Chapter 530: Of Wine, Rings, and Regret
The castle loomed over the Württemberg countryside like an aging veteran—dignified, worn, and stubbornly upright. Much like Heinrich von Koch himself.
Bruno adjusted his cuffs with the kind of irritation reserved only for formal events. The road had been muddy. His greatcoat was wrinkled. And worse, he hadn’t had his second cup of coffee. In the distance, string music floated from the chapel entrance. Too cheerful by half.
Heinrich was getting married.
"Madness," Bruno muttered as he climbed the stone steps. "He just had to choose a cold winter morning in the countryside for the venue. Is it just me, or is Heinrich deliberately fucking with me?"
Heidi giggled, and shook her head, as she hugged her man tightly, a bit too intimately at such a formal venue. All the while whispering in his ears.
"Aside from myself, he is perhaps the person who knows you best, after all. But don’t blame him too harshly. I was the one who set the time, date, and location..."
After saying this, Heidi broke away from Bruno’s arms, running off like she was a woman half her age. Bruno could not help but linger and watch, shaking his head with a smirk on his face as he did so.
The interior of the castle was lit with gold-tinged chandeliers and the heavy aroma of incense and roses. Nobles—some ancient, some freshly minted—milled about in full regalia. Men in epaulets, women in pearls, cousins with pristine manners and poisonous ambitions.
Bruno moved through them like a wolf among lapdogs fattened on diplomacy and gossip. A few bowed; most parted like the sea.
He arrived just as Heinrich stood at the altar, resplendent in a tailored uniform more ceremonial than functional.
The bride beside him looked almost ethereal—tall, pale, dark-eyed, with a veil that shimmered like frost. Anneliese von Zollern. Third daughter of a respectable but broke house.
Bruno’s first thought upon seeing her was: She knows.