Castle of the Wolf by Sandra Schwab Read Free Book Online Page A

Of course, the overall effect could still be heightened by, say, a knife dripping blood or a polished skull. No, that’s Hamlet. To be or not to be.
    From her thawing toes a sharp pain shot up her body. She surely had envisioned her arrival at her castle differently.
    Cissy frowned.
    Her castle.
    To be or not to be, indeed.
    She looked the man straight in the eyes and slowly lifted her brows. “Actually,” she said sweetly, “that’s not quite true. I am the master of the Castle of Wolfenbach now. Or rather,”—she gave him a beaming smile and hoped it would annoy him just as much as her throbbing toes were annoying her—“its mistress.”
    The rebuttal came in a feral bark. “The hell you are!”
    “Fenris!” Graf von Wolfenbach admonished.
    Fenris? What a peculiar name! But she had to admit the name fit the man who was glowering at her, his face blacker than a thundercloud. Fenris, the demon wolf of Norse mythology, of whom the prophecy said he would one day swallow the sun and bring about the end of the world.
    “Have you invited her here, Father?” The demon wolf rounded on the Graf. How such a charming man could have fathered such an ill-mannered son was quite beyond her.
    A man might be the Archangel Michael personified, and his son might grow into a good for-nothing!
    Cissy suppressed a shiver as she remembered her brother’s words. At the time she had thought his worries about rakehells or worse exaggerated and unfounded, but now she was no longer so sure. However, she suspected that even in the Black Forest, rakehells would dress more stylishly than Fenris von Wolfenbach did.
    “If you have,” he growled, “you can just get rid of her again.”
    So, no rakehell then, just terribly ill-mannered. A perfect churl.
    She sighed. “I believe our family solicitor announced my impending arrival to Graf von Wolfenbach. He also informed him that according to my late father’s will…” A wave of grief swamped her, and she had to swallow hard before she could continue. “He informed him that I’m now holding the deeds to the castle.”
    Fenris von Wolfenbach stared at her as if she had suddenly grown a second head. If possible, his expression darkened even more. “What kind of rubbish is this?” he snapped. “This castle has been in the possession of our family for several hundred years.”
    His mother put her hand on his arm. “Fenris, dear…”
    With an impatient sound, he shook her hand off and continued to glare at Cissy.
    It occurred to her that she would be forced to wed this lout if she wanted to hold on to the castle, if she wanted to start the new life she so craved. Her heart sank. How could she bear to be married to a man who even snarled at his own mother?
    An unpleasant smile twisted his lips. “That silenced you, didn’t it?” Turning, he snapped at his parents, “Will you please get her out of here!”
    Cissy straightened. She had not come this far to be thwarted by a man who didn’t even know the basic rules of polite behavior. She took a deep breath and forced her voice to remain calm. “According to the papers I have in my possession, my father came into possession of Wolfenbach several years ago.”
    His snort broke the uneven sounds of his steps as he walked back toward the door from whence he had come. “Impossible.”
    “Fenris…” his father began.
    “He came into possession of it in the autumn of 1811.”
    That brought the man to an abrupt halt. He whirled around so fast that for a moment Cissy thought he would lose his balance. And then she watched, her heart in her mouth, as he strode toward her, his eyes blazing green fire.
    “No!” He grabbed her shoulders, shook her. “No, that’s not possible! You’re lying!” He breathed heavily, as if he had run a mile, and dark color splashed across his cheeks. “No!” He shook her again, and his fingers gripped her hard enough to hurt.
    “Are you mad?” she gasped, horrified by this unexpected reaction. She had