Chapter 44
The garden pavilion next to Schwarzwald Hall was a surprisingly cozy and secluded place, though perhaps Arne should have expected as much. If there was one thing House Tannburg was known for, it was hosting high-profile meetings and negotiations that required a veneer of neutrality and a delicate touch.
Wooden lattice walls adorned with ornate carvings and blooming vines granted a sound-absorbing barrier for sensitive conversations, while still allowing bodyguards to keep watch from outside. The two House Guards Arne had brought along were doing exactly that, while he waited for the Schwarzwald princess to arrive. She was taking her time, but it was not yet at the point of being considered a rude power play.
Right when that was about to change, a well-dressed young woman rounded the corner of a neatly tended hedgerow. She was leaning on another less impressively dressed lady on her right and an elegant walking stick on her left as she took careful, but determined steps towards the raised pavilion. About a dozen paces from her destination, she waved away the attendant, and kept approaching on her own.
Arne rose from his chair and stepped out of the pavilion and down the short flight of stairs.
“Good afternoon, Princess Charlotte. I am delighted to finally make your acquaintance,” he greeted with a measured bow.
“Good afternoon, Lord Arnold. The pleasure is mine,” she replied, curtsying with more elegance than he had expected from her bony frame. And bony she was indeed – Arne guessed she could not weigh much more than a peasant girl twelve years of age.
And yet, what shocked him most was her aura.
If Professor Nowak’s magic was pathetically weak, hers was barely extant. With every heartbeat, it seemed to lose more vigor, edging closer to nothingness right before his eyes. It was a distressing sight, reminding him of exhausted Knights dying in the field hospital after taking one too many injuries.
Blinking away the unpleasant memories, he offered Charlotte his arm to aid her in climbing the stairs, which she gratefully accepted. Even so, each step seemed to require significant effort on her part.