Read The River Maid for Free Online

away the chill from what her mother had said. Two girls had disappeared. Adrianna would never go near any strange men, but Jutta had been so trusting and sweet and she had liked to flirt with the boys.
    She looked up at the castle perched in the hills high above her. From up there, the prince would be able to see the whole of the river and the town. She wondered what it would be like to be born to privilege. To never worry about having enough food to eat or enough wood in the winter to keep the fire going. To be free to do as you pleased all day and have servants wait on you. Her mother believed that you had to accept your lot in life and make the best of it. It was useless to waste time thinking about what could be.
    She hummed softly to herself as she walked. It was the song she had heard the day before, the one her mother had heard Jutta singing. She broke off. Another voice - a girl’s voice - had taken up the song. They sang so softly, the barest whisper, but it was the most beautiful sound. The music seemed to fill her head and wrap around her, pulling her toward it. 
    Something hard struck her shoulder and a voice called behind her, “Adrianna.” She blinked and turned. Evert came puffing up, his face as red as his hair. He had a handful of stones clutched in his hand.
    Adrianna put a hand to her shoulder where he had struck her. “Why are you throwing stones at me?”
    He stopped before her and bent to rest his hands on his knees as he panted. “ I’ve been calling you for ages. Where are you going?”
    “ I’m going for a walk. I’m not going to go far.” She broke off as she turned around. The town was no longer in sight. The sun was much lower in the sky and yet she had only just set out.
    “ It’s not safe. Not after what happened to Jutta.”
    “ I - I didn’t realise I had come so far.”
    Evert took her hand and led her back to the town like a disobedient child. She should have pulled away, but instead she stumbled along beside him. She didn ’t understand. How did she get there? She had only just set out, and yet she had come so far. Hours had passed, but to her it was only a few minutes since she had left the town. What was happening to her?

 
     
    Chapter Four
     
    Christian stood at the very top of the bergfried, his legs braced against the wind, watching the boats bobbing in the distance and the fishermen throwing out their nets. He could hear Gaspard calling for him from somewhere in the castle. He had been calling for him for the last ten minutes, but unwilling to go in, Christian had stayed silent. Gradually, his voice was getting closer now.  
    Gaspard finally emerged, panting from his climb to the top of the tower. He mopped his red face with his handkerchief. “I’ve been looking for you.”
    “ I didn’t hear you,” Christian said innocently.
    Gaspard frowned. “We have lessons.”
    Christian turned back to the river. “ We both know that I don’t need a tutor anymore. My English and Latin are perfect. My French is flawless.”
    “ I have tried to speak with your mother, but if she insists that you are to have lessons, then you are to have lessons.”
    He spotted a figure, a girl from her simple brown dress, walking by the river. She had more freedom than he did. She could at least be left alone. He was never alone. There was always a servant watching what he did or Gaspard chasing after him. Europe was at war. The world was being reshaped around him, while he was stuck here in this castle, out of the way. He had heard stories when he was a child, of princesses being locked away in a tower. His mother had found a castle for him.
    “If I spoke to my mother, do you think she would let me go sailing?” He missed the river. It was the one place he could be alone.
    “I’ m sorry, my friend, but not after last time. You nearly drowned. I still don’t know how you didn’t.”
    He hadn ’t nearly drowned; he had drowned. Not that he would tell his mother or Gaspard that.