Castle of the Wolf

by Sandra Schwab

  The maid flinched a little, but remained silent.

  The door to the kitchen was thrown open. “Gnädige Frau!” Out of breath, Johann stumbled into the room, the bundle with Leopold’s clothes in his arm. “You must come. He has gone to the drawing room to see his parents.”

  Marie’s head whipped around. She stared at the valet, her face stricken. “No!” she whispered.

  Cissy snorted. “Oh, yes. And as for you…” Once more she backed Marie against the wall and gave her an unpleasant smile. “I will give you half an hour to pack your things and leave this castle. I should call the constable, but since Leopold obviously turned your head…” She shrugged. Then she hardened her voice again. “Yet, should I ever see you again near Wolfenbach or in Kirchwalden”—she cocked her head to the side—“I will kill you myself.”

  The girl jumped. Fear showed on her face, in her eyes, and Cissy smiled in satisfaction. “Frau Häberle, will you please go with Marie and watch her pack her things? We wouldn’t want her to pack more than is hers.”

  “Of course, gnädige Frau.”

  Slowly, Cissy turned her head toward the woman and nodded. “Thank you.” With great care, she put her knife back on the table, then walked out of the room past a gaping Johann.

  Dizziness assaulted her on the stairs. Yet immediately her husband’s trustworthy valet was at her side and supported her with a hand under her elbow. She thanked him and gave him a wan smile. “I didn’t think I had it in me to be so…so…”

  “Protective?” he offered.

  “Violent. I could have killed her. I really wanted to, for what she did to Fenris.”

  Johann shrugged. “Protective,” he said. “If you forgive my saying so, gnädige Frau, but I’ve always thought only a very special kind of woman would do for my master."

  Cissy stopped so abruptly that the valet nearly bumped into her. She turned. “I’m not special.”

  He gave her a crooked smile. “Oh yes, you are. That’s the beauty of it, gnädige Frau.” He gestured upward. “The drawing room?”

  Cissy gathered her skirts and hurried upstairs. At the prospect before her, she felt slightly sick. The encounter with Marie had left her shaken; she still couldn’t quite fathom how her maid could have betrayed her trust like that.

  She halted in hallway outside the drawing room. “We’re doing the right thing, aren’t we?” she asked, her hand on the door handle.

  “Yes, gnädige Frau.” Johann’s voice was as steady as a rock. “We are doing the right thing. If we don’t reveal Master Leopold’s deviousness now, who knows what might happen? The next time, his plan might succeed.”

  “You’re absolutely right.”

  Straightening her shoulders, Cissy took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Beyond, several pairs of eyes swiveled around to gaze at her, and Cissy was dismayed to find her husband had joined his family. At the sight of her, the faces of the Wolfenbach family registered different degrees of anger and annoyance.

  “What are you doing in the drawing room?” she asked her husband.

  Fenris’s face flushed, and his eyes glittered dangerously. “What am I doing in the drawing room? What is he doing here?” He pointed to his brother. “Is it true that you invited him to Wolfenbach?”

  Cissy stood very still. “Indeed it is.” At her back she could feel Johann’s reassuring presence. Her husband’s eyes flickered from her to his valet. She saw how his expression slightly relaxed, and astonishment replaced some of his anger. His brow furrowed in an unspoken question.

  Steadily, she met his gaze. Please, trust me in this.

  Leopold snorted. “You let me think he was dying!” he spat. “What kind of joke is this?”

  “Indeed, my dear, this is a very strange ruse, I must say,” the old Graf spoke up.

  Fenris slowly crossed his arms upon his chest. His eyes narrowed.

  “Is it?” Cissy focused on Leopold and let a small smile play around her lips. She looked him up and down. “Yes, I let you believe your brother was dying.” She lifted her brows. “For isn’t that what you hoped to hear?”

  “W-what?” Leopold spluttered.

  “I say!” Both the Graf and the Gräfin shook their heads in disbelief.

  The Graf’s face turned purple. “What kind of rubbish is this?” he thundered.

  “Indeed!” Leopold fumbled with his necktie. “Totally…ridiculous.”

