"You are Georgiana, ja ja? I was supposed to go to England last summer but I became sick."

"You must be Hannelore," I said, light dawning. "You were supposed to stay with me."

"Ja. I heard about this. It must have been shocking for you. When we are alone you must tell me all."

I was glad to find that her English in no way sounded like an American gangster movie.

Matty came over to us, wearing her bridal gown, still pinned along the sides. "How do you like the dresses?"

"Lovely," I said, "and your bridal gown is absolutely gorgeous. You'll be the prettiest bride in Europe."

"One has to have some compensations for getting married, I suppose," she said.

"Don't you want to get married?"

"If I had my way I'd like to live the bohemian life of an artist in Paris," she said. "But princesses aren't allowed any say in the matter."

"But Prince Nicholas seems really nice, and he's good-looking too."

She nodded. "Nicky is all right, as princes go. He's kind and you're right. It could certainly have been worse. Think of some of the absolutely awful princes there are." Then she chuckled. "I gather my brother asked you to marry him."

"I turned him down, I'm afraid," I said.

"At least you had the option of saying no, which is of course what I would have done in your shoes. Who would possibly want to be married to Siegfried, unless they were desperate." She laughed again, and again I felt that she was forcing herself to be lighthearted. "So how is your room?"

I couldn't very well say gloomy and vampire ridden, could I? I was formulating a polite answer when she went on, "I gather they gave you the room next to Siegfried's. Maybe they were hoping some sparks would fly!" She chuckled again. "I always used to have that room when we came to the castle for the summer holidays. I love the view from that window, don't you?"

"It's rather snowy at the moment," I pointed out.

"In the summer it's lovely. Green woods and blue lakes and far away from the city and all the stuffiness of court life. I used to ride and swim with none of the rules of court life. It was blissful." And a dreamy expression came over her face.

"There's an interesting portrait on the wall of the room," I said. "A young man. Who is he?"

"One of the ancestors of the family that owned this castle, I suppose. I've never really thought about it," she said. "Castles are always full of old portraits." And she moved on to another subject.

I hadn't realized until the end of that day how much I missed the company of other young women and what fun we'd had at school. There was a lot of giggling and chatting in various languages, mostly German, of which I spoke little, but Matty was ready to translate for me. She looked the fairy-tale princess in her wedding dress with a train yards long, which we were to carry, and a veil falling around her, topped by a coronet.

By the time we had finished, the men came back from their hunt, exhilarated because they had shot a huge wild boar with fine tusks. I was ready for a cup of tea, but instead coffee and cake were offered. I'm sorry but if you're born British there is no subst.i.tute for afternoon tea. It's in our genes. The cake was rather rich and I began to feel sick. I suppose it was tiredness as I hadn't really slept for two nights. I went up to my room, only to find no sign of Queenie. I was now becoming annoyed. It would soon be all over the castle if I had to go and look for her every time I wanted something. I was half tempted to yank on that bellpull and send whoever came to seek out my maid, but I decided that she was probably in the servants' quarters wolfing down cake and it would be quicker to find her myself. So I went down stair after winding stair and then that terrifying wall-hugging flight with no banister. I tried to remember exactly where I had b.u.mped into Queenie this morning, ducked under an arch and started down a straight flight of well-worn steps. As I turned into a dark hallway at the bottom I could hear the clank of pots and pans and the murmur of voices. Then suddenly I started as I saw a figure crouched in a dark corner. The figure looked up at me and gasped.

"Oh, Georgie. You startled me." She put her hand up to her mouth and attempted to wipe it hastily. "Don't mention this to anyone, please. I can't help myself. I try, but it's no good." It was Matty. Her mouth was bright red and sticky and she had blood running down her chin.

Chapter 16.

Still Bran Castle Thursday, November 17

I couldn't think what to say. My only thought was one of flight. I turned and went back up those stairs as quickly as possible. So it was true. She was one of them. Maybe half the castle was populated with vampires and that was why there was so much tiptoeing around at night. I was actually relieved to find my room still empty. I got into bed and pulled the covers around me. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be safe and at home and among people I could trust. I'd even have settled for close proximity to Fig, which shows you how low I was feeling.

