by Rhys Bowen
I turned to see where he was looking but there was nobody I recognized. Only a slim and elegant creature, obviously dressed from Paris, her dark hair sleekly styled and an ebony cigarette holder in one hand, was moving gracefully through the crowd. When she spotted me, her face lit up. “Georgie. You made it. How wonderful. I am so glad to see you.”
And she came toward me arms open.
She was about to embrace me when she stopped and laughed. “Your face, darling. I keep forgetting that people who haven’t seen me in a while don’t recognize me. It’s Matty, your old friend Matty.”
“I can’t believe it,” I said. “Matty, you look stunning.”
“Yes, I do, don’t I?” she said with satisfaction. “All those months in the Black Forest certainly paid off, didn’t they?”
“The Black Forest?”
“They sent me for a cure at a spa, darling. Three months of utter torture, drinking carrot juice, cold baths, long runs through the forest at dawn and calisthenics for hours. But this is the result. Thirty kilos miraculously vanished. And then I was a year in Paris to pick up sophistication and voila. A new me.”
I still couldn’t stop staring.
“She looks utterly beautiful, doesn’t she?” Nicholas said. “I can’t believe my luck.”
Nicholas put his arm around her and I thought I detected a brief second of hesitation before she looked up at him and gave him a smile.
“You make a very handsome couple,” I said. “I congratulate you both.”
“And we will have such fun trying on our dresses, won’t we?” Matty went on. “I have shipped in a wonderful little woman from Paris, you know. I do love exquisite clothes. Nicky has promised we can live part of the year in Paris, which will make me very happy. But do you remember that awful uniform we had to wear in school? It will be just like old times together with my dear school friends again.”
“You have more friends from Les Oiseaux attending?”
“I do. You will never guess. Our old friend Belinda Warburton-Stoke is here.”
“Belinda? Here? You invited her to your wedding?”
I was really angry. She had seen me only a week ago and said nothing.
“Not exactly,” she said. “The most amazing thing happened. She was touring in this region and her car broke down right outside the castle. She had no idea who lived here or that I was celebrating my wedding. Wasn’t it an incredible coincidence?”
“Incredible,” I agreed dryly. “So you invited her to stay for the wedding?”
“My dear, I could hardly turn her away, could I? Besides, I knew you’d be thrilled to have her here with us. Belinda was always such fun, wasn’t she, and most of the people here are so horribly stodgy and correct. Ah, there she is, over in that corner.”
I followed Matty’s gaze to the darkest corner of the room. I could make out Belinda’s back in the elegant peacock blue and emerald green dress she had designed herself. She had her head on one side, listening earnestly to another handsome and blond young man. He was smiling down at her with the rapt attention on his face that most men adopted when anywhere near Belinda.
“Who is that with her?” I asked.
“That’s Anton, Nicky’s younger brother. I’m afraid it’s no good her setting her cap at him. He will have to marry royalty and keep the family firm going, like the rest of us.” And she gave a brittle laugh.
The dinner gong sounded.
“You are sitting by me tonight,” Matty said. “I want to hear all about what you’ve been doing since I last saw you. But you need an escort in to dinner. Anton looks as if he’s otherwise occupied, so it had better be my brother.”
She pushed her way through the crowd, dragging me by one hand.
“Siegfried, you know Georgiana, don’t you?”
I knew that Siegfried was of the royal house of Romania but I hadn’t realized that he was Matty’s brother. How could I have been so stupid?
Siegfried eyed me warily. “Ah, Lady Georgiana. I am relieved to see you are fully clothed again.”
“What’s this, Georgie?” Matty asked, grinning in a way that reminded me of times at school when she overheard something she wasn’t supposed to.
“I omitted to take a towel to the bathroom and I’m afraid Prince Siegfried saw me clad in only a wet nightgown,” I said.
“Lucky Siegfried. Let’s hope it gave him ideas,” Matty said wickedly. “We can’t seem to make him show any interest in girls. Papa despairs of him.”
