Sleeping Helena (18 page)

Her new dress was spread out on the bed. Mama had it specially made for the party. It was of lilac silk with a matching lace jacket, not like the child’s clothes she was usually forced to wear. A proper dress for a proper young lady, Mama had said, and Thekla felt as though she were finally growing up. Since she was now a young lady, Louis would ask her to dance. She was very much looking forward to that moment. She touched the silk of her dress carefully, ran a finger over the collar and saw herself wearing it as she was twirled through the ballroom on her brother’s strong arm. Her joyous reverie was broken when she heard a door slam shut in the hall.

Thekla peeked out to see what was happening. Though the hallway was empty, she thought she could hear someone sobbing behind Katza’s closed door. Dress forgotten, Thekla tiptoed toward her sister’s room.

It was crying, and it sounded like Katza. Thekla could not understand it. This was Katza’s birthday
—
she should be happy. She seemed fine at the picnic, though she had lied to Louis about her earlier fit. Maybe she was having another one.

Thekla pushed on the door to see if it would open. It did and she took a cautious step into the room. She risked Katza’s anger at the intrusion, but Thekla didn’t like to think of her sister in pain. Katza was huddled in a chair by the window, face in her hands, shoulders shaking.

“Katza, what is wrong? Are you having a headache?” Sometimes her sister’s head hurt because of her spells, Mama said, but she’d never seen Katza like this. “Katza?”

Katza raised her head. Tear-blurred and reddened eyes focused on Thekla, who fiddled with a string fallen loose from a button while she waited for her sister to speak.

“What do you want?” she finally said, her voice sharp and bitter. It was obvious that Katza was not well.

“I want to know what’s wrong.” It seemed simple to her. Why else would she be here?

“Nothing is wrong. Go away.”

She should do as her sister asked and leave her alone, Thekla thought, but that was not Thekla’s way.

“I won’t go until you tell me why you are crying,” she said to Katza, who had put her head back down and hid her face from sight.

“You’re too young to understand,” Katza mumbled.

Thekla hated that. She was not too young. Didn’t her new dress prove it? She could handle Katza’s problems. She was a young lady now, too.

“I am not,” she said defiantly.

Katza opened an eye and looked at her sister; she’d never spoken to her like that before.

Nothing was going right today; even the picnic had been a complete disaster. Thekla had received a rose Katza knew was meant for Ludwig. Louis could not keep his eyes away from the lake. Thekla
was
too young, she could not know how it felt to have one’s love scorned by another, even if the love is that of a brother.

There would never be anyone but Louis, not for Katza. Louis was her champion and her only hero. He had cared for her while she was blind, and then taught her how to see the world with her newly opened eyes.

Louis had betrayed that bond by falling in love with another. Katza’s heart was broken.

Katza craved the past. This was a small seed, not yet the rose that would pierce the rest of her life with its thorns, but it was a beginning. She wished to return to the days when Louis championed her
—
only her and no other.

She had such longings; she did not know what to do with them, where to land them, where to begin the quest to fulfill them. She thought of the bird in the clouds and blamed her own broken wings on Ludwig.

Katza was a dark cauldron. Jealousy bubbled and a foul potion began to brew.

“It is only that my head hurts.” Katza spoke as kindly as her hoarse throat would allow. “I’ll be fine. You return to whatever you were doing.” Katza smoothed her hair away from her forehead as if to say, see, I am putting myself back together. Don’t worry about me.

“Are you sure? Would you like something to drink?” Thekla was more than willing to travel down to the kitchen and back, if it would make her sister feel better.

Katza, exhausted, let her mask slip. “Go on, go away,” she said as she rested her head on the edge of the chair.

Katza could not tell Thekla about the way a vision pressed at her eyelids, that a monster was there, waiting for its chance to gobble them all up. She may as well be blind, for all she was able to see it. She would frighten Thekla, and the girl was just trying to help.

Thekla backed away from her sister and slipped out of the room. She closed the door quietly behind her, leaned against it and let out her breath. Just that morning her sister had treated her kindly and now she acted like a beast. The dragon raised its wide, flat head. Thekla shivered.

Mama came up the stairs just then and found her.

“What is the matter, my dear?”

“Katza was crying. I tried to help her, but she told me to go away.” Thekla wiped her eye with a fist as her lips trembled.

“Never mind, she’ll come around. We have to leave her in peace when she has her spells.”

Katza always comes first, Thekla thought. Even now she’s allowed her moment, while I have to be strong.

Louis reached the first floor in time to see Baroness von Tress with her pinched face and sharp tongue being escorted into the library. A friend of the family, she’d been invited to Katza’s party. She was not expected until later. Louis didn’t much care for the old Baroness, though it was she who first sparked his interest in Ludwig with her wild tales and gossip. She was a very close friend of the king’s.

