To her surprise Lucky stopped his sniffing and ran right back to them. She felt a tiny burst of pride for her rescued baby. “He doesn’t seem to mind the cold.”
“He has a warm black-and-white fur coat.” Sandro slid his arm around Serena. Despite the warmth of his body, she stiffened. What if someone happened to look out of one of the windows? There must be fifty windows looking down at them. She could almost feel curious eyes burning a hole in her.
She was trying to think of a polite way to pull back, when a door to the house burst open and Darias leaned out. “Sandro, come quick!”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sandro tugged his arms from her with obvious reluctance, swept Lucky up off the icy grass and headed for the door. “What’s going on?”
“Beatriz was spotted leaving Casteleone late this morning in the passenger seat of a dark blue Audi sedan.”
“That’s not her car.” Sandro ushered Serena in. She’d never been so grateful for indoor warmth. “Who saw her?”
“Iris, one of the cooks. She was buying groceries at the market and saw Beatriz climb into the car.”
“Did she look like she was under duress?”
“No. Apparently she was smiling. She was with a man, but Iris didn’t recognize him.”
“Let me try calling her.” Sandro pulled out his phone and dialed her number.
She answered immediately. “Hi, Sandro. What’s going on?”
“Beatriz!” He gestured excitedly to the others. “We’re all frantic about you. Mom’s been trying to call you.”
“Why?” Serena could hear Beatriz’s voice at the other end quite clearly.
He glanced at his mom. “There’s been a…development. Something awful arrived in the mail. Why didn’t you answer?”
There was a moment of silence. “I was busy”
“Who are you with?”
“Is it really any of your business? I don’t question your every movement and quiz you about your companions.”
Serena watched Sandro frown. Clearly he held his sister to a different standard of behavior from his own. “Can you come home now? It was some kind of threat. Gibran is investigating, but he wants us all safely under guard here at the palace. I’m here myself now, with Serena.”
“Oh.” Another long silence. “I’ll be back soon. Bye.”
Serena heard her hang up. “That was odd.” Sandro looked at his brother. “It’s not like her to be so mysterious.”
Darius had a twinkle in his eye. “I think we need to keep an eye out for someone driving a blue Audi.”
Lina still looked worried. “I just don’t understand why she didn’t answer my calls.
“Every girl needs a little privacy sometimes, Mama,” said Sandro. He glanced silently at Serena. Lord knows she’d claimed enough privacy lately. Hiding her breakup and her pregnancy from her mom and everyone else she knew.
Lina sighed. “I suppose you’re right. It’s just that we’re so close. We tell each other everything.”
“I’m sure she’ll tell you when she’s ready.”
Serena wondered if Sandro’s mom would ever embark on a new relationship. She’d only been widowed a few months, so might not be ready yet, but she was very beautiful and Serena suspected that a wealthy widow living in a palace would have no shortage of suitors.
“I suppose I depend on her too much because she’s here with me all the time. I’ve been suffocating her.” Lina refused an offered cup of tea. “On the other hand, I’ve been so focused on the deaths and on getting Darias and Emma settled into their new roles and their new home at the castle that I haven’t paid enough attention to her needs.”
“She understands, Mama, trust me. You’ve all been under a lot of pressure lately.”
“And now there’s this new drama. You won’t show it to her, will you? She loved her father so much.”
“Don’t worry, Mama. No one will see it except those closely tied to the investigation.”
“Thank goodness.” She leaned in and whispered. “I have nightmares of the sordid details of the murders leaking to the press.”
“And they haven’t,” replied Darias. “Try not to fret over things you can’t control. We need to focus on the important things, like identifying and catching the killers.”
“You’re right, sweetheart. I wonder if Beatriz will be home in time for dinner. I do hope so. I’m going to shower and change and come down with a fresh attitude.”
“That’s a great idea, Mama.” Sandro rubbed her hand affectionately. “I’ll take Serena to her room and settle into mine, and we can meet back down here.”
