.”
No one save his elder half brother, Alfred. His older brother had married an Englishwoman named Isadora. Isadora, once she became queen had dared to attend the council meetings and voice her opinions on matters of state, and his brother had actually heeded her advice. It was just one of many ways his brother had shown himself to be unfit to lead. Women had no place in politics. They belonged to the realm of giving men pleasure and providing heirs, nothing more.
“Your Highness, allow me to send a small group of men to retrieve her,” Fain insisted.
Of course, his captain’s true motive was to reclaim his escaped prize. Yuri wasn’t fooled by his request.
“Very well, send some men.” Yuri waved a hand to dismiss the subject. He didn’t care about his niece. She had no power, she had no armies at her back, and because she was not a male, she had no claim to the throne, unless of course she gave birth to a child, but that was something he could control if she married Fain. She was just a woman he would use to control the loyalty of his captain and—
“Wait...” Yuri grinned as a new plan formed in his mind. “Fain, when they find her, have her brought to me first. I will use her to lure Alexei into surrendering.”
Faint halted in the doorway of Yuri’s private study.
“She was promised to me,” the captain said firmly.
“And still shall be. But if we send word that she is to be executed unless Alexei surrenders, he will. I know my dear nephew.” Alexei adored his sister and would do anything to save her life. “When we have the prince, we’ll execute him, and you may have the girl as I promised.”
Satisfied with this, Fain left the room to assemble a group of men to send to England. Yuri turned his focus back to the maps and stared at the vast outline of the forest.
“Where are you hiding, princeling?” he murmured, his gaze cold as he plotted his nephew’s death.
* * *
It was nearlytime for dinner when Lydia put the finishing touches on Anna’s coiffure.
“There, now you look better,” Lydia said. “Not that you looked bad before...”
“I looked like I’d been tossed about in a ship,” Anna said with a laugh and put a hand on Lydia’s where it rested on her shoulder. “Thank you, truly.”
Lydia grinned. “You look stunning. Aiden won’t recognize you.” Lydia tugged a few more loose curls into place at the nape of Anna’s neck.
“Let’s go down to the taproom and see if we can find the men.” Lydia collected their shawls and gave Anna hers. They left the room and proceeded downstairs toward the sound of boisterous laughter and singing.
Lydia, who went ahead, halted abruptly at the bottom of the stairs. “Oh goodness. What on earth?”
