Simon Hawke - The Zenda Vendetta

“A fine suitor I would be,” said Finn, “if I simply had the coach deliver you to your door as if you were a package.”

Flavia suppressed a smile. “It would not have been the first time,” she said.

“I’ve treated you dreadfully, haven’t I?” said Finn. “I don’t know what could have been wrong with me. From now on, I shall make it up to you, I promise.”

She looked at him and smiled. Finn felt wretched. The worst part of it all was that he really liked her. He had never been very good at concealing such things and she obviously was responding, which had been the whole idea. However, now he was beginning to have regrets, for her sake.

“Poor Michael,” he said to change the subject. “He did not even stay for dessert.”

Flavia shook her head. “You pushed him too far, Rudolf. There was murder in his eyes when he looked at you tonight.”

“Is that what it was? And I believed it to be indigestion!”

“You may joke,” she said, “but where before he may have envied you, you have now given him more than enough reason to truly despise you. You made him out to be a fool in front of everyone. I beg you to be wary of him, Rudolf. I fear that he may stop at nothing.”

“You worry too much,” Finn said. “It is merely the rivalry of brothers and nothing more.”

“Surely you do not believe that.”

“Well, perhaps not,” said Finn, “but he brought it on himself. He should not have had the woman bait me in that manner. Especially in your presence.”

“I do not think that I have ever met a woman quite so brazen in my life,” said Flavia. “I had heard about the countess. One cannot avoid such gossip; but seeing her tonight, I believe it all. That woman would be capable of anything.”

“Undoubtedly,” said Finn, thinking that it was the understatement of the year, if not the century.

“She is very beautiful, though, is she not?” said Flavia, not looking at him.

“I suppose,” said Finn, “if one cares for the type.”

“Do men…” she hesitated. “Do men find such women to be desirable?”

“I am sure that many do.”

“Do you?”

“That is an impertinent question.”

“Forgive me. I did not mean to be-”

“Oh, for goodness sake, I was only joking,” Finn said.

“Oh. I see.”

“In answer to your question, I will be frank. In a word, yes.”

“You are forthright, at least.”

“I had not finished. It is one thing to respond to a woman physically, and don’t blush. Remember that you asked.”

“I did, indeed.”

“And it is quite another thing to look beyond the senses and consider a woman-or a man, for that matter-for what goes on inside the head. In some cases, as was the case with me for far too long, I fear, nothing goes on at all. In others, what goes on within is a far cry from what appears without. In Countess Sophia’s case, I have the strong impression that what goes on within is very like snakes writhing.”

Flavia shuddered. “Lord, Rudolf, what a thought! I had not suspected that your imagination was so lurid.”

“Drink can do that to a man,” said Finn, wryly.

“And how do you perceive what goes on inside my own head?” she said, with a slight smile.

“To answer that would be impertinent of me,” said Finn.

“How diplomatically you avoid the question,” she said, chuckling.

“Diplomacy, in many situations, is merely a tool to prevent one’s looking foolish,” Finn said.

“How statesmanlike you are becoming!”

“It comes of spending hours on end with Sapt,” Finn said. “Once I began to actually listen to him, I discovered him to be the very font of wisdom.”

“I simply cannot stop marveling at the change in you,” she said. “You are like a different man.” She pursed her lips and cocked her head to one side, saying in a joking manner, “I am beginning to suspect that you are not Rudolf at all, but some imposter who is his double. Tell me the truth, what have you done with the real king?”

“The truth? He’s being kept in the dungeons of Zenda Castle. It’s all a plot of Michael’s.”

The coach came to a halt before her house.

“That was a poor jest,” she said. “The way Michael looked at you tonight, I can almost believe that he would be capable of such a thing. Remember, Rudolf, that you have no heir as yet. If anything should happen to you, the throne would surely go to Michael.”

“Are you so frightened for me?” Finn said.

The sincerity in her face stabbed him to the heart. “You have changed so, Rudolf, almost overnight, it is as if… as if you really were another man. I feel as if we have met for the first time. You spoke of what appears without and what goes on within. Without, you are the same Rudolf I have always known and yet, within, I seem to sense a stranger, one who has shown me but little of himself, yet who compels me in a manner that I find both frightening and delightful. I feel as though I am only now starting to know you. I care about what happens to you, not only as my king, but as a man. Forgive me, but I did not think that such a thing would ever come to pass. I beg you to be watchful. Michael and those ruffians he has retained fill me with foreboding. Guard yourself well.”

She leaned forward quickly, kissed him on the lips, and then hurried from the coach. Finn stared after her for a long time before he directed the coachman to drive back to the palace.

Sapt and von Tarlenheim were waiting for him. Both men had dressed in dark-hued clothing, the better to provide concealment in the night. Von Tarlenheim tried once more, unsuccessfully, to dissuade him from keeping the mysterious appointment, then resigned himself to the inevitable. Finn quickly changed into clothing similar to theirs and they left by the secret passageway. Sapt pressed a revolver into Finn’s hand.

“Do not hesitate to use this if you find you must,” said Sapt. “Remember, if we lose you, then we lose everything.”

Finn took the revolver with a smile. “Thank you for your concern,” he said, laconically.

“Don’t be a fool,” said Sapt. “You know damn well what I mean. Our first concern is for the throne, as it must be, but I would not wish to lose a friend, as well.”

They rode on horseback to Michael’s house, reining in a short distance away from the wall that circled the estate.

“This is as far as you two go with me,” said Finn. “If all goes well, I shall return shortly and we will ride to Zenda.”

“And if not?” said von Tarlenheim, nervously.

“I promise to be careful. But just in case, you have your watch?”

“Right here.”

“If I do not return in half an hour, then you can assume the worst,” said Finn. “It will then be up to you to free the king.”

“Come what may,” said Sapt, “we make our move tonight. Good fortune to you.”

Finn dismounted and crossed the street, heading for the entrance that the letter specified. He felt very much alone. Taking a chance, he tried raising Lucas and Andre on his comset. From where he was, the safehouse was within range, but there was no response. He nodded to himself. All right, then, they were proceeding on their own, as he had thought they would. The Timekeepers had to be their first concern. He did not like not being able to contact them, but it was just as well. His had now become the secondary role in the mission. Theirs was far more difficult. They would be at Zenda Castle, trying to find a way to get inside. Perhaps they were making their move at this very moment. If he was lucky, they might complete their part of the mission by the time that he arrived with von Tarlenheim and Sapt. Then they could provide him with a backup if the need arose. If not… he decided not to think about if not.