  Cissy threw a glance at her husband to gauge his reaction. Not surprisingly, his face had frozen into the familiar stony mask. Not even a flicker of an eyelid betrayed what he was thinking.

  A wave of fresh anger assaulted Cissy. “Oh, is it ridiculous?” she asked archly, shifting her attention back to her brother-in-law. “How interesting. Weren’t you the one who told my maid the title and everything should one day be rightfully yours? That Fenris had no right to come back after the war? Hm?”

  Leopold paled. “Y-your maid?” He rolled his shoulders and worked up some blustery indignation. “Ha! What would I care about a silly chit of a servant girl?” He waggled his finger. “If I were you I’d…I’d be careful about such false allegations, sister!”

  “Indeed, Celia.” The Gräfin touched a corner of her handkerchief to her eyes. Her voice, though, was cold. “You are most definitely going too far!”

  Cissy shrugged, but she didn’t take her eyes off Leopold. Oh, little mousie, no matter how you run and keep trying to wriggle out of it, the trap has already dosed behind you. And how the thought filled her with grim satisfaction.

  “Quite so.” Tossing his head back, Leopold puffed himself up. “I don’t even know the girl.”

  Cissy gave a laugh. “Oh, come on, brother.” She lifted her brow. “After all, you seduced her.” With mock playfulness she batted her lashes at him.

  Leopold gasped like a fish on dry land.

  “Which you did while you were still courting me, did you not?” Cissy continued relentlessly. Her voice was sweeter than honey. “And how practical for you: after all, you needed somebody to saw into Fenris’s wooden leg so he would fall and look like a fool.” She cocked her head to the side and nodded knowingly.

  Gasping, the Gräfin fell back on the settee.

  “Is this true, son?” the Graf inquired, his voice tremulous.

  Leopold just stared at Cissy, slack-jawed.

  “For as you’ve already told me—us—on an earlier occasion, such a fall would prove perfectly what poor husband material your brother makes. A ‘cripple.’ Wasn’t that the gist of your little speech?”

  A wave of deepest red rushed up from beneath the folds of Leopold’s cravat. “You…you…” She wouldn’t have been surprised if foam had formed in his mouth.

  Again, Cissy flicked her gaze to her husband. His eyes had been glued to his brother, but now, as if he felt her looking at him, he turned to her. A muscle jumped in his jaw. How she longed to rush to him and take him in her arms!

  “You wanted to get the castle so you could finally search for the fantastic Wolfenbach Hoard and become rich beyond your wildest dreams,” she accused Leopold quietly, her gaze still on her husband. “But your plan did not work. I chose your brother.”

  At that, Fenris’s features fractionally softened.

  She felt her lips curve a little in response. “Yes, I chose your brother. Bad for you.” And as her voice hardened, her eyes switched back to Leopold. “And so you tried something else. A lonely country lane, anything can happen there—a horse might shy, a rider might fall…”—she widened her eyes—“and die.”

  Leopold’s temper snapped. “You little bitch!” He took a few menacing steps toward her. “You shut up! That was an accident!” His face distorted into an ugly grimace. “An accident!”

  Unperturbed, Cissy stared back at him. “An accident?” She gave a delicate snort. “You call it an accident? You standing in the underbrush, firing a shot into the air so your brother’s horse would bolt and your brother might crack his skull on a stone? What a most interesting defi
nition!”

  “I did no such thing!” Leopold yelled, his face mottled.

  Fenris frowned. “A shot in the air?” he asked, his voice gruff. “Why not shoot me?”

  “Oh, that’s easy. It wouldn’t have looked like an accident then.” Coldness touched her heart while she calmly dissected the plot to destroy him. Cissy folded her hands in front of her to still their sudden trembling.

  Looking like an irate bull, Leopold breathed noisily through his nose. “You’ve got no proof of this.” He turned to his parents. “You can’t possibly believe her. I did no such things. She is a raving lunatic.”

  “How interesting. Marie said exactly the same thing,” Cissy exclaimed with false brightness. “Of course we’ve got proof.—Johann?” He handed her the boots. “Johann and I, we went back to the place of the so-called ‘accident’ and found that somebody had stood in the underbrush waiting for Fenris. Somebody whose right riding boot has a broken heel.” She turned the boots around. “Just like Leopold’s right boot has a broken heel.”