Sandro had been holding Lucky—who could be a squirmer—in the crook of his arm this whole time. Lucky gazed up at him with unabashed adoration. “Let’s go upstairs. I’ll show you your room.”
Serena pushed a polite smile to her lips and glanced at the others. She really wished she had her travel bag here. She’d been wearing this outfit since last night, and she’d feel very out of place if they were all going to get dressed up for dinner the way royals did in movies. At the very least she’d like to put on her trusty little black dress and a sparkly pair of earrings.
Sandro gestured for her to climb the stairs ahead of him. They were wide enough for about eight people to walk abreast. More grim ancestors stared down at her, along with their horses and hounds and even a kind of pigeon perched on one young woman’s finger.
“Your family is very nice,” she said softly when they were out of earshot.
“See? I told you they were. You should believe me more often.”
She shot him a challenging glance. “I really want to believe you about my room not being haunted.”
“Only one way to find out, right? If anything scary happens just call for me and I’ll rush right in.” He caught up with her at the top of the stairs and leaned in close. “Come to think of it, don’t wait for something scary to happen.”
Her skin sizzled as he touched her. Surely he didn’t expect her to fool around with him under his mother’s roof? With about fifty people within possible earshot.… The idea made her shudder.
“Don’t look so nervous. You’ll be fine.”
She lifted a brow. “Maybe it’s not the ghost I’m worried about.” They walked along a wide hallway lined with polished wood doors encased in ornate white plaster casing. More cherubs gazed down at them from the ceiling, and the rug felt very soft and expensive under foot.
“Here’s your room.” He pushed open the door.
“Wow, it’s stunning.” She stopped and stared. The walls were covered in ornate blue-and-silver fabric. The tall four-poster bed had dark blue velvet curtains gathered at the corners with tasseled ties. The floor-length curtains were blue velvet edged with silver.
“It’s been known as the moonlight room since the palace was built. Traditions don’t die quickly in Altaleone. I think you’ll find the bed comfortable, though.
“I suppose that’s a relief.” She walked over to the bed. Definitely fit for a queen, and most likely more than one queen had slept in it. “But why moonlight?”
Sandro hesitated for a moment. “It was originally intended for the king’s chief mistress.”
Her hand froze just above the luxurious covers. “Chief mistress? He had more than one?”
Amusement sparkled in Sandro’s eyes. “They didn’t have the Internet to entertain themselves with back then.
“What did his wife think?”
“She was accused of poisoning her.”
“So she’s the ghost? The poisoned mistress?” A chill ran down her spine.
“There isn’t any ghost. I don’t even know if she was poisoned. She probably just got sick and died. That was hardly a rare occurrence in the old days before antibiotics.”
Serena drew in a shaky breath. “So what happened to the wife? Who was accused of the poisoning?”
“The king divorced her, and she went to live in a nunnery in the mountains.”
“Poor her.”
“Indeed. And she was his third wife. She had the best fate of all of them.”
“I thought you said your family was nice!”
He laughed. “I was talking about the current generation. I make no such promises about my forbears.” He walked over to a tall wardrobe that could easily double as a portal to another world and opened the door to reveal hangers already filled with the items from her suitcase. “They’ve delivered our luggage.”
“How did they do it so fast?” She felt like they’d only just got here.
He shrugged. “It’s not a long drive. And they work as a team. One person ironing while the other folds. You know.”
“They ironed my clothes?” Eyes wide, she walked to the closet. Sure enough each item was smooth as a lake in a summer. “How am I going to go back to normal life after this?”
“Who says you should?”
She instantly regretted her comment. She still had no idea what Sandro really wanted with her. She couldn’t imagine that he actually intended to propose marriage—baby or no.
Just the fact that she was assigned the room of some long-dead royal mistress should give her very serious pause. “Am I supposed to get dressed up for dinner or something?”
