Nightingale (17 page)

"But why did Prince Vehnsky want you? A reminder of his
wayward daughter?"

"He said that I was to be the recompense to his loyal Apothecary,
my grandfather Almassy, for the loss of his Miklas. My grandparents and I lived in a cottage between the forest and the great garden that they tended, at a distance from the great folk in the palace. My mother took the veil and died as a Bride of Christ. She said she would never have relinquished me to the Prince her father, had her her half-brother Laszlo not already gone to his reward."

"’Tis truly said that to have a life others call 'interesting' is little more than a curse. My life, too, has been interesting."

"We both seem to have been born in tales from tragic opera," Akos sighed.

"In Opera Seria, your father would have been a prince in disguise and it all would have ended happily."

"Yes. He did not have that good fortune."

They embraced each other. Just for an instant, Klara felt a tremor in his arms. The melancholy story fingered chords of their own forbidden love.

"Did you ever see your mother again?"

"Yes, but only a few times and in deepest secrecy, not only from my two grandfathers but from the Abbess as well. The last time, we met in a room where I could play for her, but that was a mistake."

"Oh, but why?"

"She wept, my angel, as if she would never stop. I fear that hearing me play only disturbed the peace, the resignation, for which she prayed."

Klara felt tears rising. In silence they held each other, as if nothing on earth could pull them apart.

"Are your eyes like hers?" Klara murmured at last, gazing into his magical, mutable hazel.

"Yes. How did you know?"

They shared a sipping kiss. "Because," Klara breathed against his mouth, "they are too beautiful, too full of understanding, to belong to any man."

"Mother says that except for my eyes, I am very like my father. On the other hand, Grandfather Almassy, who has a strict regard for truth, says that I look like myself and not much like either parent, for which he frequently says I should thank my lucky stars."

Klara considered that and then she asked, "And why are you called Akos?"

"It is a name from Princess Edit’s family. I was christened ‘Miklas Akos’ and that is how my mother addressed me, but for obvious reasons the first name was never used after I was brought back to Komarom."

"And what does Akos mean, dear one? I’ve never heard of the name before.”

“It is old Hungarian, and it means ‘Hawk’.”

Klara thought it was like something out of a fairy tale. “And what of that great Prince, your grandfather? Your bearing always honors him, and yet how strange it must be, knowing who he is."

"I do honor him. I have everything to thank him for, even my life, but I do wonder what those mighty Vehnskys think now that the child of their runaway daughter is a man. By blood, a high Prince of Hungary is my grandfather, and yet my station is such that I must bow to cousins as a servant. Still, considering the transgression of my humble father against his noble house, the old Prince has been to me the very opposite of that violent son of his. He did not force my mother to give me up as soon as I was born. She said that to have me by her side for those first sad years was a great comfort to her."

"But do not others of the family despise you?"

"One of them makes his scorn plain, but the Prince simply sends me away on other tasks while he visits. Fortunately, that gentleman's lands border the Turk, and he has things greater than me and the long-ago folly of a half-sister on his mind. The others, including the Prince's heir, Count Bela, simply treat me as they would any other servant, not marking me out in any way, but complaining or complimenting as the mood takes them. As a matter of fact the Vehnskys have many illegitimate sons among them. The boys have all been educated like gentlemen and sent into the army or other suitable professions. I believe that this explains their tolerance toward me, although the sin of a woman of high blood is always more severely punished. Grandmother Edit is now dead, as are the two other gentle ladies who were my mother's full sisters. That whole branch of the family was doomed to wither, touched by one queer fate after another. In fact, I am the only shoot of Prince Vehnsky's union with the Lady Edit still living. Of course, my identity is an open secret."

Klara shook her head. "And did the Prince have you taught swordsmanship too?"

"There were always boys about the palace learning swordsmanship and horsemanship. There was one group of three boys close to my age, all illegitimate children. As four are required for fencing, I was included. Grandfather Almassy hated my learning that, and resisted it, too, for some time. He wanted me to keep to his trade and to, as he says, 'stay simple and keep thy place and thy life’. My father had been the apple of his eye. In fact, a few years ago he told me that if Prince Laszlo had not so quickly made his own end, he had formed a plan to avenge himself."

"Oh, heaven! What did he intend? For killing a nobleman, the death is terrible."

"An apothecary has ways the world does not always recognize," said Akos softly. "Thank God, though, that he did not have to resort to that. You know, at first dear Grandpa Almassy even feared my training in music, but he couldn't deny the gift I had. Finally, he wept and gave in. It was the greatest moment in my life when, just last year, he told me that to listen to me play gave him back his beloved son.”

"And you are a very fine musician, dear Almassy! The best accompanist I've ever had, bar none."

"Thank you, Klara. It was my mother who gave me my first lessons at a little spinet. I can remember her holding me on her lap. I remember wanting so much to please her."

"And so you must have."

"Well, I have pleased others, Klara, but not yet myself. Perhaps it is as Grandfather Almassy says, Jack of all trades, master of none, but the truth is that I don't believe I was meant to be a great one. Compared to someone like young Mozart, I am a mere mechanism."

"No, Akos," Klara said. "Don't ever say that! Little Mozart plays divinely, 'tis true, but you must not deny that your talent brings your listeners great joy."

He'd been watching her, her earnest expression, with growing delight. In the next instant he'd bent to catch her mouth with his. When the tender kiss ended, he said, "I am at least wise enough to know that I've found the woman to whom I wish to play a blissful accompaniment for the rest of my life."

"Very pretty, Herr Concertmaster Almassy, but don't you men truly have to hold center stage?"

