by Rhys Bowen
I was startled from my thoughts by the figure with the raised arm until I realized it was just the suit of armor that had frightened Queenie. Really it was almost as if someone had arranged this castle to provide the maximum amount of shocks to visitors!
In my room I found Queenie, sitting on my bed with a cup of tea in one hand and a biscuit in the other. She didn’t even have the grace to jump up when I came in.
“Whatcher, miss,” she said, attempting feebly to brush the crumbs from the front of her uniform.
“Queenie, you really will have to learn how to address your mistress properly,” I said. “The correct thing to say is, ‘Hello, my lady’ or ‘Welcome back, my lady.’ Is that really too hard to learn?”
“I do try,” she said, making me wonder whether she was a secret bolshie and doing this deliberately to let me know that she was my equal. This then started a whole train of thought in my mind. How much did one really know about servants? She had just shown up on my doorstep and I had no way of knowing who she really was. While I didn’t think that anyone could pretend to be as stupid as she was, maybe the same circumstances were true for other servants in the castle. Maybe one of them had come here with the express purpose of killing Pirin.
“You can help me off with my coat and boots, Queenie,” I said.
“Bob’s yer—yes, me lady,” she said. Maybe there was hope after all.
“Oh, by the way,” she added as she took my coat, “there was a message came for you from the princess. She hoped you were feeling all right because she hadn’t seen you this morning and to remind you that you were supposed to be meeting the other bridal attendants for a dress fitting at ten thirty.”
I glanced at my watch. Ten forty-five. “Oh, golly,” I said. “I’d better get going then. Oh, and give me that dress you scorched. Maybe one of the dressmakers can fix it for me if she has a moment.”
I went back down the various staircases as fast as I dared because the steps were worn and smooth and the going was treacherous. In the great hallway at the bottom I encountered Lady Middlesex and Miss Deer-Harte, still wandering around in their coats.
“We thought we might follow your example and go for a little stroll,” Lady Middlesex said. “Since the snow was apparently not too deep for you.”
“It was lovely out there,” I said, trying to convey enthusiasm. “A walk is a good idea. Good fresh mountain air.” I didn’t add the word “freezing” to that sentence. At least I’d done what Darcy had asked and sent them out of the way for a while. I didn’t think even someone as hearty as Lady Middlesex could take that kind of cold for long, however.
At the doorway to the salon I heard the sound of girlish laughter and I paused, my mind racing back to that disconcerting moment when I had stumbled upon Matty the evening before. I had seen her with blood running down her chin and she had begged me not to tell anybody. She couldn’t help it, she had confessed. Was it too improbable to believe that she had been bitten by a vampire and had become one of them? Darcy had been so amused by my stories of vampires that I hadn’t even mentioned Matty to him. I suppose it did sound ridiculous to anyone who hadn’t experienced it personally. I would have thought it ridiculous myself if it hadn’t happened to me. My nightly visitation could be explained by a case of mixed-up rooms, but then a normal room-hopper would not need to climb up walls—let’s face it, would not be able to climb up walls. And where could an outsider have come from with the pass closed and no habitation nearer than that inn, and snow too deep to walk through? I am normally a sensible person, I told myself, but the things I had witnessed defied rational explanation.
I took a deep breath, opened the door and went in. Matty rose from the sofa near the fire and came to meet me. “My dear Georgie,” she said. “Are you well? I was worried when nobody had seen you this morning.”
She looked and sounded completely normal, but she was wearing a scarf around her neck that would hide any bite marks.
“I’m quite well, thank you,” I said. “Darcy O’Mara and I went for a little walk.”
“Nicky’s groomsman? Ah, so that’s where your interests lie. Poor Siegfried, he’ll be devastated.”
That’s when I remembered that I had actually not discouraged Siegfried the night before. Oh, no, Siegfried didn’t really think I had changed my mind, did he?
