Although the middle of the journey had been a struggle, by the end, weak as she felt, she had grown increasingly numb to the pains of travel. It helped that the mood among the camp had grown merry with the ies they had picked up as the richer members of the “militia”.

  She had her own reasons to be tent with the trip too, pleased to have seeerrain in person and taken ample notes and sketches. It was not easy terrain; however, the eventual campaign would take her over the Alps in friendly territory.

  Her father had found i in the A Romans for his own reasons, ones she did not know. Her reasons, of course, she knew well. It was no ce that people referred to that vast, sprawling empire by the name of a siy.

  A city that happeo be at the interse of many of her is.

  At present, she admired the city which could so reliably produce armies as rge as any of its neighbours—several armies of such size. These armies, far from home, yet always fed. She had for long thought that the scale mentioned in those old works took poetic liberties, that perhaps the numbers were dramatic metaphors.

  However, truths began to crystallise in her idle thoughts, all those is of hers not perhaps as disparate as she once believed. Simirities that only seemed so different because of the scale.

  She sidered, for example, the resembnce of the awe of a knight in heavy armour to the old soldiers of Rome. She sidered how it would look if, instead of numbering iens or hundreds, the ownership of nd split up to support thousands—if not more—of suights. She sidered how important the towns and cities would be, pces where endless hammering put out the armour for these lesser-knights. And she sidered how important roads would be when, to feed su army, an erain of baggage would o follow behind—and how important it was for Rome to be by the coast, that a boat could carry mountains of grain to wherever it was sorely needed.

  Of course, an army of suights would soo of pce. While the crossbows had stagnated, limited in their deadliness, the battlefields of Europe increasingly stank with the stench of gunpowder. She would have liked to have seen what the A Romans made of su iion; as, she could only know that, eventually, they would have ground out the ao all questions.

  Unfortunately for her, she did not have millions of willing men nor the reveo support su endeavour. So she hoped to instead cultivate the kinds of men with an intuitive grasp of this ging ndscape and provide them with officers capable of getting men from one pce to another with supplies and equipment.

  Until such a time arose, though, she had every iion of avoiding costly frontations. If a battle could not be won with thundering ons, then it was not a battlefield for her men.

  Still, she had hope. Although that hope was not the main reason for where she found herself now, it did linger—as hope teo.

  “Lady Augstadt, it is my pleasure.”

  Her curtsy belied her state, still as elegant and graceful as ever. She then took a seat with that same elegance. “Your Royal Highness, please, the pleasure is surely mine.”

  “How could I as a guest not find pleasure in such aodation? It has yet to be a year sihat little versatio My Lady has early built a wonderful pce for practising all things equestrian.”

  “Sir is too kind. That is, I truly did already have pns for su endeavour and I merely wished to pique Sir’s i in this pow that I have succeeded, it is clearly my pleasure for Sir’s presence, however fleeting, that I may boast of it.”

  Prince Friedrich’s ughter fell gently in the lounge. Although not an overly impressive room, for what was alike to a try house, it had a suitable prestige with the beautiful ndscapes on the walls, eborate rugs on the floor, and such detailed furniture, polished aly upholstered.

  On top of that, it had a rustic charm. Without aper, the wooden walls showed true and the ceiling was broken up by beams—rather tha lumber, thick branches only stripped of bark. Along with a ucopia of leafy pnts arranged around the room’s edges and a fire pit in the room’s tre rather than at the edge, there was a natural feel to the pce, a sense of being out in the woods rather than inside a building.

  However, inside a building they were, both sat at a smaller table by the window with a drink: tea for her, a coffee with brandy for him. Not alone, of course, as her knight chaperoned from the other side of a crag fire, kept pany by one of the prince’s retainers.

  Still, if she and the Prince so wished, that pany need not hear their words. Pleasantries drifted between them as their sips slowly emptied their drinks.

  “I trust My Lady fourip… productive,” he said, not quite a question.

  She answered it heless. “Yes. If Sir is ied, I have quite the number of sketches that may be of i.”

  “Sketches?” he said lightly. “I remember My Lady mentioning she hoped t some trade back.”

  Although her expression didn’t ge, the slight tilt of her head turned her smile demure and her gaze filtered through her eyeshes to meet his. “Sir certainly has a thh memory for one of little importance such as myself.”

  “Rare is the person of little importand that is certainly true for My Lady,” he said, his perpetual smile broadening to emphasise his siy.

