Dacia burst out laughing, a wave of relief rushing over her.
When she was in England she had found a copy of Carmilla, the scandalous novel about vampires set in the forests of southern Europe, and read it in her room at night. And as a child she’d heard the old folktales and legends of things that fed on human blood from her Romanian tutor. But Mihai a vampire?
She shook her head and laughed again, and for a brief, sweet moment she thought that everything would be all right, that Lady Ioana’s treason was only talk, more nonsense taken too seriously. Soon she and Lou would go home without suffering anything more than the humiliation of having a grandmother with a nasty temper.
But Lord Johnny didn’t laugh, nor did Radu. And Will looked desperate to prove that he wasn’t a fool, so he began to speak again, babbling about dungeons and a Dracula who stole young ladies to feed his horrible appetite.
“He doesn’t just control the vermin; he can turn himself into a wolf, or a bat, or even a mist,” Will added, as though this last impossibility was the most damning piece of evidence.
Dacia closed her eyes. In the golden afternoon sunlight, standing on the tiled terrace of the ancient castle, Will Carver truly did not seem as dashing and romantic as he had in the drawing rooms of New York. He was wispy, and apparently rather lacking in intelligence. Dacia opened her mouth to say that it was impossible for anyone to turn into a bat, but Lou spoke first.
“The Claw, the Wing, and the Smoke,” she said softly.
Dacia felt the whole world tilt.
Lou turned to Radu and said in a much louder voice, “You will find out what novel this was, and bring me a copy. I am going back to the estate.” And she marched away without looking to see if anyone was following her.
“Agreed,” Lord Johnny said in a strangled voice. “Carver, was it?” He put a comradely arm around Will. “You and I need to talk. Radu, you had better make sure that the young ladies get home safely. And if you can locate a copy of . . . ?”
“Dracula, by a Mr. Bram Stoker,” Will said, still sounding embarrassed but trying visibly to rally. “It was just published this year.”
“Yes, Dracula. I wouldn’t mind having a look at it myself.” Lord Johnny nodded stiffly at Dacia. “I will do my best to see you tomorrow, Miss Vreeholt.”
Dacia could only nod stiffly herself by way of reply. She let Radu take her arm and lead her away. They passed through more whitewashed rooms with dark wood floors, but she didn’t see them. Down in the courtyard, Lou was waiting by their carriage.
No one said a word all the way back to the Florescu estate.
THE DIARY OF MISS MARIA LOUISA NEULANDER
12 June 1897
I am the Wing.
PELES CASTELUL
The king and queen were out driving when Lou and her family arrived at Peles. The housekeeper was only too happy to take them on a tour of the palace, though, starting with the music room and ending with the guest bedrooms, which were rather plain and narrow and linked together in an odd way. Lou admired the glass ceiling of the foyer, and tried to look suitably impressed by the fact that it could be cranked open on sunny days. She peered at the grates that provided heat in the winter or cool air in the summertime, powered by an enormous boiler system down in the cellar, and saw one of the bathrooms with its modern fittings, making small noises of interest over these innovations even though she was feeling sick and anxious.
The royal couple returned, and the palace tour ended abruptly with the Florescus being herded into a room full of antique weapons and left there. Dacia and Radu immediately began exploring the spears and sabers nailed to the walls, but Lou’s mother and Aunt Kate looked as though they were going to have fits.
“And they just leave us here, cooling our heels, for who knows how long?” Aunt Kate’s face was pinched with displeasure.
“There’s not even a chair to sit in,” Maria said by way of agreement.
“We have had this appointment for a week now,” Aunt Kate went on. “They should have at least had the courtesy to be at home when we came.”
“We arrived an hour and a half early,” Dacia pointed out in exasperation. “We wanted to tour the palace, and we did. I don’t see how this is some kind of snub.”
Aunt Kate and Lou’s mother gave her quelling looks.
