Heidelberg Effect (28 page)

“What are you doing
here,
Fraulein
?”
the butler said with obvious surprise.

“Herr Axel?” Ella’s voice answered.

Shit!
Rowan thought.
He pushed roughly
past two servant boys who were trying to see inside.

By God, they would all go down fighting if
they even laid a finger on her!

Rowan moved to the open doorway. The guards
standing there lowered their weapons and were looking inside.

Ella was sitting demurely in the center of
the large bed.

Completely naked.

“You will wait a long time
for Herr Axel, I’m afraid,
Fraulein
,” Dojo said, snickering,
and staring at Ella’s full breasts on display for everyone to see.
He turned and dismissed the guards. “Keep checking the other
rooms,” he ordered. “I will see to the
Fraulein
.”

Oh, hell no,
Rowan thought, as he barged into the room. He
heard Ella gasp and pull the
duvet
up to her chin.
Nice
, he thought.
For me, she covers up
.

“What is the meaning of this?” Dojo said to
Rowan. “Get out at once!”

“Okay, now I’m gonna shoot your skinny ass
in about ten seconds,” Rowan said as Ella hopped off the bed and
ran between them.

“Nein!
Nein
!” she said. She turned to Dojo, and
said
, “
Mein
Bruder ist ein Dummkopf.”

Dojo looked at her and then at Rowan. “He
speaks a foreign tongue,” Dojo said.

“No, he speaks gibberish,” Ella said. “He is
mentally impaired.”

Dojo did a slow up and down of Ella’s naked
body as she stood before him. He watched as Rowan reached out and
took her by the arm.

“Take him and leave at once,” Dojo said to
Ella, his voice heavy with resignation. “Herr Axel is in exile. You
would do well never to return. Tell his other whores.”

Ella turned to collect the clothes she had
sloughed off seconds before he opened the door.

“Immediately!” he shouted, and Ella ran from
the room without her clothes, dragging Rowan behind her.

Twenty minutes later, outside the castle
walls, she walked quickly toward the convent wearing Rowan’s robe.
Rowan, dressed in his peasant shirt and pants, walked one step
behind her. They walked silently since they knew that speaking
English could get them instantly killed by anyone who happened to
overhear, but also because Ella knew that Rowan was absolutely
fuming.

As soon as they got into the convent
kitchen, she turned on him: “I had it handled, Rowan. You need to
work on your control issues.”

“And you need to work on how fast you’re
able to get naked.”

“I thought you liked that particular skill
set of mine.”

“I can’t believe you’re trying to be funny,”
he said, daggers in his eyes. “You know how close you came to being
raped today? If I hadn’t been there? And don’t tell me you would’ve
talked him out of it.”

“It would’ve been bad,” Ella admitted,
settling on a kitchen stool and massaging her sore bare feet. “But
it would’ve been better than being hanged in the courtyard.”

Greta came into the room and made the sign
of the cross.

“God is blessing us beyond my power to
understand why,” she said. “But I fear our protection is at an
end.” She turned to Ella. “Did you hear about the men your husband
killed today saving our novices?”

“I did. It was the whole reason I was able
to sneak in and get the intel we need.”

“You found out something?” Rowan said with
surprise. “Something useful?”

“For starters…” Ella turned to Greta. “Axel
killed Christof today. I saw it. And then he ran like hell. I guess
there’s still some kind of law in Heidelberg he fears?”

“Christof is dead?” Greta gasped.

“Yes, and that’s bad,” Ella said, “but it’s
bought us time. And that’s good. They know about you, Rowan.” She
turned to him. “Axel may yet risk coming here for vengeance.”

“First things first,” Rowan said. He sat
down next to her.

“You mean my intel?” Ella said.

“I was going to say, beat your ass, but I
guess we could hear what you found out first.” He scooped her off
the bench onto his lap and she wrapped her arms around his
neck.

“Sorry,” she murmured into his neck. “I just
thought it would be better my way.”