  For a moment the silence in the drawing room was absolute.

  Leopold started laughing. “Yes! Yes, I did it!” He threw his hands up. “I did it! Because then Wolfenbach would belong to me!” He regarded his brother with glittering eyes. “You should’ve never come back from the war. You should’ve snuffed it on one of these battlefields you were so eager to see!” A little bit of saliva ran down from the corner of his mouth. “You ruined our whole family! They took away all our privileges!”

  With an expression of utter weariness, his father wiped a hand across his forehead. “God, Leopold. The titled families in this country have been steadily losing their privileges ever since 1803.”

  “But not the land!”

  The Graf sighed heavily. “We still have enough land left to live in comfort.”

  “Ha! He brought dishonor over the name of our family!” Leopold spat. “Don’t you care about this at all?”

  “Actually…” Cissy stepped up to her husband and took his hand. As the reassuring warmth of his fingers engulfed hers, she relaxed a little. “Attempted fratricide versus fighting for the freedom of one’s country and all of Europe? What do you think is the more dishonorable, hm? Besides, you would have needed to kill me, too, for the castle would have still belonged to me. Or do you think I would have married you? Never!” She leaned her head against Fenris’s shoulder and felt him tighten his hold of her hand.

  “Tough luck for you, is it not, little brother?” Fenris asked softly. “It would have all been for naught.”

  Leopold gritted his teeth. “You bastard,” he growled. “If it hadn’t been for this little bitch—”

  “That is quite enough!” his father cut in. His mother was crying silently into her handkerchief.

  Cissy’s heart contracted in sympathy. “Oh, Anna,” she murmured. She slid her fingers out of Fenris’s hand and hurried toward the settee. Yet before she could reach it, a rough hand gripped her arm and hauled her backwards.

  “What a pretty show of sympathy.” Leopold’s breath whispered intimately against her ear, while he pressed her against his body. A click sounded close, then cool metal was pressed against her temple. “You should have told my brother’s lackey to check my pockets, Liebchen. Then he might have found this pretty toy.”

  “Leopold!”

  Cissy did not know from whom the shout had come, because the blood was roaring too loudly in her ears. Icy fear coursed through her, while her heart throbbed frantically against her ribs. Her gaze swiveled around the room and came to rest on her husband. She hardly recognized him.

  “Let her go at once,” Fenris snarled. Menace rolled off him in waves, and never had she seen such fury in his eyes. His features had tightened, his eyes narrowed, until he looked ready to rip Leopold’s throat out.

  His brother only chuckled. His breath puffed against Cissy’s cheek, and she shuddered in disgust. Another chuckle, then his taunting voice: “Oh, no you don’t, big brother. You will stay where you are—or would you like to watch your wife’s brains sprayed all over the wall?” With the barrel of the pistol he caressed her ear, her temple. “I would be sorry to do it, of course, but—”

  “Don’t you dare!” Fenris roared. Johann gripped his arm when he would have lunged forward.

  “Leopold,” the Gräfin pleaded, tears streaming down her face. “Don’t do this. Let Celia go.”

  “Oh, I will, Mother dear. I will. In time.” Abruptly, his tone changed. “Get me my horse,” he snapped. “And no tricks.”

  Anna stared at him, stricken, her face turning even whiter than before.

  “You bastard!” Fenris growled.

  “Johann?” The Graf’s voice was devoid of intonation. “Go to the stables and bring Leopold’s horse.”

  “Yes, Johann, do,” Leopold mocked. “And make it fast.”

  The valet threw a worried glance at Cissy, then leaned forward to whisper something in Fenris’s ear before he hurried out of the room. For a moment, the silence was absolute.

  The arm around Cissy’s middle tightened. “How cozy this is—is it not, Liebchen?” Leopold brushed his lips against her temple, laughed when she couldn’t suppress another shudder. “And now we will all follow dear Johann at a leisurely pace.” He continued to issue instructions and herded them out of the room, down the staircase and into the courtyard. “The perfect set-up for a family farewell.”