They were trying times for Ludwig, but Louis was sheltered from much of the truth simply because he lacked interest in it. Louis lived by his heart, and now from within its impenetrable walls it told him,
something is wrong.
The Baroness should not be here, and she should certainly not be entering the library. That was his father’s domain.

Louis’ vision expanded, the letter in his pocket demanded he pay attention. He caught Magdalena as she hurried into the hall.

“The Baroness is here. Do you know why?” Louis held his mother’s arm firmly. He was a man now, with a man’s desire to know of the happenings in the house.

“No, I do not.” She gently removed her son’s hand from her elbow. “I’ve just been called down from the nursery. You are welcome to join us, though if asked to leave, you must do so immediately and without complaint. Papa will insist.”

Louis deflated in front of his mother. He nodded his assent. He might be a man, but it was still his father’s house.

As they entered the library the scent of tobacco from Papa’s pipe closed in around them. The high-ceilinged room was lit with lamps, for just after midday the clouds had reformed. It would storm again that night. Louis settled his thoughts on the Baroness, who sat primly on the edge of a chair. She turned her bird’s eye on him and inclined her chin. He had permission to stay.

“I will not spread gossip here,” she said firmly. “This is the truth; I have seen it myself. Ludwig is in great danger. They must have him in the asylum by now.”

Louis hardly heard his father’s response. “Who has taken him? What do you mean?”

“That idiot doctor and his apostles, that’s who I mean. It is all lies!” She banged the tip of her parasol on the floor. “They have declared Ludwig insane and are having him deposed. I tried to warn him of this, but it was too late. They have intercepted all of his messages and are holding him hostage at Berg, I am sure of it. He was removed from Hohenschwangau early yesterday morning. My informants tell me they were headed this way. I must do something to help him!”

It was at Berg that Ludwig had told Louis he’d meet him, after the other business was done. Ludwig must have somehow sent the message, but for whatever reason, he had left out certain details. Possibly important details, but it made no difference to Louis. He was a knight who would go gladly to his king’s rescue.

“Why are you telling us this?” Papa’s interest in his king was that of a subject rather than a friend. “What can we do?”

“I wish to stay here for a time
—
nothing more. I will not involve you in anything I may or may not do while I am a guest in your house.”

Mama spoke. “Baroness, you are more than welcome to remain here as long as you like.” This was Magdalena’s realm. “We are a humble family, as you know, but will do our best to provide for your needs.”

“There is little humble about your family, Magdalena.” The Baroness smiled knowingly and tightened her grip on her parasol. “I’ll hear none of it. It will be my pleasure to stay. Thank you for having me.”

The household absorbed its noble guest like any other. A set of rooms on the third floor was aired out and made ready while the Baroness chatted about the children and other innocent things. Katza’s party should go on as planned, of course. It was not her intent, she said, to disrupt their lives. She could not know how her words affected Louis.

He made his excuses and left Mama and the Baroness talking quietly about other affairs and made his way to the stable. The horses jumped anxiously at the approaching storm and the grooms were out in force, trying to calm them. Louis stroked his favorite mare absentmindedly.

There had been a time when Louis had all he needed in his sister’s circumstance. As blind Katza had regained her sight and become self-reliant, Louis, cut adrift, had reached out for a new cause. He’d found an icon in tales of the Magic King, and love in the man himself.

Now Ludwig had a real need of him and Louis, a natural champion, felt restored to his purpose.

He was sorry the king had arranged the meeting on the night of Katza’s party, but there was nothing he could do about that. This was a chance that would only come once in a lifetime. His sister, he believed, would be fine without him.

Katza’s anger kept her pinned to her chair as the minutes ticked by on the brass clock beside her bed. Louis was going to meet the king and there was nothing she could do to stop him. The vision beat at the back of her eyes and every muscle in her body tensed with the knowledge that some terrible thing was coming. All she could do was rage at her brother for wanting to spend time with the king. It was wrong of Louis to do this to her.

A bird sang in the window; she took off her shoe and threw it. The bird flew off, but its presence had Katza out of the chair. As she pulled the shutters closed, she noticed the storm returning. She wanted the rain to keep Louis inside, but there was no hope for it. Even this wouldn’t keep him from meeting his make-believe lover.

She no longer cared about her party. It was something to endure, nothing more. If she had anything to do with it, she’d call the whole thing off. She would smile for her guests, but would get no enjoyment herself out of the evening.

By the time the guests began to arrive, she was dressed and ready to greet them. Her mood was unchanged and she did not try to hide it. Katza no longer cared if her parents discovered her brother’s secret. She almost hoped they would
—
maybe that would make him stay. She aimed her displeasure at him. She wanted Louis to feel as horrible as she did.