Into the Lion's Den (100 page)

'Yes, like a brother, nothing that could be compared to before,' his conscience informed him. Konrad remembered the second kiss, on his cheek and the light, almost ceremonial, embrace Guntram gave him the night he left for New York. 'And he's back to his old room. I wonder if he will ever come back to mine. He's here to be their tutor and the rest is to be seen. We are back to the original offer; friendship and nothing else. No, something else: Jerôme de Lisle is included in the pack. The worst deal of my life.'

'No, one of the best; otherwise he would have disappeared with my kitten. I won his love once; I can do it again. The odds were much worse than they are now.'

Realising that he was going to be late, he shook his head to cast his ghosts away. 'Be calm and the rest will come by itself.' He closed his laptop, where he had pretended to work, but nothing had been done and went to the door, descending the stairs slowly and looking poised, a huge contrast against the turmoil he felt inside.

He noticed that the door was opened and all the servants had been lined up. 'Good Dieter remembered because I forgot to tell him.'

The butler looked certainly nervous and only peered for a second to his Duke, with Alexei towering at his side. Konrad simply stood next to them, impassable as always and watched without interest how the chauffeur opened the black Mercedes door and the pug ran toward the kitchen. Michel Lacroix descended from the car and only stared at him with a mix of contempt and coldness. So focused was Konrad in his adversary that he missed the moment when Guntram, approached him timidly and greeted him in a soft voice.

“Hello, Guntram, Welcome back,” he said very formally and cracked a smile.

“Thank you for the invitation, Konrad,” the boy returned the smile very briefly and shyly.

'This should be forbidden. He can't smile at me like that and expect that I keep my cold blood!' Konrad thought and again, Guntram had to repeat his question a bit louder than before.

“May I introduce my godfather to Mr. Antonov?”

“Yes of course,” Konrad said. “Antonov, this is Michel Lacroix, Guntram's godfather. He was staying with him in Germany and will move to Zollikon.”

“How do you do, sir?” Alexei said out loud and extended his hand to the man, a bit taller than Guntram, but not much and wearing a seal with a black stone and a tiny golden Crenel cross over it. 'From one of the oldest families, like the Holgersens or the Löwensteins.' He bowed his head to the man.

“Guntram has spoken very highly of you, Mr. Antonov. I'm indebted to you for all what you have done for him,” Michel said gravely and shook the Russian's hand.

“It's my pleasure to look after him, sir,” Alexei said and moved aside.

Unable to hold himself any longer, Konrad ignored the venomous look from Michel and grabbed Guntram by his elbow and led him inside, out of the heat, followed by Friederich and Michel. “Come with me, I'll show you the babies now,” he said to moderate the abruptness of his actions. “Friederich, take Mr. Lacroix to the living room, please.”

“Certainly, sir,” the old man sighed and added when Konrad was away. “Perhaps Mr. Lacroix would like to discuss with Mr. Antonov Guntram's security details.”

Guntram felt himself pulled by the arm toward the main stairwell. “Wait, please!” he whispered and disentangled from the strong grip. “We need to speak in private. Without my father or anyone else present.”

“Guntram, you will like the children. Don't worry.”

“Please, it's important that we leave some things clear before I see Klaus and Karl.”

Without saying another word, Konrad turned around and walked toward his own private studio in the tower. Guntram seemed to hesitate to enter in his quarters, but he took a big breath and followed the German.

“Please, do sit down,” Konrad said nervously.

“Thank you. There are two things I want to tell and then, if you still want, I'll see the children.”

“I'm listening.” 'If Lacroix has been setting new conditions, the answer is no. He's worse than the Vicomte!'

“The bad or worse?” Guntram said, weakly smiling and very nervous.

“Let's start by the bad.”

“As you know, I asked Friederich to send me to my old room. I know, I should have told you first, but I didn't reach any conclusion till this morning. I don't think I could resume our intimacy as before.”

“I understand it perfectly, Guntram. As I told you, I'm willing to wait for you till you want. I'm glad that you decided to return for our children's sake. I hope we can be friends.”