“How many times am I gonna
hear
that
throughout our marriage?” he said in a low voice, but he
kissed her neck. She felt his arms tighten around her. They sat
quietly, holding each other.

“Sorry, Greta,” Ella said, pulling away
first.

“No, please,” Greta said. “I understand
completely. It has been a tense day for us all.”

“
The girls?” Rowan
asked.

“
Alice’s hands are cut deep
but nothing that won’t heal,” Greta said. “Ceci is
fine.”

“And emotionally?”

“You
saved
them, Marshal,” Greta said.
“They both know, if not for you, they would be at the castle now or
dead.”

“What happened?” Ella asked.

“A bunch of Axel’s goons tried to take the
girls when we were heading to the goat pasture.”

“You were carrying
your
gun
?”

“What’s the point of having it if I’m not
gonna carry it?”

“Good point, I guess.”

Greta twisted the hemp rope around her waist
and bit her lip as she looked at the two. “Christof dead and Axel
gone?” she said softly. “I cannot believe that is possible.”

“Believe it, Greta,” Ella said, reaching out
to touch her friend’s hand. “I think your problems just got handled
and we didn’t have to do a thing.”

“I cannot believe it,” Greta repeated.

Later that night, Ella and Rowan sat in bed
talking in hushed tones. They had barely made it to the bed before
they were ripping each other’s clothes off, such was their urgency
to connect and forgive, to love and get release after their day of
risk and terror. Rowan was rougher with her than he had ever been
before. His caresses seemed more possessive. Ella understood. He
had been afraid, too.

Later, as they lay entwined on the rough
pallet of their bed, she kissed his hands and placed them on her
breasts.

“I’m sorry, Rowan,” she said.

“I’m telling you, Ella. I have faced down
mobsters with AK-47s that didn’t scare me as much as seeing you
buck naked in that asshole’s room.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have gone off and let
you think I was on for the midnight bonfire.”

“Damn right you shouldn’t have.” He propped
himself up on one elbow and looked at her. “And I need you to
promise me right now, Ella, that you won’t ever do something that
stupid again. Promise me that you’ll never go your own way because
you think convincing me is just too much trouble.”

“I promise.”

“I mean it, Ella.”

“I mean it, too, Rowan.”

“Shit,” he said, looking up at the ceiling.
“I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

“
You say the sweetest
things.”

He gave her a sly look.
“Come ‘ere and I’ll
show
you a few sweet things, too.” He grabbed for her
and she squealed when they both tumbled from the bed to the
floor.

“Shhhhh!” she said, trying
not to giggle. “We’re in a
convent
, for heaven’s sake! Show
some decorum.”

“You sure showed plenty of that today and
more.”

“You need to hear what I found out
today.”

“Yeah, I’m in a big ass hurry, myself,” he
said, reaching for her.

She grinned, then leaned over and kissed
him. They looked into each other eyes for a moment. “I love you,
Rowan,” she said.

“We haven’t done this part yet?”

“No, we have not.”

He kissed her. “I love you, too, beautiful.
I thought that went without saying.”

“I don’t want it to go without saying.”

“I love you, Ella.”

They kissed. And Ella sank onto the
bedclothes they’d dragged down to the floor.

“It’s almost over,” she said. “Just a few
loose ends and the hard part’s done. We are coming down the
straightaway.”

“Yeah,” he drawled, propping himself up on
an elbow again and leaning over her to pull her hair away from her
face. “I just hope the finish line ain’t booby trapped.” He leaned
down and began a kiss that would not be stopped any time soon by
conversation.

Axel held the carving knife to the woman’s
throat and pressed. He waited until the blood appeared at the tip
of his knife before lifting the blade from her skin. He looked at
her husband, surprising himself that he had not heard the man’s
anguished cries before now, so focused had he been on his task.

“Well?” he asked. “Does your allegiance to
the Mother Superior transcend your care for your wife’s life?”