Lou didn’t even bother to try to soothe them. Just getting up that morning and getting dressed had taken all her energy. She spoke only when she absolutely had to, and couldn’t bring herself to eat. Her mother tried to press her, but Aunt Kate had come to her aid and told Maria to leave her alone. Dacia, too, seemed to respect that Lou needed space, though she was normally one to try to jolly people back into good humor.
Of course, Lou reflected, Dacia was dealing with the same shocks that she herself had received, and probably felt much the same. Lou had felt too drained that morning to notice whether Dacia had eaten anything, either.
They had only been in the weapons room for a few minutes when the butler appeared. He led them to an elegant parlor, with a large harp standing before the windows and several brocade sofas. On one of them sat the queen, Elisabeth, a handsome woman wearing a plum-colored gown and a lace veil over her hair. King Carol the First stood near the windows in a green uniform, a book in one hand.
Even Lou, from the depths of her despair, could see that it was a prop. The king wanted to look like he was in the middle of reading a book, even though the book was closed and he was standing, stiff, several paces away from any chairs.
King Carol was afraid of them, Lou realized with a jolt. Did he know of her family’s plan? She wondered why he had agreed to see them at all. Was he sizing them up?
“Your Majesties,” Aunt Kate said, curtsying. They all followed suit, except for Radu, who bowed. “Thank you for receiving us.”
“It is our pleasure,” the king said in a voice that was anything but pleased.
He was in his fifties, and had a beard shaped like a coal shovel. Lou found that she pitied him. He was the first king of Romania since the Ottoman Empire had finally been thrown off and the states of Wallachia and Moldova had been united. Many battles had been fought on Romanian soil, sitting as it did between Europe and the Near East, and many more would probably be fought in the future. But for a brief shining moment Romania had triumphed, and there was peace throughout the land. Then here came her family, plotting treason with the Draculas, trying to bring down this stately king and his kind-eyed wife.
And it seemed that the king knew of it.
Queen Elisabeth welcomed them graciously and held out a soft hand. They all lined up to kiss it while Aunt Kate murmured their names.
“My sister Mrs. Maria Louisa Florescu Neulander. Radu Florescu, the son of my brother Horia. My nieces, Maria Louisa Neulander and Dacia Vreeholt, both of New York.”
“Ah, yes, you were born in America,” said King Carol.
Dacia nodded. Lou looked at the queen’s eyes, seeing the sorrow behind the kindness.
“And you are visiting your mothers’ homeland for the first time?” The king had a deep, calm voice. Lou found it soothing.
Another nod from Dacia. “Yes, Your Majesty,” she added.
“How delightful to meet you,” the queen said. Her voice was light, cultured. “It is so good to see you again, Ana Katarina.” She looked at Lou and Dacia with a ghost of a smile. “Did you know that your aunt was once one of my attendants?”
Both girls shook their heads, wide-eyed. Aunt Kate, a lady-in-waiting to the queen? The queen against whom their family was plotting?
“She was indispensable,” the queen said, nodding at their surprise. “I was very sorry to see her go to America with her sisters, but I understood that the lure of the new and exotic was much stronger than the need to stay and pour my tea.” Queen Elisabeth had a little twinkle in her eyes now, and Lou observed that it made her look younger.
“And are you back for good, Katarina?” The queen looked up at Aunt Kate with a hint of challenge, and Lou fo
und herself reassessing the older woman. She had lost her only child years before, and grief still weighed on her, but there was steel beneath it.
“That rather depends on my nieces,” Aunt Kate said coolly. “They are going to be deciding how long they will stay in Romania tomorrow night.”
“Oh, is that right?” The queen looked only mildly interested, but the king’s face had gone tense and white.
“We’re having a family dinner, and hoping that will provide entertainment enough to entice them to stay,” Aunt Kate said smoothly.
Lou couldn’t be sure, because of the beard, but she thought that the king swallowed.
She couldn’t stand the tension any longer. Her mother was staring over the queen’s head as though Her Majesty wasn’t even there. Radu hulked behind them like a mute bodyguard. Aunt Kate was being oddly enigmatic . . .
“Your Majesty,” Lou said to the king, her voice barely above a whisper from disuse. “I am so honored to be here. Thank you for all you’ve done for our country.” She gave another little curtsy.