  The wind whistled sharply around the nooks and crannies of the castle. The gargoyles stared at them with dead stone eyes. Cissy swallowed hard. The time that passed until Johann finally came back with the horse seemed endless.

  “I will kill you for this,” Fenris forced out between gritted teeth.

  “I don’t think so. Not while I am holding a loaded pistol against your wife’s head. And here’s trustworthy Johann. Well done, Johann, well done.” Leopold took a few steps forward and dragged Cissy with him. “It seems the time has come to say adieu. Shall we give them something to remember me by, Liebchen?” Before Cissy knew what was happening, he roughly forced her chin up and pressed a hard kiss onto her lips. With a laugh, he finally shoved her away and swung himself up into the saddle.

  Cissy stumbled and would have fallen, but Fenris caught her in his arms. He enveloped her in a fierce hug. “Are you all right?” he whispered against her temple.

  She nodded.

  “Touching,” Leopold commented. “I would advise you not to send anybody after me.” His lips lifted into a feral smile. “This time I wouldn’t shoot into the air.” With a last glance at his family, he urged his horse on. “May you all rot in hell!” The next moment, he was out in the ward.

  “Dear God,” the Graf muttered. “Dear God.”

  Pressing her handkerchief tighter against her face, his wife hunched over, her pain so intense it nearly broke Cissy’s heart. She pressed her cheek against Fenris’s chest and closed her eyes. How she would have wanted to spare them this!

  Cissy heaved a sigh.

  She could only hope that Leopold had left their lives.

  Forever.

  Interlude

  With stony eyes they watched as he rode down the ward, followed his progress.

  Hatred coiled inside them, and a ripple of power whispered through the ancient walls of the castle.

  And then…

  …they pounced.

  The horse whinnied shrilly in fear, but they did not want the horse. It raced out of the castle and disappeared into the forest.

  Unperturbed, the trees hummed amongst themselves. After all, they had known the secret of Wolfenbach for centuries.

  Chapter 24

  Wearily, the family trudged back into the drawing room, where the Gräfin sank onto one of the settees, still crying silently.

  “I am so sorry,” Cissy said softly.

  The Graf shook his head. “Don’t be, my dear. Don’t be. I am only glad that he didn’t harm you. To imagine…” He rubbed his hand over his face before he went to sit down
beside his wife. He took her in his arms. “My poor sweetheart. Who would have thought it?”

  “Well…” Fenris grimaced wryly. “In one point Leo was right, though.” He shrugged. “I did ruin the family when I ran away to join the British army.”

  His mother lifted her tear-stained face. “Fenris Ferdinand, don’t you dare talk such utter nonsense!” Despite her tears, her voice rang strong and clear. “It was only right that somebody tried to stop that mad little Frenchman! My dear boy, don’t you know how proud we are of you?”

  Her husband cleared his throat and nodded.

  Fenris stared at his parents. And while his brother’s vile tirades against him had never effected any show of emotion, he now visibly paled. He licked his lips. “But I didn’t just lose you your privileges. I lost you your other son.”

  “Don’t be foolish,” the Gräfin said sharply. She wiped her nose. “Leopold managed to do that quite on his own.”

  “Oh.” For once, Fenris seemed at a genuine loss for words. He shifted his weight. “Well…” He awkwardly lifted his shoulders.

  “My dear boy.” His mother stood and went to him. She smiled a little as she did, tears swimming in her eyes. She rubbed his cheek, and then she reached up to draw his head down so she could press a kiss to his forehead.

  Cissy ducked her head and averted her gaze. The exchange between mother and son seemed too intimate for her to witness. She heard them murmur among themselves, and then more loudly: “I think we should retire,” Fenris said, the tiredness in his voice unmistakable. “The doctor might have been right about the bedrest after all. And Celia…” He turned his head to look at her.

  Cissy’s heart ached for him. Weariness had etched deep lines in his face, and he was pale beneath his tan. Yet, when their gazes met, his expression softened.

  “Celia should rest, too.”

  “Oh yes, she should.” The Gräfin looked at her intently. “What an ordeal this must have been for you, my dear. You are sure you are all right?”

  Cissy nodded. “I am perfectly fine,” she reassured her.