“My mom always changes for dinner. I suppose it’s one of those traditions she loves. My dad used to put on a fancy smoking jacket. Us kids rarely do. You can wear whatever you like.”
She resolved to go with the little black dress, which was reassuringly unwrinkled. She’d always rather be overdressed than underdressed, regardless of the occasion. She chose a pair of pretty moonstone earrings and a matching necklace with a single stone on a delicate chain. By the time she’d finished her makeup routine—using a new tinted lip gloss that one of her sponsors had sent—she felt almost glamorous enough to attend a royal dinner.
Sandro had told her he’d come to get her on his way down, so she decided to kill time checking her social media. She was cheered to see that most of the posts about her breakup were compassionate, not critical, and she took the time to thank people for supporting her. She ignored the few snarkier comments. It didn’t make any logical sense, but the physical distance—tucked away in the mountains of Altaleone—from her normal life gave her a sense of insulation.
And then there were the questions about Sandro. Those made her heart trip. “OMG so fine! Is he your new boo?” and questions to that effect. They made her smile—then panic. She could hardly write, “I don’t know,” even if it was the truth.
And she couldn’t honestly write, “He’s just a friend,” when she was carrying his baby inside her.
“Sandro’s a pretty amazing guy,” she wrote in response to one comment. Enthusiastic but noncommittal! “I’m really enjoying my visit to his country.”
How long was he going to be? Did she have time to record a quick video? It seemed a shame to waste her flawless makeup. She looked around for the best backdrop—the four-poster bed—and propped her camera on its stand on a tall chest of drawers.
She used a remote to hit record.
“Hi, everyone, I thought I’d record a quick video before I head to dinner. I’m here in the royal palace at Altaleone”—she almost had to pinch herself as it sounded so grand when she said it—“and I wanted to show you the bedroom I’m sleeping in.”
She launched into the story about the mistress and the ghost and how excited she was to be here. As always she kept her eye on the timer, intending to bubble away for her usual six minutes. She had just thanked them for their support and said she was slowly but surely getting over her breakup when a knock on the door made her jump.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Serena froze for a second unsure of whether to quickly sign off or to say, “Come in.”
The door opened anyway. It was Sandro, tall and regal in a fresh black shirt and dark gray pants. He walked in, bold eyes appraising her in her fitted dress. His gaze heated her skin and made her thoughts dissolve into vapors. Before she could gather her senses he said, “You look radiant.”
She blinked, feeling radiant. And also like she’d been caught in the act of something. “Hi, Sandro, I’m just wrapping up a video.” She beckoned him into the shot—like it was no big deal that she had a prince coming to find her in her bedroom. “I was just telling them the story of the moonlight room.”
Sandro came up to her—into the shot—and to her distress he put his arm around her waist. He spoke directly to the camera. “Do you not all agree that Serena is the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen?”
She felt her face heat. “Oh, don’t be silly! Besides, they know all my secrets. I’d have no cheekbones at all without contour.” She heard a goofy giggle escape her. “Can you see what a charmer he is? Anyway, I’d better go. I’ll keep you posted on my trip here in Altaleone.” She pushed the stop button and widened her eyes at him. “Now they’ll think we’re…up to something.”
“And they’ll be right.” His eyes glittered. He moved in as if he was going to kiss her.
Panic fluttered in her chest. “I really should post my video. So it’s fresh.”
“Go for it.” His posture relaxed. So did hers. She loved how respectful Sandro was and how he didn’t push or try to interfere with her professional activities. Not many people—including Howard—would be so understanding. Howard had found it rude and disturbing that she’d have to hold them up for five minutes to post her videos or respond to a comment. Though he had no trouble taking phone calls from his clients in the middle of dinner or even when they were in bed together.
She uploaded the video and titled it “In the Moonlight Room at the Palace.” That should draw some views.
She wasn’t sure exactly where this series of videos was going. But since she had no idea where her life was going either, that seemed appropriate. For once she didn’t feel the need to control every aspect of her life. Maybe she was finally starting to relax?
