Loyal Heart (The Von Wolfenberg Dynasty #1) (17 page)

Perhaps the man did have a gentler side.
 

The emperor chuckled. “He’s none too pleased, however, that your pavilion is closer to the house than his.”

Brandt resolved to congratulate Vidar. Without intent his adjutant had succeeded in riling the arrogant duke.

A WAITING GAME

Sophia and Brandt continued their daily excursions on horseback, though they had to take a more roundabout route to the river. However, her mother had
suggested
Lute and Kon accompany them.

Though he was coming to trust her brothers, their presence made it difficult to discuss intimate feelings.

He could tell she was consumed with curiosity concerning the official meetings he’d been invited to attend since the emperor’s arrival three days earlier. “Are you going to tell me what you’ve been discussing?” she finally asked as their horses drank from the Elbe.

“We’d like to know too,” Lute said.

Brandt smiled. “I was wondering when you’d ask me,” he teased.

He considered his reply. It was difficult to be direct, because he wasn’t sure why the emperor was apparently very interested in his opinions regarding the proposed Italian campaign. Heinrich on the other hand had barely said a word to him, except to ask in almost unintelligible grunts about the men who’d attacked him. “We’ve discussed strategy,” he said.

“For Italy?” Kon asked.

“
Ja
. At first I admit I was reluctant to share my ideas. I don’t want the Staufens to think I’ve been aiding a potential enemy.”

“If they ever arrive,” Lute declared. “I don’t think they are coming.”

Brandt too had begun to wonder if his duke had decided not to attend the meetings. He and his brother were two days overdue. If they didn’t come it would mean only one thing. The Wolfenbergs and the Rödermarks would be on opposite sides of another bloody conflict. Sophia was adamant she believed he was her destiny, but he couldn’t allow her to leave her family for him, especially with the Rittenhuis question unresolved.

She pierced him with green eyes full of longing. “They’ll come,” she declared. “They have to.”

~~~

When they returned to the house, Brandt made his way to her father’s solar, having accepted Kon’s offer to take care of stabling Löwe. He bowed gallantly and brushed a warm kiss across her knuckles before taking his leave, and Sophia had to be content with that. She sensed even the slight bow had caused him discomfort.

She and Lute left the four horses with the ostler after Kon promised to make sure the fellow took proper care of their steeds. He grumbled constantly about being overworked, despite that the visiting nobles hadn’t brought their mounts to the stables.

Halfway to the house, her brother stopped. She turned, dismayed by the frowning uncertainty on his face. “What is it?”

He studied his dusty boots. “It seems unfair,” he said.

“What does?”

“You…and Brandt. He’s obviously an honorable man who would be a good husband.” He ground one heel into the gravel. “It’s also evident you care for him, and he for you, but…”

He looked up at her with such distress her heart broke. She put her hands on his shoulders. “No matter what happens, you are my brother, and I will always love you, and Kon and Johann.”

He clenched his jaw. “Even if one of us has to kill the man you love?”

“This looks serious,” Kon said breathlessly, catching up.

Sophia took her hands off her brother’s shoulders and clenched her fists.

Lute glared at his brother. “I thought you were tending to the horses.”

Kon’s nose twitched. “I was but Vidar came along so I left the job to him. The ostler is probably more afraid of him than he is of me.”

Sophia’s heart was already beating frantically after Lute’s unanswerable question, now it bled for the gentle Kon. Of all her brothers he was the one least suited to warfare. It flew in the face of everything he believed in.

“You’re discussing the campaign, aren’t you?” he said, his eyes darting from her to Lute and back again. Suddenly he smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ve prayed on it. Everything is going to be all right.”

He sauntered off, whistling jauntily.

“Let’s hope he’s right,” Lute muttered.

She linked her arm with his, amazed by her little brother’s apparent confidence in the future. “Perhaps he knows something we don’t.”

He shrugged, but suddenly tensed, shaded his eyes and looked towards the head of the valley. “Dust,” he observed, pointing to the hills. “A large group of mounted men. The Staufens have arrived.”

~~~

Sophia burst into the count’s solar, her cheeks flushed red. “They’re here,” she exclaimed breathlessly.

Her brothers followed not far behind. “Entering the valley,” Lute explained.

The count, the emperor and the duke got to their feet. Brandt wasn’t sure his legs would sustain him if he made the attempt. Not a religious man, he’d nevertheless prayed fervently the Staufens would come, yet now they were here the day of reckoning was at hand.

Monumental decisions had to be made in the next few days, decisions that would effect not only him and Sophia, but their families and thousands of other people in Germany and Italy.

“Be calm,” the emperor said, though Brandt heard the strain in his voice. “We’ll greet them with the dignity they deserve.”

Heinrich snorted, dragged his wailing son away from the toys he’d been playing with and strode out.

The emperor followed.

Sophia’s father proffered his hand. “It’s up to us now, Brandt,” he said softly.

Wolfenberg had been chosen as the site for these meetings because
Graf
Dieter had a reputation as a diplomat, a peacemaker, but it had become evident in the last few days that Brandt would also be called upon to be a go-between, a voice for reconciliation.

His father would deem the notion ludicrous, might even consider him a traitor to the Staufens, but Brandt felt strangely confident. He’d learned a great deal in the few days he’d spent with Dieter von Wolfenberg. Things weren’t always black and white.

He accepted the offer of help to stand, but was almost bowled over when Sophia seemed to come out of the trance that had kept her hovering in the doorway and threw her arms around his neck.

“Sophia,” her father chided.

“I can’t help it, Papa. I’m so afraid.”
 

THE LETTER

As the Staufen brothers neared the house
Graf
Dieter suggested to the emperor that Brandt stand in the front row to greet them. “It will signal open-mindedness,” he said.