“Of course, you’re lucky,” she said. “Nobody would mind whom you married. It wouldn’t make any difference to world peace.”
“My sister-in-law is keen for me to make the right match, and I think the queen expects me to cement ties with the right family,” I said.
“It’s such a bore being royal, isn’t it?” She slipped her arm through mine and led me over to the other young women at the fire. “I’m really becoming convinced that communism is a good idea. Or maybe America has it right—choose a new leader every four years, from among the people.”
“America maybe,” I said, “but look at the mess in Russia. Communism doesn’t seem to have made life for the ordinary people better there.”
“Who cares, really.” Matty gave one of her slightly fake laughs. “So no more talk of politics or any other boring subject. We are all going to be happy and enjoy my wedding. I could have killed that awful man for spoiling the evening last night.”
“I don’t think he intended to have a heart attack,” I said cautiously.
“Maybe not, but I’m still angry with Nicky for inviting him. This morning Siegfried was muttering about trying to send one of the cars to Bucharest for the royal physician and Mama and Papa were distressed to hear that one of our guests had become sick.”
“I don’t think it was Prince Nicholas’s choice to bring Pirin along with him,” I said. “He’s a powerful man in that country. I rather suspect he does what he wants.”
“Well, I certainly didn’t invite him to my wedding,” she said. “He invited himself. I rather wish he’d hurry up and die and then we could all stop worrying about him. It’s like a cloud of gloom hanging over us, knowing he’s lying up there.”
I didn’t like to say that her wish had been granted. She turned to the other girls and obviously repeated what she had said in German, as it produced a titter of nervous laughter. I observed her critically. She was so different from the needy, unconfident girl I had known at school. I was almost prepared to believe she wasn’t the same person. I’d already been fooled by one imposter this year, so surely two was a little much. And her parents obviously recognized her as their daughter, so she had to be Matty, but she had certainly grown up in a hurry. The couturiere approached, clapping her hands as if she were directing a flock of chickens.
“Highnesses, we have no time to waste. So much work to be done. Now, who is ready to volunteer to be first today?”
I was anxious to get out of there and find out what was happening with Nicholas and Darcy. I was also uneasy in Matty’s presence. “I will, if you like,” I said.
The dress was fitted with nods of satisfaction. “This young lady has no curves, like a boy,” our couturiere said to her assistant in French. “On her the dress will look right.” I wasn’t so sure that having no curves and looking like a boy was a compliment but I took it for one, especially as she had very little to do in the way of pinning and altering. When I glanced at myself in those walls of mirrors a tall, elegant creation stared back at me. I noticed that the room was suddenly quiet and saw that the other girls had stopped talking and were now watching me.
“Georgie, I did not think that you would grow up to be so chic,” Matty said. She came to stand beside me and put her arm around my waist as we stared at ourselves in the mirrors. “Wouldn’t Mademoiselle Amelie and the other teachers be surprised if they saw us now. What a shame we are wasted in a remote castle in Romania. We should be on the French Riviera, or in Hollywood, flirting with all the men-about-town, don’t you think?”
I laughed with her but my cheeks were very pink. It was the first time anyone had ever suggested that I might be elegant one day. Maybe
there was some of my mother’s blood in me after all.
I had just been unpinned from my dress and was retrieving my more practical jumper and skirt when there was a tap at the door. One of the seamstresses was directed to go and returned with a letter. Matty looked at it, then handed it to me. “From one of your admirers.” She gave me a knowing look.
I glanced up at the door as I recognized Darcy’s firm black scrawl. I need to speak to you immediately, it said.
“I’ll be back,” I said.
“A midmorning tryst. How romantic. Siegfried will be jealous.” Matty wagged a finger and the other girls giggled as I went to the door. I hoped she was just joking. For a second I felt a stab of a different kind of fear—had I been brought here to be bride of this particular Frankenstein after all? Frankly if it was a choice between life with Siegfried and a bite from a vampire, I think I’d prefer to be undead. But I didn’t have long to consider this as Darcy was waiting outside the door for me.