“We can't be friends, Konrad. I know this,” Guntram said dejectedly.

“Are you having second thoughts about it? You don't want to be my consort any longer?”

“No, I want to stay with you and the babies. We cannot be friends because I love you despite all,”

Guntram confessed and blushed.

“Do you still love me?”

“Like always, but I fear my reaction if you touch me. I can't get out of my mind what went between you and my uncle Roger. My father told me several times that it was something akin to a magnetic passion and that you never loved each other, but the picture Constantin showed me, keeps appearing in my mind.”

“Your father is right. I never loved Roger like I love you. You gave me my life back and my children. I'm deeply ashamed of my past with him. I never wanted you to find it out and be hurt for it. You are the last person I want to hurt in this world. Your love, when I had it, showed me that another world was possible. I will wait all the time you need to accept me; my whole life, if necessary. But please, don't go away now. I need your support to look after the children. I don't know what to do and I'm lost without you.”

“I missed you every day all this time, even if I was furious with you. I wanted to hit you, to smash something in your head for lying to me.”

“You had every right to do it.”

“I was in the hospital. Dr. Wagemann must have told you already. My health is worse than before and I will not last long. There are not many chances that I live longer than my forties. Do you still want me as tutor for your children?”

“Yes, I do. I'm sure that your health will improve. You were much better since you came from Russia.”

“Yes, but the allergy episode and the stress in March were too much for my heart.”

“We will solve one thing at a time, Guntram,” Konrad whispered and his hand reached Guntram's to pat it briefly. “Now, tell me the worse,” he said encouragingly.

“It's about my father and Constantin. Hear me out before you shout, please!” he tried to stop Konrad from exploding but the man only looked at him furious. “Please, Konrad!”

“If Lacroix has been dealing with the enemy, he's in deep waters, Guntram. I will not allow this! I granted him a full pardon and the first thing he does is running to the Russian?”

“The Russian went to his office in Geneva! He had to deal with him!”

“What was it this time? He gives all our plans in exchange for his life?”

“No! I had agreed to be friends with Constantin again. To see him now and then, at my father's house in Zollikon. Perhaps give him part of my material.”

“Never! You will never come near that slime again! You don't have my permission! I'll have a word with your father for proposing you this! This is outrageous!”

“Konrad, please, don't be mad. I have already spoken with Constantin, last night with the mobile you gave me and agreed to this.”

“How dare you! You're my consort! You should have consulted with me first!” Konrad hit the table with his fist and Guntram flinched at the noise.

“You would have refused it.”

“Of course I would! Look what happened the last time you saw him!”

“We need to stop this madness. You're going to lose a lot if you continue with this!” Guntram shouted back. “Do you want to risk your position as
Hochmeister
? Besides, Constantin was not interested in me.”

“That's one of his charades! You should know him better!”

“No, I know him well. He's not interested in me any longer. I'm useless now and frankly he doesn't want to carry with the dead weight I am nowadays. Maybe he has found another artist too. There are hundreds of us. He didn't like that I was negotiating with him. He said that you ruined me and that I used to be a sweet child, but now I'm a bitter man. I guess, he finally realised that I'm not the person he used to love. His last words were “write to me and we will see”. It's over, Konrad. He has given up on me.”

“Your father had no right to make you speak with this man! Much less in your condition!”

“I'm not a frail maid, Konrad and I can make my own decisions. He only told me about it, but it was my choice to phone Constantin. I have not informed Michel yet and I would like that you do the same. He should stop meddling in my life. Once, he's installed, I will write to Constantin and you can check the letters,” Guntram said visibly upset at both men.

“I will not let you have contact with that man!”

“You will not decide who are my friends or not, Konrad. I only swore to respect you and stay away from the Order's business. If you are jealous of Constantin it means that you don't respect me at all, thinking that I'm going to be unfaithful to you. If this is the problem here, I leave now.”

“It's not that! I trust you. It's just that Repin is a criminal and you can't stand any more stress!”

“I will not open another front. If this helps Constantin to get over me, so be it. I can't live the rest of my life hiding behind your back or in fear that he would attack us,” Guntram said very calmly. “If you want, I'll leave now,” he added softly.

