The River Maid (24 page)

“
I’ll sleep here. I don’t think I can wait for another room to be made up.” Christian sank down onto the bed, his shoulders slumped in exhaustion. 

“
You poor boy,” Elise said. “Get some sleep. I will wake you if anything happens.”

She set the candelabra down on the dressing table and left them, shutting the door behind her. Christian pulled off his boots and let them fall to the floor. He looked over at Adrianna.
“Do you need anything?” he asked.

She felt suddenly shy. She was alone with him in a bedroom, although he probably didn’t think of her as a girl. “
No,” she said, shaking her head. “You shouldn’t have come back.”

“
Yes, I should have. We will worry about how to get you out of the city tomorrow.” He blew out the candles and lay back on the bed, still fully dressed. “Goodnight,” he said.

“
Goodnight,” she replied. Soon, she heard the deep even sound of his breathing that told her he was already asleep. She settled back against the bathtub and closed her eyes, but she couldn’t sleep. She lay awake listening to the sound of Christian’s breathing. For the first time since she had become a mermaid, she didn’t feel alone.

Chapter Twenty Seven

“
We’ve found no trace of her, Captain.”

Fournier looked in annoyance at the soldier stood before him. “She must still be here. There’s no way she could have left the city. Every exit in the river is blocked and every vehicle leaving the city is being searched and it
’s not as if she could have just walked out.”

The boy shifted anxiously.
“The entire city has been searching for her, but no one has seen her.”

He would be ruined if he didn
’t find her. The newspapers were already beginning to say that she had never existed, that she wasn’t real, that it was some kind of trick. It would be an embarrassment to the Emperor if she wasn’t found and he would be the one held responsible. Everything he had worked for would be lost.

He turned back to the solider. “Do they still believe
that she broke the glass?”

The boy nodded his head vigorously. “
Yes, Captain. Several people saw her striking the glass before it shattered.”

He hadn’t been at the ball the night she had escaped. If he had, none of this would have happened. He blamed the Emperor for failing to protect the creature properly. 

“Have you identified the men who aided her escape?”

“Witnesses agree there were two men, but we only know the identity of one of them. His name is Prince Christian of Hesse.”

Fournier frowned. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

“The prince served in the French army. He hid his identify and joined as a common solider and worked his way up the ranks before being injured at Austerlitz.”

Fournier remembered hearing about the prince’s exploits. It was all anyone had talked about for weeks. He had been jealous of how quickly the prince had risen through the ranks. But the prince had turned out to be a thief. He had wanted the creature for himself.

“Where does the prince live?” he asked the boy.

“In the Rhineland. He was staying at Katz Castle near a town called St Goarshausen.”

St Goarshausen was the place where he had first seen the creature. The prince must have known about her.

“Send men to the castle to search it. He may be taking her there. I will continue searching the city.” She must have bewitched them to help her escape. He knew about mermaids. There was only one way to take away their power. “When you find her, I want you to cut out her tongue.”

The soldier paled.
“The Emperor said she was not to be harmed.”

“
She’s capable of witchcraft, but without her voice she will be powerless. I want you to extend your search. She must still be in the city somewhere. I want you to find her.”

