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Anna was running down an empty corridor. She was sure that someone was following her although she could not see or hear the person. Every place she tried to hide she had the feeling that someone else was aware that she was there and that they would hurt her.
She was unsure when she registered the knocking sound. It came from a place far away. It had to be the person following her that wanted to make it known that he was close, that he was coming for her.
Anna sat up straight in bed, staring at her dark room. She was sweaty and panting as if she had actually been running. The knocking sound had not stopped though. She shook her head and realized that someone was knocking on the door to the main room.
She quickly wrapped her cloak around shoulders, exited the bedroom and walked through her main room to the door. She always locked it at night now and even placed both a chest of drawers and a chair in front of it.
“Whose there?” she asked. The last thing she wanted this time of night was to let Nicholas Lewinus into her room. In fact, the last thing she wanted to do ever was to let him into her room. The thought that she had to sleep with him when they were married made her sick to her stomach.
“It’s me,” she could hear Maria say on the other side of the door.
“Are you alone?” Anna asked hopefully.
“Yes.”
She moved the chest of drawers and the chair and unlocked the door.
“Have you barricaded the door?” Maria said in a worried voice, placed the candlestick she was holding on a table and stepped right up to her and hugged her. Anna just stood motionless with closed eyes with Maria’s arms around her. The sudden outburst of empathy from someone else almost made her cry.
Maria let go of her and Anna instantly reached for her hand, not wanting to let go of her. Maria held it and looked at it with kindness in her gaze.
“Perhaps, you should sit down, Anna. You look exhausted,” Maria said in a soft voice.
“I’m fine,” Anna said. “I just haven’t slept well lately.”
Which was the truth. Different types of nightmares had haunted her since she had agreed to marry Nicholas Lewinus. Maria led her to one of the chairs in front of the fireplace and had her sit down, she sat down opposite Anna and took both of her hands between hers.
“Anna, please tell me, what’s going on?” she asked gently.
“Nothing’s going on,” Anna said immediately.
“Please, Anna, I want to help you, we all do, but you have to talk to us,” Maria said and gently stroke away a lock of hair that had escaped Anna’s braid and was now hanging down her face.
“There’s nothing to tell,” Anna said and stood up abruptly. She turned her back to Maria so that she wouldn’t she how fast she was blinking in order to not cry. Even though the room was only lit by the candlestick that Maria had brought she might still be able to see.
“Everything’s fine. I’m fine,” Anna went on and was glad that she did not have to make a living on the stage.
“Anna, please,” Maria said again, and her voice was right behind her. Anna turned around and walked into Maria’s arms. “Why don’t you want to marry Rosenkranz? It’s clear that you love him.”
Wulfric had to have talked to her, Anna realized. She had seen the two of them dancing after dinner. Perhaps that was when.
“I do,” Anna whispered, “But it can’t be.”
She stepped away from Maria and quickly dried her eyes.
“He’s going to kill him, if I don’t marry him,” she said the whole thing fast on an exhale, almost like a sigh.
“Wait, what?” Maria said and shook her head. “Who’s going to kill who?”
“Lewinus,” Anna said and dried her eyes with the back of her hand. “Lewinus is going to kill Wulfric if I don’t marry him.”
“What?” Maria snorted with laughter, “But that’s absurd. Anna, he can’t. He’ll be executed...”
Anna shook her head, which made Maria stop talking.
“He said that he could make it look an accident... or a disease. Maria, I can’t lose him. I can’t risk his life. I lost Valdemar and I didn’t think that I would ever want to marry someone else, but now...”
She started crying as Maria put her arms around her again.
“We’ll figure it out,” Maria said as she stroked her back.
“No, you can’t tell him, nor Jonathan. You can’t tell anyone. I have to marry Lewinus. It’s the only way that I can keep Wulfric safe,” Anna said.
Maria did not answer, but Anna felt assured that she understood how severe the situation was. She had not believed Lewinus herself, when he had said that he would kill Wulfric. But as they had argued, there had been an intensity and a severity in his eyes, that Anna had found unnerving.
He had described the many ways he could kill Wulfric without it ever being noticed and Anna had realized just how much time he had spent contemplating it. It had been what had made her give in to him. She could not lose Wulfric too. That she had been able to find another man whom she loved was a miracle. Even if they had to spend their lives apart it would be better, than if he died.