“I have told Papa I shall do my duty and marry,” Siegfried said. “In fact, I tried to make a suitable match earlier this year. Now please let us drop this subject.”
“Stop being such a stuffy old bore, Siegfried, and learn to have fun. Here, take Georgie in to dinner.”
She forced my arm through his just as Count Dragomir approached us.
“Dinner is served, Your Royal Highnesses,” he said. “May I suggest that you take your places to process in to the banqueting hall, naturally with you at the head, Prince Nicholas, since our own monarch and your father are not present. And may I also suggest that Lady Georgiana be escorted by His Highness Prince Anton?”
“I think Prince Anton is already taken,” I said.
Count Dragomir looked horrified. “But she is a commoner. That can’t be allowed. Your Highnesses should intervene right now.”
“Oh, don’t be so stuffy, Dragomir,” Matty said. “Honestly. This is an informal occasion. My parents are not present. So stop fussing.”
“As you wish, Your Highness.” Dragomir bowed low and departed muttering.
“Such a bore,” Matty said, shaking her head. As we made our way through to the banqueting hall another couple tried to cut in front of us. It was Prince Anton, with Belinda on his arm.
“Now here’s a pretty problem,” Anton said, grinning at Siegfried. “Who takes precedence here? Two princes, each of them only the spare, not the heir, and each with a pretty girl on his arm.”
“Then I think I win this time,” Siegfried said, “because my pretty girl is of royal blood and yours is decidedly not. And what’s more, this is my family seat. But good manners demand that you please go ahead of me anyway.”
Belinda put on an acting performance to rival my mother. “Georgie, it’s you. What a lovely surprise,” she cooed. “So you got here safely. I’m so glad. I had a beastly experience. Have you heard about it? If I hadn’t come upon this castle, I’d have been done for.”
“Poor Belinda’s car broke an axle and she had to walk for miles in the snow,” Anton said, gazing down at her adoringly. “Wasn’t it lucky that we were in residence? Most of the year the castle is unoccupied.”
“Belinda tends to be lucky,” I said. I still found it hard to forgive her trickery, although I had to admire her gall.
We entered the banqueting room. It was impressively long and high ceilinged with arches along both walls and above them high leaded-pane windows. A white-clothed table extended for its entire length, big enough to accommodate a hundred diners, and footmen in black and silver livery stood at attention behind the gilt chairs. It was all very grand. Siegfried led me to the head of the table and I was seated across from Matty.
“Are your parents not here?” I asked Siegfried, realizing that we were being given places of honor and there was apparently not a king or queen in sight.
“My parents and the parents of Nicholas are supposed to arrive tomorrow,” he said. “As will all the other royal guests. We are the advance party, so to speak, and thus we are rather informal.” He looked across the table in distaste as Field Marshal Pirin was pushing his way into a seat close to us.
Nicholas saw that Pirin was aiming for me and forestalled him. “I suggest that my godfather sit next to you tonight, Georgiana. I am afraid his English is not brilliant but he tells me that he knows you.” He turned to summon somebody. I wondered how many more surprises there would be tonight. Then I saw that the godfather in question was none other than Max von Strohheim, my mother�
�s latest conquest.
“Georgiana, you remember Herr Von Strohheim, don’t you?” Nicholas said easily. “And are you acquainted with his charming companion?”
I looked across the table into my mother’s startling violet eyes.
“Yes, we are acquainted,” I said.
Chapter 13
Later that night
It was not one of my favorite dinners. Max’s English was severely limited. My mother was clearly miffed that I was there, a living proof to everyone that she was over thirty.
“You might have warned me that you were coming along for this beanfeast,” she hissed at me.
“I didn’t know until a week ago when the queen asked me to represent the family.”
Those eyes that had wowed audiences on a thousand stages opened even wider. “Why on earth did the queen send you?”