"Not at all, you rascal!" Akos' face brightened at her lighter mood. "But I share with young Mozart a pleasure in getting inside the main melody."

"Am I the melody of which you speak?" This was wicked, but Klara couldn't resist the jest.

They shared another sweet, sipping kiss.

"Tell me your birthday."

"Why?" he teased, running his lips across her full throat.

"Because it seems we were fated to love each other."

"And if you find I am born under a sign for which you have no taste?"

"I could never believe that."

"Ah, believe! Believe! That is what Pisces must by nature do."

"How do you know I am born under Pisces?" Klara ran a long finger along the curve of his mouth. "Don't tell me now that you are an astrologer as well as apothecary and musician?"

"Let us simply say that I am good at mathematics, and the man whom the Prince employed to teach us children was an enthusiast."

"Ah! Then 'tis as I suspected. You are the magician!"

"Shh," he murmured, "don't tell."

"But your birthday," Klara whispered. "I want to know."

"Guess.” At the same time, his hand was busy, on a teasing exploration of the soft whorls of her ear. "Show me your famous Piscean intuition."

She looked up at him, the vitality of his cat's eyes, his shining black mane. She ran her hands along his strong arms and up to his square shoulders. He was sensual, physical, impetuous, and clever…
.

"Sagittarius!" Dark fire, she thought, with all the dangerous power of the sign.

"An excellent guess, but the Archer is not the best match for you."

"Perhaps it is the moon which makes us compatible," she said, laughing softly.

"My mother was not precise in her reckoning, for her labor was long and afterwards she was desperately ill. In fact, the sisters did not think she would survive, for I had the bad judgment to arrive breach. October, late, is what I know."

"Oh," Klara whispered, suddenly solemn. She had been told that her own mother had died in childbirth. She could not even begin to imagine the anguish that a family must feel under those dismal circumstances.

"We have both survived against great odds and have found each other."

"Destined. That is how I felt the first moment I saw you."

There might have been more, much more, but footsteps and voices in the hallway heralded the end of their time alone. Moving away from the other, they presented a mannerly, if slightly rumpled, picture to Olympia and Florian, who came after a loud knock, into the room.

Chapter
10

On the night of the Melgrube ball, Klara donned a dress of blue and green brocade which fell just below her knees. In the back, with Liese’s help, she attached a large bustle, ornamented with long blue tail feathers and dangling ribbons of blue and green. There was a high-necked blue jacket with feathers sewn down all over it which buttoned up tightly on top, and the bird look of the costume was completed by bright yellow stockings and matching heels.

She remembered, as she put it on layer by layer in front of a long mirror, having an argument about it with Max. He’d declared it was “not in good taste”, but Klara had thought it perfect for the comic opera she’d been performing, even if it did show off her ankles and calves. Jealous that others should see what was “his”, Max had gone off into a long lecture about “propriety”. With a certain amount of spiteful satisfaction, Klara donned the same costume for tonight’s adventure.

"Fraulein, do you think it's wise to go to this Mehlgrube ball?" Liese had asked the question several times. "It's a public masquerade. Every kind of rabble will be there."

"Herr Adamberger and his wife will escort me. I'll be in no danger at all. Now do stop fussing and help me fix this headdress. It keeps slipping."

"I don't think it's proper, what with the Master's away. And when did you ever like to go to public balls, anyway?"

"Now that I'm over that wretched cold, I just want to get out. Besides, among the rabble, I might find Prince Joseph."

The health of the old Empress had been precarious this winter. Among all classes, interest in her successor was growing.

"The Prince is a serious gentleman, Fraulein. I'm sure he doesn't go to rag tail public balls."

"I've heard that he's been kicking up his heels quite a bit lately. He detests his wife, you know."

"Well, I hope that impertinent Hungarian won't be there. I didn't like the way Prince Vehnsky wished him on us. The cures he used didn't seem at all decent to me. You know," she added stiffly, "I shall have to tell Count Oettingen all about what he did."

"Go ahead," Klara replied. "And I shall tell him Herr Almassy’s cures have saved my voice. Why, he made me well far more quickly than when I was ill last autumn and Doctor Hundchowsky attended. For your information, Liese, Signor Manzoli believes that Herr Almassy’s cure was very nearly a miracle."

"That … that – I don't know what," muttered the servant. She made no bones about the fact that she disliked Manzoli. Why aristocrats had ever preferred to hear ‘unnatural creatures’ sing instead of women was utterly beyond her. "He'll say anything you want, won't he? After you became his pupil, you know how fast his purse fattened. I suppose I should just thank God," she groused, knowing that she'd been bested, "that at least you’ll be wearing a long cloak.”

Klara did not bother to reply, just went about getting the tall, feathered headdress into position. The truth, however, was exactly as Liese suspected. Klara had received a note from Akos saying that he would be attending the Mehlgrube ball and asking if she could find a way to meet him there. A billet for entry had been enclosed.

It had been days since they had seen each other. Klara was so much better that treatment was no longer needed. With Liese's suspicious aroused, Klara did not dare see Akos at home anymore. To make things even more difficult, Herr Novotna had suffered from another of his fainting spells, and this had called Akos back to fill the Concertmaster's post again. Those duties seemed to take up every minute.

Tonight, however, Prince Vehnsky would be attending the Empress. Those servants whose duties were not to the Prince
’s house or body could slip out to the wherever.

Klara had sent a note back to Almassy saying that he was to search a bird of paradise. Then, by her own servants, she sent a note to the Adambergers, asking if they would escort her to the Mehlgrube. She knew Florian had a few days with no performances to worry about and that he and Olympia liked to go out and have fun at Carnival parties whenever they could.