King Carol looked as if he’d been struck by lightning.
“Thank you, Miss Neulander,” he said hesitantly.
The tension in the room was humming now, and Lou looked at the strings of the harp to see if they were vibrating. They weren’t, but Lou still felt that they should be. When the butler knocked they all flinched, and Lou almost shrieked, but she bit her lip just in time.
“Prince Mihai Dracula, Lord John Harcastle, and Mr. Theophilus Arkady,” the butler announced.
Prince Mihai, Lord Johnny, and That Awful Man came in and bowed to the royal couple. After greetings had been exchanged, much to Lou’s shock, That Awful Man turned and bowed to her.
“Miss Neulander, I wish to beg your forgiveness for my behavior at our first meeting, and the occasion after that. It was very bad of me, and I hope that I have not caused you lasting distress. Please accept my humblest apologies.”
Lou felt her cheeks turning red, but for once it was with anger and not embarrassment. Everyone was looking at her, and it was unthinkable that she should refuse his apology, but she truly wished she could. He hoped that he had not caused her lasting distress? Of course he had, and she was sure that he knew he had, and Lord Johnny knew as well! Dacia had put him up to this apology, and now she was forced to accept.
Prince Mihai did not seem to think that it was fair, either.
“What is that you say? You offended this young lady?” He gave That Awful Man—Mr. Arkady, Lou supposed she should call him—a wrathful look.
“We were on the same ship, coming from America,” Arkady said, his spine straightening. Lou noticed that he was very tall, taller than Prince Mihai or Lord Johnny, and that he was not much older. “I wished to make the young lady’s acquaintance, but am sadly lacking in social graces.”
“I can imagine,” Prince Mihai sneered.
Lou felt as though she had been rescued from one bad situation and thrown into another. She no longer needed to accept or decline Mr. Arkady’s apology; no one was even looking at her now, but Prince Mihai and Mr. Arkady seemed on the verge of coming to blows. She did not find the idea of having men fight over her exciting. And why did Prince Mihai care? She had a sneaking suspicion that Prince Mihai just loved to cause trouble, and she didn’t feel like catering to his whims.
“It’s all in the past,” she said calmly, and turned back to the queen. “I believe you write books, ma’am?”
The queen seemed to understand, and smiled at Lou in a knowing way.
“Indeed I do,” she said. “I find that it gives me a deep sense of fulfillment.”
“I should very much like to read one of your books,” Lou said, ignoring her mother’s poking at her side, and That Awful Man’s stares.
“You are a good child,” Queen Elisabeth said. She looked over Lou’s shoulder, at Dacia and Radu, who were standing side by side. “I can see in your eyes that you two are also very good. I shall send you some of my books; I think you will enjoy them.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Lou said, and heard Dacia and Radu echo her.
But the queen was not finished. “Ana Katarina,” she said, turning to Aunt Kate, “the world grows ever more terrible. Youth should be treasured, not forced to leave their innocence behind too soon.”
“Elisabeth,” King Carol said with a warning in his voice.
But the queen only looked at Aunt Kate, and so did everyone else. Aunt Kate stiffened, and her face was still. It was not one of her famous, quelling Looks, but another expression entirely, one that made her look older, almost as old as the queen.
“The world is hard,” Aunt Kate said finally. “And sometimes we have to make the decision to be just as hard.”
“Come now,” Prince Mihai said jovially. “The world doesn’t have to be as hard as all that! Some decisions are very easy to make! I have known your family all my life, and I find that they make decisions very easily. They are loyal, intelligent, and courageous, as well.”
Dacia made a strangled sound.
“Dogs are also loyal, intelligent, and courageous,” Lou said, rather louder than she had intended.
She heard a soft huff of breath from Dacia, and her cousin took her arm. “Quite, LouLou! Do you recall my father’s old beagle? The very characteristics that Mihai has just listed!” She turned her bright eyes on Prince Mihai, and Lou could see that her cousin was no longer as enamored of the prince as she had been. “Now it seems that you no longer have room to take Mr. Arkady to task for his manners, since you yourself have just given our family an even more left-handed compliment!”