“How about ‘It’s lovely to see you again, my darling?’ ” I said.
“Well, of course it is, although you really do need a good hairdresser. I must say I was stunned to find you were here. I would have thought the Princess Royal should have been part of the wedding party, and not you.”
“The bride particularly requested me,” I said. “We were school friends.”
“Ah. Well at last something useful has come out of that school.” She leaned across Max and lowered her voice. “You know, this might be a good opportunity for you. Lots of eligible princes and counts.”
“Too many,” I said, glancing at Siegfried, who was chatting away in German to Max.
“You have to do something with your life, darling. You desperately need a good wardrobe and the only way you’re going to get it is to find yourself a rich man.”
“Some mothers might actually pay for their daughter’s clothes,” I said dryly, “but failing that, I’d like to find a job. It’s just that there don’t seem to be any jobs going for someone like me.”
“Girls of your station are not supposed to find jobs,” she said with distaste, overlooking the first part of what I had just said.
“You had a job for years until you met Daddy,” I reminded her.
“Ah, but I was an actress. I had talent. I see nothing wrong with making use of talents, if you had any.”
I was glad when Matty demanded my attention and regaled those around us with tales of our school days, none of which were how I remembered them and all of which put Matty center stage in the escapades. But I smiled and nodded agreement, wishing that the dinner would hurry up and be over. Of course it went on for hours—course after course. The main dish was venison and I was given a leg shank, such a sweet delicate little thing that all I could think of was fawns leaping through the forest. It was cooked very rare and blood rushed onto my plate as I cut into it.
As I pushed it around my plate, pretending to eat it and wondering if I could drop it under the table, I remembered what I had pushed to the back of my mind until now—the figure who had climbed up the castle wall. I wanted to ask Matty about it, but one can hardly say at a royal banquet, “By the way, do you have creepy things that climb up your castle walls?”
Instead I said, “So I hear there are legends of vampires associated with this castle, Your Highness.”
“Vampires?” And she gave a peal of laughter. “Oh, yes, absolutely true. Half our family are vampires, aren’t they, Siegfried?”
Siegfried frowned. “Since our family originally comes from Germany, that would be hardly likely. However, there are many legends associated with this castle,” he said in his prissy way of talking. “Of course the castle was built by Vlad the Impaler, whom the peasants regarded as being in league with the devil, and it is said that the Dracula tale began here. The local peasants are very superstitious. Ask them and they will all tell you of a relative who was bitten by a vampire or met a werewolf. They won’t venture out at night, you know, and if anyone dares to venture forth after dark then it’s said that person has to be in league with the undead.”
“Ah, so that explains the way they crossed themselves when we stopped at the inn at the top of the pass,” I said.
“So primitive and illiterate,” Siegfried said. “I told Maria Theresa that she should set an example of modern behavior by having her wedding in the capital, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She always was a hopeless romantic.”
I personally wouldn’t have called the castle a romantic spot but I dared to ask, “So do any of these undead creatures climb up castle walls?”
“Castle walls?” Matty asked sharply. “I hope not. I sleep with my window open.”
Siegfried laughed mirthlessly. “I believe that vampires are reputed to climb down walls, headfirst. But do not worry, you will be quite safe—as safe as you are at your own castle in Scotland, which I understand has its share of ghosts and monsters.”
He turned back to Max and I looked across at my mother. She was in a sulky mood because there was nobody near her to charm. But I saw her looking down the table on several occasions and decided that she was showing interest in Anton. That might prove interesting, watching Belinda and my mother compete for his attention. Of course Mummy was hampered by having Max in tow. Not that that ever slowed down Mrs. Simpson! Amusingly Field Marshal Pirin seemed to think that Mummy was making eye contact with him and he raised his glass to her, leering over it seductively. Mummy shuddered.
“Who is that awful man? He looks like the wicked baron from a pantomime.”
“He’s the head of the Bulgarian army,” I said.
