““Ivo—one of Friedrich’s men—bowed as he stepped out from behind the tree. “My apologies, Mademoiselle. I did not mean to be intrusive,” he said, taking the bucket. “You weren’t. It is merely that I know better. One of you is always skulking in my shadow. Or is it more than one today?” Cinderella asked. “The Colonel has forbidden me from mentioning your three-man guard,” Ivo said before he sipped water from the ladle. “Three? Goodness, my criminal skills are rusting. I only saw you,” Cinderella sighed.””