Maria helped her to a chair and Anna sat down. She felt exhausted from crying so much.
“I’m going to send for something to drink and perhaps something to eat as well,” Maria said.
Anna simply nodded. She did not turn as she heard Maria open the door and mumble her orders to a servant. A moment later she joined Anna by the empty fireplace and took her hand.
“We’ll figure this out, Anna, I promise you,” Maria said.
They sat in silence as they waited for the food. When the warm, sweetened ale was placed on the table, Anna could feel that she was actually both thirsty and starving. She had had little appetite at dinner and now drank the ale in large gulps, feeling how it warmed her entire body.
There was a knock at the door. Anna looked at the tray on the table. There was both food and drinks, surely Maria could not have ordered anything else. She was about to get up when Maria hurried to the door and opened. Jonathan stepped into the room, looking like he had more or less just risen from bed, behind him entered Wulfric. He on the other hand looked like he had not even been to bed, since he was wearing his outfit from dinner. His eyes sought her out immediately and Anna felt her heartbeat fasten as they looked at each other.
“Maria, what’s going on?” Anna said and could feel her mouth go dry. Wulfric could under no circumstances know about Lewinus’ threat. She felt sure that he would not take them seriously and then he would die.
“Anna, they need to know what’s going on. Surely, among the four of us we will be able to find a solution,” Maria said with her hands on her hips.
Anna rose slowly as she shook her head.
“No, Maria, I told you, that you couldn’t tell them. I told you that I didn’t want them to know. I trusted you,” Anna could feel herself shaking with anger and fear.
She should not have trusted Maria with this information. She clearly did not understand the severity of it.
“Anna, please tell us, what’s going on?” Wulfric said.
But Anna simply shook her head, as she started crying again. She looked at the floor, trying to hide her face. She heard Wulfric walk towards her and gently put his arms around her. For a long time, she was simply crying into his chest, enjoying the warmth and comfort from his body at the same time.
“Anna, please tell me,” he said.
Anna shook her head again.
“No,” she said and stepped away from him. “No, you need to leave. All of you,” she added as she looked at Maria and Jonathan who stood behind him. “He can’t know that you’ve been here.”
“Lewinus?” Wulfric asked, but Anna did not answer. She only stepped further away from him.
“I’m going to go back to bed,” she said.
It seemed the only way that she could get away from them. She was at the door when someone grabbed her wrist and spun her around. She had thought that it was Wulfric, but it was Jonathan’s green eyes that she looked into.
“Anna, why are you protecting him?” he said in an intense voice that she had seldom heard him use before.
He and Valdemar had looked so different: Jonathan’s hair was brown and his eyes green, where Valdemar had had black hair and blue eyes. But now that he was standing in front of her, she realized that they were about the same height and build. She closed her eyes not wanting to see the similarities right now, but when he said:
“Anna, we only want you to be happy,” she realized that their voices even sounded alike too.
Valdemar would have wanted her to be happy. Above all else, no matter what she did with her life, he would have wanted her to be happy. She could not imagine what he would be thinking if he knew that she was prepared to spend the rest of her life with a man, that she despised.
“He’s going to kill him,” she whispered to Jonathan as she opened her eyes again.
“Lewinus will kill Rosenkranz?” Jonathan said.
He had grabbed hold of her arm above the elbow. It seemed both a way to make sure that she stayed and to steady her.
Anna did not answer him but simply nodded.
“I’m not going to let that happen,” he said in a solemn voice, “I’m not letting you lose him.”
“There’s nothing you can do. He’s going to find a way. He told me. Don’t you think that I found it ridiculous to begin with? But he knows all about herbs, all about killing without it even looking like the person was killed... He’s going to find a way, Jonathan.”
She looked at him with a begging expression in her eyes. She needed him to understand. Needed him to know that there was no other way.
“Anna, I know that you’re scared, but Lewinus can’t hurt Rosenkranz,” Jonathan said.
Anna closed her eyes again. Why wouldn’t they listen to her?
“There’s nothing you can say, that is going to make me change my mind, Jonathan,” she said. “I’m not going to lose Wulfric too.”
She peeked around Jonathan to where Wulfric had been standing but he was not there any longer. She stepped past Jonathan surveying the room, but he was not there anymore. She looked questioningly at Maria who only managed to point towards the door but not to say anything before Anna hurried out of it.