“Really, Mihai,” King Carol rumbled. “I do not think that this is the time or the audience for your particular . . . grievances.”
“It is never the time for my grievances,” retorted Prince Mihai. “But it will be, soon. Your Majesty.”
The venom in his voice caused Dacia to gasp and Lou to take a step back. It did not appear to surprise anyone else in the room, however. Aunt Kate merely raised her eyebrows, giving the room in general one of her Looks, and then beckoned to her nieces.
“I think that should be our cue to leave,” she said. “Please forgive us, Your Majesties. I fear we are not good company.”
“It isn’t you, dear ladies,” the king said in a low voice as they curtsied.
“It seems to be all of a piece,” Aunt Kate said enigmatically, but the queen understood, and gave a small, bitter laugh.
“Oh, Ana Katarina, do think about what I said, my dear. For the sake of your nieces, if not for yourself.”
Lou was expecting her aunt to make some disparaging remark, or to put the queen off with a cool reply at the very least, but instead Aunt Kate merely bowed her head and said, “I will consider your words.”
“And that,” Dacia whispered to Lou, “is the most surprising thing of all.”
Lou could only nod and take Radu’s offered arm, releasing Dacia. Any strength she might have had was gone, and she felt like a marionette with the strings cut.
FROM THE DESK OF MISS DACIA VREEHOLT
13 June 1897
Dear Lord Johnny,
I am sorry that we did not get a chance to speak more privately yesterday at the palace. And you hardly need me to spy on Mihai, since you arrived together, and we left soon after. I find that I was not at all amused by Mihai’s heavy-handed attempts at chivalry, if that is what they were. Or by his equally high-handed treatment of Their Majesties, who seemed all kindness and honor.
What is afoot?
You surely know, and you must tell me, particularly as it concerns me, my dear Lou, and our family. I would ask you to call, but the household is in an uproar preparing for this evening. There is to be a special dinner and then a ball . . . I think. An entertainment of some kind, at any rate. It is most odd. Lou and I are being petted and groomed as though we were about to be married . . . Horrible thought! If you know anything more that concerns me, I demand that you reply at once!
; Dacia V.
THE DIARY OF MISS MARIA LOUISA NEULANDER
13 June 1897
My papa has gone, and he has taken the twins with him.
They are only going as far as Hungary, to a hotel in Buda-Pesth, and there they will wait for me. My papa promised that he would send for me as soon as the family would allow it, and from Buda-Pesth we will go to Paris so that Dacia can get her fill of shopping, and see the cathedrals and romantic little streets.
This is what my papa told me, but I know that it is false comfort. He cannot send for me, any more than I can leave. I am being trussed and dressed like a lamb for the slaughter, and I do not know if I will ever see my dear papa again. Nor do I think he left of his own free will. I believe that he left with my brothers out of concern for their safety as well as his own. I do not blame him for leaving me behind, as Lady Ioana has made it clear that she wants me here, and I do not think I am in the kind of danger that my father and brothers are in.
But I am in danger. We all are.
So, good-bye, darling Papa! I love you so! And David and Adam, my little brothers: be good, and know that I love you also!
Maria Louisa Neulander
IN THE FOREST OF SINAIA
Dacia wished that Romanian food weren’t so heavy as she stood between Lou and Radu, waiting for Lady Ioana to speak. They had dined well, in the traditional manner, which meant several courses of grilled meats, cabbage, potatoes, and more spicy mamaliga. She wished that she hadn’t tied her sash quite so tight, and slipped her fingers under the edge of the thick red cloth to try to loosen it a bit.
She was busy trying to do this when Lady Ioana took her place in the middle of the crowd. The entire Florescu family was there, and had eaten somberly at the feast in the massive dining room with its heavy table and low-beamed ceiling. But now they were all standing in the clearing behind the manor, and this was stranger and more ominous than eating in near silence in a room that had torch-smoke-blackened beams.