“Ah, there you are,” he said, drawing me to one side. “Look, something has come up and I have to go.”
“Go? Go where?”
“We’ve run into a complication,” he whispered. “Nicholas’s father demanded to be taken straight to see Pirin.”
“Oh, Lord, so I suppose the game’s up.”
“Not yet. We kept the curtains drawn so that it was pretty dark. The firelight actually made his skin look reddish. I slipped into the room and hid under the bed, then I snored loudly to make it sound as if he was still breathing.”
I started to laugh, it was so absurd.
Darcy smiled too. “It worked once, but the king is very concerned. He wanted to send one of the cars to bring his personal physician from Bulgaria immediately.”
“How did you stop him from doing that?”
“Nick persuaded him that there was a good hospital with modern equipment in the nearest city and it would be better if Pirin were transported there immediately.”
“Oh, no, what are you going to do?”
“I’ve volunteered to go to the hospital with him, since Nicholas can’t leave his bride.”
“But what good will that do? They’ll pronounce him dead as soon as he arrives.”
“If he arrives,” Darcy said. “I’m also going to be driving and unfortunately the car is going to go off the road into a snowdrift somewhere up on the pass. By the time I’ve gone for help poor Field Marshal Pirin will have died, so there will be no point in summoning the personal physician. And the news of the tragic death won’t reach the castle until after the wedding.”
“So you’re not going to be here for the wedding either?” The disappointment in my face must have shown.
“I have to do this, my love,” he said. He raised his hand to my cheek. “I’m the only one who can do it, but I want you to help Nick and Anton in any way you can.”
“Of course,” I said. “Take care of yourself.”
“You too.” He leaned forward and kissed my forehead, then he went down the stairs without looking back.
Chapter 22
Still in Bran Castle
I returned to the salon.
“That was quick for a tryst,” Matty said.
“He just had a message to give me,” I said. “Your future father-in-law wants the field marshal to be taken to a hospital immediately and Darcy has volunteered to accompany him.”
“Thank God he’s going,” Matty said. “Now we can return to enjoying ourselves.”
I excused myself soon after, having decided not to ask one of the seamstresses to save my scorched dress. The way those sewing machines were clattering away indicated that they were busy enough already. Maybe when all the dresses were finished, I’d try again. I came into the hallway in time to run into Lady Middlesex and Miss Deer-Harte. “I don’t know how you two managed to go for a walk in that snow,” Lady Middlesex said accusingly. “We only ventured a few yards before Deer-Harte sank up to her middle. Had a dashed difficult time getting her out.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “We walked in the tracks the cars had made.”
“Better get you up to your room, Deer-Harte, before you catch your death of cold,” Lady Middlesex said. “Saw them loading the field marshal’s body into one of the hearses, by the way. And Mr. O’Mara went off with him. I hope they’re taking him to a place where a proper autopsy can be performed.”
I put my finger up to my lips. “Remember we’re not supposed to be talking about this,” I said. “Field Marshal Pirin has gone to hospital.”
“Oh, yes. Right. Of course.” She grinned like a naughty child. “Not that it matters. I’m sure none of the servants understand a word of what we’re saying.”
“I’m sure it’s very easy to listen in on conversations in a castle like this,” I said. “We have a laird’s lug at Castle Rannoch—you know, a secret room where you can listen to conversations in the great hall. And sound carries through all the pipes in the bathrooms, so I’m sure it must be the same here.”
“Well, I believe in calling a spade a spade,” Lady Middlesex said, annoyed now that I’d caught her out. “I don’t hold with trickery and deceit. Not the British way, you know. And if there is a murderer loose in this castle, then it’s high time he was found.”
I looked around to see who might be listening to this outburst. Luckily the hall appeared to be deserted, but at that moment I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Prince Nicholas came toward us, taking the steps two at a time.