“How terribly democratic of them, inviting soldiers to the royal palace.”
“I gather he wields a lot of power and has to be humored,” I said.
“I don’t intend to humor him,” she said. “He keeps looking at me as if he’s mentally undressing me.”
“Who wishes to undress you?” Max demanded, suddenly showing interest.
“Nobody darling, except you,” Mummy said quickly. She waited until Max had resumed his conversation. “His English has improved almost too well now. I liked it when he only understood what I wanted him to.”
Field Marshal Pirin obviously had no sensibilities about eating venison. He too had a leg, which he now picked up in one hand while brandishing a wineglass in the other and taking alternate bites and swigs. I felt sorry for Nicholas and Anton if they were stuck with him as a frequent dinner guest at home.
Dinner finally came to an end and we ladies were led off to a salon while the men indulged in cigars and schnapps. Lady Middlesex intercepted me. She was dressed in a fearsome black gown, topped with a helmetlike affair that was no doubt intended to inspire awe among the inhabitants of the colonies. The effect was not unlike those suits of armor I had passed in the corridors.
“Ah, there you are. All settled in, then? Jolly good. Jolly good. We’ll be off in the morning. The princess is kindly arranging for a car.”
“Is Miss Deer-Harte not feeling well?” I asked, not seeing her among the ladies.
“She’s right as rain, as far as I know, apart from being jumpy about staying in a place like this. I had a tray sent up to her room. She couldn’t very well be allowed to join a glittering company like this for dinner, could she. She’s only a companion.”
“Here we are, then, isn’t this jolly?” Matty came up to me, her arm linked with Belinda’s. “I see you’ve made quite a conquest there, Belinda. Anton couldn’t take his eyes off you all through dinner.”
“Belinda’s hobby is making conquests,” I said. “She has left a long stream of broken hearts across Europe.”
“I hope not,” Matty said. “Fun is one thing, but broken hearts quite another. I hope I never have to break another heart as long as I live.”
As we came into the room I saw a group of middle-aged women, dripping with jewels and furs, examining us critically—or rather it appeared as if they were examining me. They beckoned me over to them.
“You are the Lady Georgiana from England, correct?” one asked.
“Yes, I am.”
“Relative of Bri
tish king?”
“Yes, my father and he were cousins.”
She looked at the other ladies and nodded. “Is good. English king has much power.”
“So tell me. You know Prince of Wales?” one of them asked. She was dressed in the height of fashion with a sleek cap of Marcel waves and brilliant red lips.
“Yes, I see him often.”
“One hears he has a new mistress?” she asked. “An American woman? A commoner?”
“I’m afraid so.” There was little point in denying it if the rumor had already reached Romania.
“What she is like, this woman?” my inquisitor persisted. “She is beautiful?”
“Actually not. Rather boyish in features and figure.”
“You see.” The woman turned triumphantly to her friends. “What do I tell you? Secretly he prefers boys. He will never marry and make a good king, that one.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll do his duty, at the right time,” I said.
“The right time? My dear, isn’t he already forty? The right time was twenty years ago. It was suggested then that I might be a suitable match for him. But alas, he showed no inclination. Fortunately I married my husband, the count, instead and he still keeps me satisfied in bed, which I’m sure poor Prince Edward could never do.”
Her friends laughed.
“They say English men are cold, no?” another of the women asked me. “They cannot feel passion because they are sent to the boarding school too early. You will do well to select a European husband, my dear. More fire and passion.”
“Not all of them, remember, Sophia,” the first woman said, giving her a warning glance that I couldn’t understand. “Maybe the English lady does not want fire and passion. She may be content with good companionship.”
They were laughing at a secret joke and I looked around uneasily. Suddenly I had the same feeling I had experienced on the station—someone was watching me. There were several archways along one side of the room and the passage beyond them was in darkness. I thought I could make out a dark figure standing just beyond the archway, but then it could have been the carved stone, or even a suit of armor.