The Beautiful Pretender (A Medieval Fairy Tale #2)(8)

Regardless of how flippantly Irma viewed this situation, Avelina could only think of the dangers, and she was thankful to have the company of any familiar face.

She glanced over her shoulder at the traveling bag that had been secured to the back of her saddle. Avelina, who was nearly the same size as Lady Dorothea, had brought the clothing her mistress had left behind, not owning any clothing of her own that was suitable enough. The earl had also told her to take Dorothea’s jewelry, to help her look the part of the earl’s daughter, but Avelina had to inform him that Dorothea had taken the jewelry with her, along with many of her best dresses.

After her visit to her family, Avelina finished packing up the rest of Lady Dorothea’s dresses. The earl had also given her some of his dead wife’s cotehardies, which smelled stale from lying in a trunk for the last few years since her death. Several of them were made of silk. One in particular was a becoming shade of violet. The countess had been slightly plumper than Avelina and shorter, but the gown was made in an overly long style meant to be gathered and tucked into the belt around her waist. Avelina could simply wear it untucked.

The earl had also given her one of the countess’s necklaces—the only piece of her jewelry that had not been given to Dorothea. It was lovely, though a bit bulky, with dark-emerald stones surrounded by gold filigree. Lord Plimmwald told her, when they reached Thornbeck Castle in two or three days, she should put it on for the balls.

Irma held on to the reins and the pommel with both hands, and Avelina did the same. Neither of them was used to riding a horse, and riding sidesaddle required her to use muscles Avelina did not know she had in order to stay in the saddle. It was a long way to the ground, and she did not wish to fall and break a leg—although the thought of a broken leg was almost appealing. She would have a good excuse to go back home, but what if it did not grow back straight?

She only had to stay quiet—Lord Plimmwald had warned her not to talk much—and not to attract attention to herself. In two weeks the margrave would choose someone to be his wife, she could come home, and the earl would be happy with her and not punish her. And with the rewards the earl would give her, she would be free from the life of a servant—a life even more uncertain now that Lady Dorothea had gone away. Avelina might have had to work in the kitchen, a job more difficult than catering to Dorothea’s whims.

Gradually Avelina grew more comfortable with the steady pace of the horse and with holding herself in the saddle, and she sat tapping her chin with her finger, wondering what the two-week party would hold for her. Would she be able to fool them all into thinking she was an earl’s daughter?

“The earl did not give you very much time to get ready, did he?” Irma asked in a quiet voice, presumably so the guards would not hear, as the men rode in front of and behind them.

“No.”

“And he did not tell me exactly what he has asked of you. He only said you were going to Thornbeck and that I was to be your servant. He also said he would cut out my tongue and feed it to his falcon if I breathed a word to anyone that you are not Lady Dorothea.” But even with this dire pronouncement, her eyes did not lose their excited gleam.

“I must pretend to be Lady Dorothea, and I must not offend the margrave in any way. If he suspects that I am not Dorothea, bad things will happen.”

“Ach, ja, I suspected that was it. Your hair is more brown and not as light as Lady Dorothea’s, and your eyes are blue while hers are green, but with some pretty silk cotehardies and our departed lady’s necklace, you shall be just as beautiful. You should not look so worried. Besides, would it not be wonderful if the margrave should pick you to be his bride?”

Avelina turned wide eyes on Irma. “I cannot marry the margrave. You must not wish such a thing on me. But he surely would never pick me. He is looking for someone who can behave as a nobleman’s daughter would, a margrave’s wife, and I, of course, have no idea how to behave as a nobleman’s daughter.” Avelina muttered the last several words to herself. If her way of speaking did not give her away, her ignorance of the dances would.

She must try to speak and behave as Dorothea would. After all, she had been Dorothea’s servant for so many years, it should not be difficult. But she did not relish the thought of being rude and demanding.



The evening of the second day of their journey, Avelina felt bruised and sore beyond anything she had ever experienced before. The guards stopped to rest the horses and to inform them that they could reach Thornbeck Castle before midnight if they pressed on. Since the moon was full, there were no clouds to obscure the light, and they did not expect to see any bandits this close to Thornbeck, they would press on.

After stretching their legs, Irma and Avelina got back on their horses for the last few hours of the journey.

Avelina had slept little the night before, as they had been unable to find shelter and had lain on the ground on blankets. And even though she’d had two blankets to cover herself, her feet had felt like two blocks of ice long before morning came, and they had not thawed all day.

She had awakened several times, dreaming either of brigands attacking their horses or of wolves and wild boar snarling at them. She had overheard the guards, when they thought she was not listening, saying that there were wolves in Thornbeck Forest.

Darkness kept her from seeing very far ahead. Irma kept up an almost-constant chatter.

“What do you suppose they eat at the margrave’s table? Goose and suckling pig, no doubt. He probably never eats barley bread or porridge.”