“Well, that’s been accomplished, thank God,” he said. “My father saw him off.”
“How did you manage that?”
Nicholas grinned. “We carried him down to the car, wrapped head to toe in blankets against the cold. Father never had a chance to see any more of his face than a mustache peeping out. Good old Darcy. Splendid chap. Now we can hope that it takes a long time to mend the telephone wires.”
“So when do we hold the council of war?” Lady Middlesex demanded.
Prince Nicholas looked wary. “War?”
“I mean when do we meet to plan strategy and work out how we are going to solve this?”
“Oh, right.” Nicholas looked as if meeting with Lady Middlesex was not what he had in mind.
“We should pool our brains on this one, and our observations,” she said. “Deer-Harte thought she noticed one of the servants acting shiftily.”
“Very well. No time like the present, I suppose,” Nicholas said. “Maria is still with her ladies and the dressmakers, I presume?” I nodded. “So I’ll find Dragomir and my brother and we’ll meet in the library in fifteen minutes. Agreed?”
“Just gives you time to get out of those freezing wet clothes, Deer-Harte,” Lady Middlesex said.
I was making my way up to the floor that contained the library when I remembered that I hadn’t had any breakfast and took a detour to the breakfast room in the hope that there was still a roll I could grab. The room was empty but for Belinda, sitting alone at the table with a coffee cup in front of her.
“Where have you been?” she asked. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“I got up late and then went for a walk with Darcy,” I said.
“How romantic. But where is everyone else? The place is like a morgue.”
“Matty is having a dress fitting with her attendants and you know that the royal party arrived, don’t you?”
Belinda frowned. “Oh, yes. Anton deserted me to rush to the side of his papa. And they all seemed to be heading for the sickroom of that awful man Pirin.”
“Pirin’s now on his way to hospital, thank goodness,” I said, feeling strange about lying to my best friend.
“So why aren’t you at the dress fitting?”
“I went first. And I have such a perfect lack of figure that not much alteration was involved.”
“Good, then you and I can do something fun together. What shall it be?” She got up and slipped her arm through mine. “Not that this is the sort of place that I consider to be fun
. No casino, no shops. Thank God for sex, or I’d be bored to tears.”
“Belinda! You really shouldn’t say things like that where they can be overheard.”
She laughed. “There’s nobody in the room but the two of us. Besides, it’s the truth.”
“You were the one who wanted to come here,” I reminded her.
“Well, it did seem like a good lark at the time,” she said. “And I have to admit that Anton is rather scrumptious. But now his parents are here, I’m afraid he’ll have to behave like a good little boy. So what shall it be? Do you want to go and look for your vampires? We could find where their coffins are stored.”
“Stop teasing. I know what I saw, why won’t anyone else believe me?”
“But darling, of course I believe you, and I’m dying to meet a vampire.” She attempted to drag me from the room.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t come anywhere with you at the moment,” I said. “I have to meet—” I stopped hastily. Of course I couldn’t tell her that I had to meet the princes or she’d want to come along. “Lady Middlesex,” I finished. “I have to meet Lady Middlesex and Miss Deer-Harte.” I tried desperately to think of a reason for this meeting that would sound unappealing to Belinda. “She’s writing a history of Sandringham House and she wants my insights.”
Belinda wrinkled her nose. “I think I’ll go and take a long bath so I can try out my new Parisian bath beads. The bathrooms seem to be unoccupied at this time of day. Toodle-pip.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, put a slice of cheese onto a roll and fled. I arrived at the library to find that the others were already assembled, sitting around a big oval mahogany table in the center of an impressive if gloomy library. Shelves of leather-bound volumes rose into darkness, and a gallery circled the library at about twelve feet above our heads. High, narrow windows threw shafts of sunlight onto the floor, illuminating the dust motes. There was a pervading smell of must, dust and old books. I took the empty chair next to Lady Middlesex and opposite Nicholas and Dragomir.