He had been too kind to her. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. When he got her back, he would make sure she never tried to escape again. She would learn who her master was.

~~~~~

Adrianna opened her eyes slowly. She was underwater. She tried to stretch out, but her tail met a hard wall. Thinking someone was restraining her, she panicked and sat up, sloshing water over the floor. With relief, she realised she was in a bathtub. Across the room, Christian lay asleep on the bed. He lay on top of the covers, still fully dressed, his arms crossed over his chest. His brown hair fell over his forehead and into his eyes. She had heard him tossing and turning in the night and calling out Lorelei
’s name, but he was sleeping peacefully now.

There was a soft knock on the door and Elise entered, carrying a tray with two plates of food. Christian immediately woke, jolting upright. She could see a flash of panic in his eyes before he realised where he was.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Elise said. “But I thought you might be hungry.”

“
You shouldn’t have to wait on us, Elise.” Christian rose and took the tray from her.

“
Nonsense.” She smiled at Adrianna. “Did you sleep well?” She seemed to be making a great effort to meet Adrianna’s eyes and not look at her tail.

“
Yes, thank you,” Adrianna said shyly. She rested her arms on the side of the tub.

“
I’ve laid out clothes for you in the next room,” Elise said to Christian. “And there is hot water for you as well.”

“
Thank you.” Christian placed the tray down and left them.

Elise drew over a small table next to the bath and set a plate down filled with bacon and eggs within Adrianna
’s reach. “You do eat this,” Elise asked anxiously.

“
Yes,” Adrianna said, eagerly picking up a fork. It was the first proper food she’d had since she became a mermaid.

“I wasn’
t sure what to bring you.” Elise pulled over a chair and sat down. “Go ahead. You must be hungry.”

She began to eat. She hadn
’t had anything hot to eat in so long. Fournier never gave her a knife or fork. He expected her to eat with her fingers or he fed her himself. They hadn’t thought of her as civilised. She was a wild creature to them, little more than an animal. 

She had just finished when Christian came back, washed and shaved and dressed in fresh clothes, looking once more like a prince. Elise handed him the other plate and he took it over to the dressing table. Adrianna watched him eat. The way he ate was so correct and formal, his manners impeccable.

“Do you have a plan to get out of the city?” Elise asked once the prince had finished his food.

“
All the exits in the river are blocked,” the prince said. “The only way is to go through the city gates.”

“We will never get through,” Adrianna said. “They would see my tail.”

“You could take my carriage,” Elise offered. “I doubt they would search it.”

Christian shook his head. “
You’ve already done so much for us. I won’t have you risk yourself even more.”

“
I insist. It would be the safest way. They wouldn’t stop me. I intended to leave Paris anyway and go to St Petersburg. My daughter is married to a Russian count and she is expecting her first child. I would like to be there for the birth. I will need a few days to make the preparations and let it be known that I’m leaving. If I leave too suddenly it might look suspicious.”

“
It would give a chance for the hysteria to quieten down,” Christian agreed reluctantly.

Elise rose.
“It’s settled then. There are arrangements I have to make and people I have to call upon. I think it’s best if you stay out of sight, Christian.”

“
I agree.”

Elise gathered the plates and left them. Christian went to the window to look out. Adrianna realised they were going to be alone in this room together until they could escape.

“Your Highness…” Adrianna began.

“
Call me Christian,” he said, his back to her.

Adrianna hesitated. It seemed too personal to use his first name.
“Christian.”

From the angle he stood at the window, she could see him smile.
“That wasn’t so hard.”

“
I wanted to thank you for what you did.”

“
Don’t thank me. I don’t deserve it.” His tone was harsh. He was silent as he stared out of the window. “You must hate me,” he said eventually, finally turning to face her.

She looked up surprised.
“Why would I hate you?”

“
It’s my fault that Lorelei stole your legs. Everything that has happened to you is because of me.”

If Lorelei hadn’t fallen in love with him, she wouldn’t have wanted Adrianna’s legs. But he didn’t ask for her to love him. Lorelei had just decided that she did.

“What happened to me is because of Lorelei. It wasn’t your fault. I don’t hate you.” She smiled sadly. “I don’t even hate Lorelei.”

“
Not even after what she did to you?”

She considered it for a moment, but then she remembered Lorelei’s ruined feet torn and bleeding. “
She suffered for what she did. She missed the river and walking was painful for her.”

Christian sighed in exasperation. “
How could she love me? She never even knew me.”

“
She fell in love with what she thought you were. She didn’t understand that you might not love her back. She had spent years and years in the river by herself. I don’t think she understood how human love worked.”

They lapsed into silence again.

“What was Lorelei like when she was a mermaid?” he asked.

Adrianna thought back to when she had first met Lorelei. “She was beautiful. I would have done anything for her. But after she pulled me into the river, the spell she had me under was broken and I saw what she truly was. She wasn’t human, but something terrible and frightening.”

She rubbed the raised scars on her upper arm. They tended to throb when she thought of Lorelei.

Christian left the window and came closer. He caught her wrist and gently turned her arm so he could examine the marks. “Did Lorelei do this to you?”

She nodded slowly. “It was the night she jumped into the river. She was pulling you down and she wouldn’t let you go.”

He traced the scars gently with his fingertips. His touch sent shivers down her arm and made the little hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She was intensely aware of him and how close he was. She was relieved when he finally released her and stepped back, afraid he would hear how fast her heart was racing.

“I’ve been thinking about the other girls who disappeared,” he said.

She froze, hoping he hadn
’t guessed the truth.

“
It was Lorelei, wasn’t it?”

Adrianna said nothing. She couldn
’t meet his gaze.

He turned away. “
They died because of me.”

“
No, they died because of Lorelei. You’re not to blame for what happened.”

It didn
’t matter what she said; she could tell that he still blamed himself.

“You should know
,” he said, “that when I first saw you, I couldn’t look at you.”

She felt as if she had been struck. She looked away so that he wouldn
’t see her face.

“You were
just so…” He trailed off.

“
Repulsive,” she finished for him.

“
Not repulsive, just wrong. I looked at you and I saw a girl, not a mermaid. I would have left you and gone home if not for Gaspard. It’s my fault you’re a mermaid and I wanted to leave you.”

“
But you came back for me.”

“I couldn’t let Gaspard come back and risk being caught.”

She didn’t believe him. He wanted her to think badly of him.

After that they didn
’t speak again. Christian kept vigil at the window while Adrianna could do nothing but lay there and worry, confined to the bath as she was. They were both tense. They could hear shouts from the street below and every time someone came to the door, she was sure it was soldiers coming to arrest them.

That night they had dinner together. Having dismissed the servants, Elise waited on them, bringing them food. She joined them while they ate.

“I’ve let it be known around the city that I’m leaving for St Petersburg in a few days,” Elise said.

“
Do you think it will work?” Christian asked. “Won’t the guards wonder who Adrianna is?”

“
I will say that she’s the daughter of a dear friend of mine who is travelling with me. They’re expecting the mermaid to be smuggled out of the city. They won’t expect her to be with another woman hiding in plain sight.”

They had decided that Christian would leave the city separately, but he would be just behind them in case anything went wrong.

“I’m afraid I have to leave you for the evening,” Elise said, rising and picking up the empty plates. “I accepted an invitation to a ball and it might look suspicious if I cancel now.”

“You should go,” Christian said. “We’ll be fine.”

“I will see you in the morning.”

Elise left them. Christian blew out the candles and Adrianna settled back in the bathtub to try and sleep.

“Do you think Lorelei is still alive?” Christian asked from the darkness. She could just make him out on the bed, staring up at the canopy.

“
I don’t know. If she’s not…” She trailed off.

“
Then there’s no way to get your legs back.”

“
At least I’m free now. Even if I never get my legs back, it won’t be so bad. I can go anywhere I want.”

It was easier talking to the prince in the darkness than it had been during the day. It was as if she wasn’t a mermaid and he wasn’t a prince.

“I always wanted to be free to go where I wished. I used to see you walking by the river. I envied you your freedom.”