Chapter 128

"Duke Rommel, you didn't have to just—drink it!"

The handmaiden looked at him in flustered dismay and hurried to bring cold water. I watched Joachim gulp it down and asked:

"What were you two doing in here at this hour?"

"We're going on a picnic today."

Joachim looked at me as though I were the strange one for asking.

"Wouldn't we need food to take with us?"

"Yes, but why would you be the one preparing it—"

"Because it's something Your Highness will eat. Of course I should take responsibility for it."

"Your Highness."

Friedrich approached me then, a small sandwich—precisely one bite's worth—held in one hand.

"Would you try this? I made it myself."

"Oh, really?"

It was thick with ham and cheese inside.

Friedrich put it to my lips and I took a bite—and there was so much filling that I could barely taste the bread at all.…