“No, stay and meet the babies. They're waiting for you,” Konrad replied with a small voice, understanding the he had to accept the young man's conditions or Guntram would really leave him forever this time.

This was his only chance and he had to seize it the best as he could. He rose from his chair, circled his desk and took Guntram's hand without asking for his permission, to pull him from his seat. “Come with me please, they should be awoken now.”

“Thank you, Konrad,” Guntram said with a shy smile and followed the Duke through the corridors up to the nursery in the third floor. With his heart fluttering, he stopped in front of the main door to the playroom and looked at Konrad in the eyes.

“Come, Guntram. Everything is as you left. The decorator finished her work based on your ideas and the furniture you chose.” The Duke opened the door and softly nudged the boy inside the large room, bathed by the sunlight, painted in beige and with some cupboards to store the toys, a small table with chairs, shelves for a few books and Guntram's drawings framed and hung high.

“Everything is exactly as I imagined,” the boy said in awe and noticed the tall woman standing there.

“Hello.”

“Good morning, sir,” she greeted him curtly and bowed her head to the Duke, before leaving the room in haste.

“Maybe the children are still sleeping. They sleep the whole day,” Konrad said gently.

“Should we return later?”

“No, when they sleep, they do it like logs.” 'Fortunately,' he thought before opening the door with great care and inwardly praying that Klaus would continue to sleep and avoid making a scene. “The one in the cot at the right is Klaus and the other is Karl”

Guntram entered in the large room containing two large cradles, individual baby changers, closets and two comfortable sofas and rocking chairs. Doing his best to be silent, he approached Klaus' bed and was immediately taken by the baby's soft features, so similar to his father's up to the last detail, even with his frowning expression. 'He might be getting hungry,' Guntram thought. He smiled very softly and felt that he couldn't leave him any longer. “He's very good looking with that light brown hair. I bet his eyes are blue.'

He turned around to look at the other child, sleeping all sprawled in his coat and was surprised to see that he looked much more beautiful than his brother, with a small round nose and almost white hair so blond that he was.

This one slept peacefully and obviously satisfied about something. 'The contended little baby,” Guntram thought and leaned over the crib to see him better.

'That's right, focus on Karl. He won't make trouble.' Konrad thought, while he checked anxiously every movement, grimace or word that Guntram might have said. 'He looks already in love with them.' With great care he advanced one step toward his kitten, ready to catch him once more, but the wooden floor creaked and Klaus wailed in his usual way, much to Konrad's horror.

Guntram couldn't believe that someone so small could make so much noise and stood there frozen when the nurse ran to the crib with a dummy in her hand. Konrad only sighed, knowing that it was useless to try to fool Klaus. He watched as the woman plugged in the pacifier, but after two sucks, Karl spat it out with all his strength and cried one pitch louder. 'Be quiet, please, the last I need is Guntram running away because of your temper!' he pleaded silently to his eldest son.

“May I carry Klaus, Konrad?” Guntram asked, while the nurse did her best to calm down the furious baby, nervous that her employer was looking more crossed than usual.

“Please, do it, sir. I'll get his bottle ready in a minute,” the woman said quickly and picked up the baby with a “hold well the head, and everything will be fine.”

Still afraid to do something wrong, Guntram took with infinite care the baby from her arms and rocked him a little with a “hello baby, just a second and you'll get something good.”

To everyone's surprise, Klaus stopped his crying and fixed his big blue eyes in Guntram and nestled better against the young man's arms.

“That has never happened before, sir,” the nurse said astonished. “Sit in one of the couches and I'll bring you his bottle,” she added, glad that the little fury was silent and busy with his inspection of the new tutor. 'If he can get this one quiet, I will not resign at the end of the month. I've never seen a baby so ill tempered as this one. Exactly as the father.'

Guntram sat in the rocking chair while he whispered to the baby that he was going to get something to eat. Konrad was shocked, but relieved that his kitten still liked Klaus after he had shown his temper. “Maybe he only wanted to be picked up. He's almost asleep again,” Guntram commented to Konrad.