The woman quivered and wept. She squeezed
her eyes shut against the strong likelihood that she was about to
meet her creator. Axel’s hand never wavered.

“She asked me to help the
boy get a position at the castle,” the man said, his eyes full of
terror. “If…if he could do the job, and I saw that he likely could.
That is all,
mein Herr
, I swear it!”

“Where did this boy come from? There are no
boys living at the convent.”

“She told me he was a
relative. A nephew from the country. An addlepate. I beg
you,
mein Herr
.”

Axel hesitated. He hated not to finish what
he started. But the wench was fetching. He withdrew his knife and
before he looked up to see the relief die on the husband’s face, he
shoved her into the arms of his aide, a brutish man with no
nose.

“Bring her,” Axel said. “She will be pierced
tonight in more ways than one.”

Laughing at his own wit, he swung up onto
his horse and turned its head away from the keening, pleading man
he left in the courtyard of the pub.

The balance had been
restored to Axel’s life an hour ago when his father’s messenger had
arrived at Axel’s favorite Heidelberg whorehouse to say that his
brother lived and his father needed him to return to the castle. He
tried to remember
why
he had felt the need to flee in the first place. Clearly even
the attempted murder of a brother was an inconsequential crime for
a man of Axel’s station.

So, the hag had planted her
spy in his house, had she?
Axel thought of
the crescent moon he had carved on the head nun’s arm and how she
never even flinched. He smiled at the memory. It pleased him to see
a woman fight back. They so rarely did.

“Okay, Ella, so what did you find out?”

“I uncovered a plot that will put both Axel
and his Pop behind bars or worse.”

“Before you tell me the details, what kind
of evidence do we have to back it up?”

Ella was silent.

“You weren’t thinking of testifying about
what you heard, I trust?”

“You’re funny.”

“So you heard them plotting to murder
someone important?”

“Very important.”

“But you have no proof. How do we use the
information?”

“Well, maybe when the guy shows up
dead…”

“I meant
without
allowing them to
go through with their dastardly plan, Ella.”

“Look, Rowan. I don’t know how we prove it
or announce it to the world since that would involve us being
burned at the stake hand in hand.”

“As romantic as that sounds…” He grinned and
leaned over and kissed her on the nose. “Okay, fill me in on what
you found out and maybe the solution will present itself.”

Dojo, the butler and head steward,
intercepted Axel as he galloped into the stone courtyard of the
castle. His lordship had instructed Dojo to send Axel to him as
soon as he arrived. Dojo knew his orders did not allow for Axel to
eat or unbuckle his sword. He grabbed the bridle of Axel’s horse
and held it steady while Axel dismounted.

“Your father demands to see you
immediately,” Dojo said. “He says you are to gather all the castle
forces to attack the convent tonight. It is known that the man who
killed your men resides there.”

Axel pulled off his gloves and tucked them
into his saddle before turning to Dojo. “Does my father wish me to
kill them all?” Axel asked casually.

“Yes, lord,” Dojo said. “Everyone. He would,
however, suggest the gardener be taken alive if possible so that he
may burn later. For the citizens.”

“Thank you, Dojo. Oh, by the by, I am told a
wench was found in my bed chambers today?”

Dojo hesitated, his eyes flickered briefly
to the man, still mounted, who accompanied Axel. The man—one of the
guards from the castle—grinned a toothless evil grin.

“Yes, lord,” Dojo said, fear creeping into
his bones.

“And a simpleton? The size of a giant and
wearing a priest’s frock?”

From the
convent
. Dojo bowed his head in
silence.

“Lift your head, Dojo,” Axel snarled. “That
I may look into the face of my father’s faithful servant. The
traitor who allowed the bitch nun’s assassin into my bed chamber
and then to escape.”

Bravely, Dojo lifted his face to the
monster’s rage.

“Krüger and Axel are
planning on murdering
Prince Karl III
Philip’s head Catholic dude
at the monthly
market fair week after next.”