According to the map, the hidden meadow was a little closer to Schwarzenkirche than to Almrosen. It was difficult to tell from the chart which route might be best to get there, because the paths were not rated for difficulty or danger.

Wilde had to get some rest. Heck was out of commission with his wound and Colonel Appache appeared to be in no mood to help, so somehow he would have to make his way to the hidden meadow alone. He swirled the whiskey, inhaled its smoky sweetness, then put the glass down unfinished.

He rolled out the sleeping bag on the floor, stripped to his underwear, climbed in and fell asleep in an instant.

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

None of this was as Lilly had imagined it. As she and Julius lay entwined in each other’s arms in those sweet nights in Normandy, she had never for a moment doubted his devotion to her.

But now, for the first time, she was not sure of her love for him.

In the back of her mind she had always known that he was an important man and that he had some darkness in his past, but somehow those issues never intruded on their own quiet, domestic bliss. She asked him no difficult questions and she never thought of him as the enemy.

Instead, she concentrated on their similarities. She came from a farming village, and he told her that he did, too. All she wanted from life was the beat of the seasons and the routine of a rural day, and he said he would give it to her.

And then she arrived here in his home village, and there was a parade to greet her. She didn’t ask for it and didn’t want it. She wanted to curl up and die as she walked along the little street to the sound of drums, watched by the inquisitive eyes of the villagers, all sparkling in the light of flaming torches. ‘They are expecting this of you, liebling. I am their chief man and they must meet my bride.’

That was bad enough. The attack was worse – and changed everything.

She knew she was in trouble. She had already seen the loathing in his mother’s eyes. Now, she truly believed that she was safe only as long as Julius was there to protect her. What would happen if he died?

Again that thought: did she love him? She loved the memory of him, but among his own people he didn’t seem quite the same. He still professed his love, but now the darkness was more than just a distant shadow.

His mother would kill her in a heartbeat. These people were as unforgiving as her own father.