  Only for her expression to fall. “That is, I am the rare case of someone who is of little importance?” she asked, her voice oh sile, eyes suddenly watery.

  His stomach dropped, a sudden panic urging him to speak. “No, no, of course not—if anything, My Lady is the rare case of someoher iing, that I ot help but remember everything she says.”

  As if it had all been in his head, the moment her expressiouro how it was before, full of posure and a hint of ambiguity. “If someone else happeo hear Sir say that, they may well think Sir has certain… ambitions.”

  Realising he had been pulled into a trap—no, that he had both set up the trap and willingly walked into it—he couldn’t help but admire her that little main. It was not that he thought womeh him, just that, with other women, there was an air of awkwardness, both sides keenly aware of the wall of propriety between them. However, with her, it was instead a line in the sand and one she knew perfectly well, treating it as but aoy for her own amusement as she urged him to overstep.

  That did not excuse him entirely, though. His growing enjoyment of her pany was ohing and what harm that would bring her reputation another. As it always seemed to be for one of his station, the best choice was to stop the fun before it truly began.

  So he began to put together a way to let her dowly and make clear his position. Only that, she saw fit to speak before he did.

  “Of course, I know Sir means nothing by it. As for what Sir mentioned before, to trade requires good roads and good roads are best built with an uanding of the terrain. I have already left a rough map for King Otto to i on his return.”

  That first part of what she’d said left him in a lurch. There was no insinuation, no look in her eye, yet she spoke as if reg any old fact.

  As if she knew something she shouldn’t.

  Although he did not show his vigince, he watched her oh so closely. “Is that so?”

  She carried in as if nothing had ged between them. “Yes, it is so. While I would rather call it punctual than rushed, there is no reason to dey, so I hope to begin sending supplies upon my return. The more road that be built in these ing years, the better it shall be.”

  Again, there was something subtly unnerving about what she had said. There were many i reasons she could give for wishing to build the road so swiftly, yet the way it hrased—like it was a tdown. That there would be a particur point where having built more road would prove beneficial.

  If not for already being on guard, he might have missed it, had perhaps missed tless more of her secrets that she so pinly showed. Unlike her wit, he did not enjoy this quite so much. However, that was not to say he disliked it—so long it wasn’t his ows she so subtly alluded to.

  “I do believe My Lady will mahis task as well as all the others she has before,” he said, punctuated by a only small sip of his drink. It wouldn’t do for him to lend his wits to the brandy at this time.

  In reply, she spared him a gentle smile. Disarming and with a hint of sweetness.

  Which made the topic she then turo all the sharper. “If Sir would permit This Lady to speak without interruption for a moment, she would no loake Sir away from his leisure.”

  “I agine what topic My Lady has that is so solemn and that she thinks I may see fit to interrupt her,” he said lightly.

  “Sir may be g in imagination, then,” she said lightly back, still with a smile, yet he observed how it failed to reach her eyes, how it made his own smile all the more hollow.

  He gave a small gesture. “Go on.”

  Not oo break her word, she certainly did not waste any time iing to the point. “I am of the belief that Sir has an attra to men which he acts upon. Whether or not that is true, I am not here to debate, for I certainly would not expect Sir to admit such a thing.

  “Rather, it is for that reason which I suggest a marriage between us. It is my truth that, regardless of Prince Hector’s as, I am his wife, thus ot be with ao find a husband who would have no desire to be with me is not an easy search.

  “If my belief about Sir is correct, then I would have no objes to his as. So it is that we would both find a marriage that is veo our particur situations.”

  There she stopped, her teacup ing to her lips as her face showed nothing after making such serious allegations.

  Although his face showed nothiher, he felt as if she could see the chill that surrounded him, his blood like icy slush. “So My Lady is here to bckmail me.”

  Finally, her expression ged to show half a sneer. “Pray do not snder me so. I have e to trade and I am firm in my belief that a trade is best when both parties e out the better for it. If Sir disagrees with my proposal, then there is no need for more discussion and this shan’t be brought up again. I am not in the habit of making enemies.”

  “Yet My Lady would make up rumours, such vile o that,” he replied.

  Both spoke harsh words with a politeness.