And damn if it didn’t feel good to be on camera with the very gorgeous—and intriguingly royal—Sandro. It certainly took the sting out of being jilted by her fiancé and made getting dumped seem way less depressing and embarrassing.
She watched the first comments pop up before anyone had even had time to watch the whole video. “Wow! Lucky you XXoXX,” and similar gushing from some of her lovely regulars who got notifications as soon as she posted a video. “I’ll be ready in a sec!” she said. Sandro stood, looking relaxed and unhurried, drinking her in with his eyes in a way that made her feel unbelievably glamorous.
Then her phone pinged. She checked her texts—there was a new one from an unknown number. I see you are inside the palace. Good for you.
She frowned. Who was this? Her heart started bumping. She never, EVER posted her personal number on social media. She hadn’t told a single friend or family member that she was coming here and none of them would have watched her video so fast.. So who was it from?
“We really should go,” said Sandro. “My mom is a stickler for punctuality.
“I just got a weird text.” She showed him.
Sandro peered at it, then frowned. “I think we should show it to Gibran.”
Visions of Gibran going through her phone and reading the humiliating trail of messages between her and Howard—that she wasn’t quite ready to delete—made her cringe. “Oh, I don’t think it’s anything serious. Just odd, that’s all. It must be someone who knows me who saw the video. I lost all my contacts when my last phone died. I’ll text them back and ask who it is.” She didn’t want to annoy his mom. She put Lucky into his crate, which was set up in the corner of the room, complete with his favorite squeaky toy. “Let’s go.”
She resolved to text the mystery person later, so she wouldn’t get into a texting convo in the middle of a royal dinner. She hadn’t gone to etiquette school, but everyone knew that would be rude. As they walked downstairs she tried to rack her mind for who it could be. It might be quite innocent. Maybe it was her friend Asia, texting from an unfamiliar number?
“My goodness, you look beautiful.” Lina’s greeting made her wonder how terrible she’d looked before.
“Thank you.” She wanted to return the compliment but somehow that seemed inappropriate. Instead she went with, “That’s a beautiful necklace you’re wearing.” It was deep yellow gold and looked like a series of vines weaving in and out of each other.
Lina’s hand rose to touch it. “Thank you. It’s been in the Leone family for centuries.”
“We had a jeweler appraise it three years ago, and he said it likely dates back to the Byzantine era, and may even have belonged to Empress Theodora.” A female voice rang out. Serena turned to see Beatriz, dressed in black pants and a black turtleneck, with her hair in a neat bun. She wore no jewelry of any kind.
“Fascinating, Beatriz,” said Darias, who’d appeared in the doorway. “But stop trying to distract us with trivia and tell us where you were all day.”
Serena watched her chest rise and fall. “I simply went for a drive.”
“Taking two coffees and a bag of pastries with you,” said Sandro.
“Exactly.” Her mouth narrowed into a line. “It takes a lot of caffeine and calories to keep me going when it’s this cold.”
“I can relate to that,” said Serena. Everyone in the room turned to stare at her. Had she said something wrong? Or was she not supposed to just chime in on the conversation without being spoken to first?
She didn’t know the first thing about royal etiquette. Heat rose to her cheeks, and she hoped it wasn’t visible.
“See?” Beatriz’s solemn face cracked into a smile. “Finally someone else here understands. It’s nice to see you again, Serena. I hope they didn’t put you in the moonlight room.”
“Why?”
“Oh, stop it, Beatriz,” said Lina. “You know there’s nothing wrong with that room. It’s one of the nicest. And it’s right next to Sandro’s.”
“Oh, yes. I’d forgotten about that.” She lifted a brow very slightly. “But no one can argue that strange things happen in that room. I swear a voice told me to look on top of the big armoire one afternoon, so I pulled up a chair, and found the strangest thing up there.”
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