The emperor agreed, but Heinrich was clearly disgruntled with the idea, despite that he insisted his seven year old son be at his side.

As the dukes dismounted, Brandt took strength in knowing Sophia stood directly behind him. He wondered what her first impression was of the two richly dressed men who many referred to as
The Peacock Brothers
. Not to their face of course, and certainly not in front of
Graf
Gunther Rödermark.

Too late he realized he should have warned her of Friedrich’s impairment.

The emperor embraced the brothers, Friedrich first. “My friends,” he declared effusively, “welcome to Wolfenberg. I trust you had a good journey.”

“Long,” Conrad replied without a trace of a smile.

“Too far to travel in this heat,” Friedrich added.

Apparently undaunted, the emperor carried on. “You know Duke Heinrich of Saxony…and Bavaria.”

Brandt had to hand it to Lothair. He’d subtly reminded the Staufens of Heinrich’s extensive possessions. The brothers knew only too well that Saxony and Bavaria effectively hemmed in their own lands to the north and east.

“Heinrich,” Conrad acknowledged, pointedly looking at the seven year old and not the father.

Friedrich said nothing.

It didn’t bode well.

Behind Brandt, Sophia whispered something to her mother.

“I don’t believe you’ve met our host,” Lothair continued. “May I present
Graf
Dieter von Wolfenberg.”

Sophia’s father stepped forward and bowed. “My family and I are honored to welcome you both to our humble home.”

To Brandt’s surprise, Conrad proffered a hand. “Von Wolfenberg. Your reputation precedes you.”

Dieter accepted the handshake. “You’ve heard only good things, I hope, Your Grace.”

Conrad laughed, something Brandt had never witnessed before. “Indeed!”

Friedrich then shook Dieter’s hand.

Brandt snapped his mouth shut when the emperor took his elbow, but before he could be introduced, Conrad embraced him. “Rödermark! Good to see a friendly face,” he quipped. “How are you?”

Sophia gasped.

Brandt gritted his teeth, fearing Conrad’s bear hug might undo the progress he’d made with his ribs. “I am well, Your Grace. The Wolfenbergs have taken good care of me.”

Speaking close to Brandt’s ear, Duke Conrad rasped, “Don’t know how you managed it, but thank you for ensuring our pavilion is the closest to the house.”

He strutted on to be introduced to Johann.

Brandt was still chuckling inwardly when Friedrich also embraced him, patted him heartily on the back and said, “We met with your father en route.” He reached into his doublet and pulled out a flattened parchment. “He sent a missive.”

Brandt accepted the letter with a heavy heart. Gunther Rödermark rarely bothered with correspondence. The contents could only be about one thing. He tucked the parchment into his doublet and turned slightly to reassure Sophia, but she was curtseying to Duke Conrad.

~~~

Sophia’s heart stopped beating the moment she heard Duke Friedrich announce he had brought a missive from Rödermark. Up to that moment she’d been fixated on his one blind eye, wondering why he didn’t cover the disfigurement with a patch.

Judging by the rigid set of Brandt’s shoulders when he accepted the parchment, he didn’t expect to read good news.

She watched him accompany the Staufens to Conrad’s pavilion after the introductions and polite small talk were over and done, and an agreement had been reached to begin negotiations on the morrow.

The emperor and duke withdrew to their respective pavilions.

She assisted her mother and Kristina in supervising the bringing of food and refreshments to the food pavilion still erected near the house. All the while she kept an eye on the comings and goings at Duke Conrad’s pavilion. Servants in Staufen livery trundled in elaborate furnishings including beds and mattresses that looked more like they belonged in an opulent home than in a tent, and two ornate chairs with carved arms, but of Brandt and the dukes there’d been no sign.

The letter was likely burning a hole in his doublet as big as the one in her heart. She fretted for him if he’d been obliged to be on his feet for an hour since there were only two chairs.

“Stop worrying,” her mother said, dragging her attention back to the preparations for the alfresco meal. “He’ll read it as soon as he can.”

Sophia chewed a nail. “What if…”

Her mother snatched her hand away from her mouth. “Don’t start that habit. Worrying won’t magically change the contents of the letter.”

Sophia had a lunatic notion to seek out Wendelin. Perhaps the
hexe
could cast a spell and…

But her mother was right. She had to trust that whatever obstacles the letter contained, she and Brandt would overcome them together.

~~~

Both dukes spent an inordinate amount of time, in Brandt’s opinion, trying to decide on the best location in the pavilion to place the ornate chairs their servants carried in. He was relieved when they finally agreed and sat down, indicating he should sit on the small camp chair he was used to. It wasn’t the most comfortable but it was better than remaining on his feet.

He expected censure for fraternizing with the enemy but Duke Conrad quickly waved away his initial attempt to explain himself. “We are interested in learning what you have found out about the proposed campaign against Ruggero. Your father was angry when you didn’t return home right away after the wedding. He calmed when my brother explained you had probably lingered to find out what you could.”

The Staufens evidently thought he was an effective spy who’d managed to charm his way into the confidence of the Wolfenbergs and the emperor.

He didn’t look forward to the moment they discovered the real reason for his extended stay.

He felt no qualms about sharing with them the various strategies he’d discussed with the emperor, genuinely believing there was much to be gained in joining forces with Lothair against Ruggero. But he would leave it up to them to arrive at that conclusion. They weren’t the kind of men who appreciated being “advised.”

He was anxious for the interview to be over so he could read his father’s letter.

When there seemed to be nothing left to discuss, he reminded them of the invitation to dine in the outdoor pavilion.

Brandt
 
got to his feet when the dukes stood.