  “Sir should not think so little of me,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Regardless, that cim is not for discussion. I will say that Sir need not worry about my sources for I am meticulous in these affairs and the sliver of information each has is far from enough to vihemselves of this, never mind others. I, and I alone, hold this belief and spoke it to her. Whether or not Sir agrees to my proposal, I shall hereafter sider it false.”

  A kind of silehen fell where, while nothiheir lips, their gazes unicated all that o not be said. The ti flickers, twitches.

  In his heart rose the cold fire which begged him to silence her. A manic fme, agitated and wild, full of paranoid rambling. Su intense feeling, primal as if it came from the same pce from wherein all his sins urged him.

  However, he had larded himself the master of that pce.

  “Baseless accusations aside, I find it most queer that My Lady would… eain such a belief. It would not be that My Lady is looking in a mirror rather than through a window?”

  Her smirk gave him all the answer he needed, wordlessly chided. “It rather seems to me that certain things should be left to God to judge. After all, there is enough good to do elsewhere.”

  He had to admit that, for that, she had certainly proven herself. While the intricacies of a city in a neighb try were not of particur io him, he had seen the eborate festivities she had arrao fund the stru of a school of all things. There was no reason to suspect such a thing was an exception to her usual behaviour. Beyond that, his father had made mention of her ref the ws, though the details of that, irrelevant to him, had been already fotten, only a feeling of it being radical remaining.

  Of course, his father found many things radical. He had little reference for judicial matters and could only remember an off-handed remark by his father that alluded to merts and Jews.

  This Lady before him—he did not imagine her being led astray by . It ossible, he ceded, that she had struggled to adjust after leaving the pace. However, with how she had handled herself since, he doubted she cked the ability to manage her domain.

  Then again, he would have not thought her capable of such bckmail before this versation.

  “My Lady speaks of a trade; however, I fail to see what be her suggestion would briher of us,” he said, if only to make her speak more—to give himself an opening to pry into.

  “The be is that being unmarried carries with it such awkward questions and nagging and scrutiny. For Sir, I believe it preferable to marry someone closer than King Otto may have in mind.”

  She paused a moment, an eyebrow raised as if firm in her belief he uood what she hadn’t said—and he did.

  “There is also myself to include in the weighing, that I am willing to provide what expertise Sir would ask for when it es to managing his nd. I know that Sir has preferred to grant his vassals freedom and put trust in capable men provided by King Otto; however, if I may speak frankly, what honour is there in being such a Lord?”

  With a sigh, she paused there and took a sip of tea, then tinued.

  “As for my bes, there is certainly more of a stigma if I should remain unmarried. To be blunt, it would also be signifit if I should rince. On top of that, Sir knows of my i in trade and so keeping a friendly retionship with King Otto is key….”

  Her voice trailed off, gaze fell, and his fell too to where he saw her hands strain as she held her cup.

  “It would provide myself some security too, that I need not be so easily bullied once Prince Hector decides he has been patient enough. Who would dare to stand up to the Empire’s heir on behalf of a mere tess? Not that I would expey aid; however, he would surely think twice before being reckless if it could upset our neighbours.”

  Simple, straightforward reasons. And, although he bristled at her frank ent, her assessment of his handling of his affairs was ly incorrect either.

  “My Lady has certainly given this quite the thought,” he said softly, more padding the silehan speaking.

  She did not reply and so his gaze rose once more to meet hers. As if the moment of vulnerability had never happened, she met him with renewed fidence.

  “I would not bme Sir, with his upbringing, to think of life as petition. In many ways, it is. However, is it not ving that, even in distant nds, we find our brethren living together in vilges and tribes? God is good and gave us such kindness and passion that we may find a greater strength together than we ever could alone. If for no other reason, I would ask Sir to sider what good we may aplish together.”

  With her piece said, she fihe st sip of her drink and, as elegantly as ever, rose from her seat.

  “If Sir should find my offer pelling, Sir could find reason to visit Augstadt.”

  Her knight, seeing her rise, stood up himself and apanied her out the room. Out in the hallway, he gave a chuckle. “I fear I must owe My Lady an apology. To speak so much with Prince Friedrich, we have been poor pany.”

  She tittered at his joke. “Please, it could not be so.”

  Meanwhile, ba the louhe Priill sat, his cup against his lip as his gaze lingered, not where she had been, but on the window pane. Of all the foolish things she had said, of all the brazen things, she had surely saved the most so for st.

  With an ironic smile, he silently whispered, “What we may aplish together….”