Tiredness overcame me and I drifted into a deep slumber, only to be shaken awake by Queenie.

"Miss, it's time to get ready for dinner," she said. "I've run you a bath and put a towel in there."

This was a great improvement. My little talk this morning had obviously worked wonders. I bathed, came back to my room and let Queenie help me into my green satin dinner dress. I looked at myself in the mirror and somehow it hung wrongly. It had been a cla.s.sic long evening gown before, smooth over the hips and flaring out to a gored skirt, but now it seemed to have a b.u.mp on one side, making my hip look as if it were deformed.

"Wait," I said. "There's something wrong with this skirt. It never bunched up like this before. And it seems awfully tight."

"Oh," she said. "Yes. Well . . ."

I looked up at her face. "Queenie, is there something you're not telling me?"

"I didn't think you'd notice," she said, toying with her ap.r.o.n. "I had to fiddle with the skirt because it got a bit scorched when I ironed it. I'm not used to ironing nice stuff like this and the iron must have been too hot." Then she demonstrated how she'd sewn the skirt together over a patch that had two big iron-shaped scorch marks on it. One scorch mark I could understand, but what had made her go back to repeat the mistake?

"Queenie, you are hopeless," I said.

"I know, miss. But I do try," she said.

"I'll have to wear the burgundy again," I said with a sigh, "unless Belinda's got something she can lend me. Run down to her room, tell her what you've done and ask her."

I waited impatiently, wondering how a dressmaker might be able to repair the damage in one of my few good dinner dresses. Almost immediately Queenie reappeared, her face scarlet.

"I knocked and went into her room, miss, and . . . and . . . she wasn't alone. A man was in bed with her, miss, and he was, and they were . . . you know."

"I can guess," I said with a sigh. "Rule number one. Always wait until someone says 'Come in' in the future."

"Yes, miss," she said.

So it was the burgundy velvet again. I did my own hair and went down to dinner. Tonight was to be a more formal occasion, as it was originally expected that various crowned heads would have arrived. Count Dragomir had had his way and insisted on the same degree of formality because there were place cards at the table and I was told I was to be escorted into the banqueting hall by Anton.

As I waited for him to join me, I was joined instead by Lady Middles.e.x and in her wake Miss Deer-Harte.

"Isn't this too exciting," the latter said. "So kind of Her Highness to insist that we join in the festivities. I've never been to an occasion like this. So glittering, isn't it? Like a storybook. You look very nice, my dear."

"Same dress as she wore last night, I notice," Lady Middles.e.x said bluntly.

"But very nice. Elegant," Miss Deer-Harte said, smiling kindly. She was wearing a simple flowery afternoon dress, quite wrong for the occasion.

"I hope I can sleep tonight," she whispered to me. "One can only go so long without sleep but the door to my room does not lock and with all that creeping around . . ."

The dinner gong sounded. Anton came to take my arm.

"What-ho, old thing," he said.

"Did you go to the same English public school as your brother?" I asked.

"Yes, only I was expelled," he said. "Or rather, politely asked to leave. Smoking in the bathrooms one time too many, I'm afraid. But I did pick up the lingo rather well." He grinned at me. "Your friend Belinda, she is a cracker, isn't she? A real live wire."

"So I've heard."

"Too bad she is not royal."

"Her father is a baronet," I said. "She is an honorable."

He sighed. "Probably not good enough, I'm afraid. Father is such a stickler for doing the right thing and family comes first and all that bosh. As if it matters who I marry. Nick will be king and produce sons and I'll never see the throne anyway."

"Would you want to?"

"I suppose I prefer my free and easy life, actually," he said. "I've been studying chemistry in Heidelberg. Good fun."

"You're lucky," I said. "I'd have loved to go to university."

"Why didn't you?"

"I'm a girl. I'm supposed to marry. n.o.body was willing to pay for me."

"Too bad."

A trumpet sounded. The doors to the dining hall were opened by two of those servants in the splendid black and silver livery and we processed through. This time I was seated with Hannelore on one side of me and Anton on the other. Nicholas sat opposite with Matty on one side, and Field Marshal Pirin had again managed to position himself on the other. If anything, Pirin was wearing even more medals and orders this time. He looked first at me, then at Hannelore and his face lit up.

"This is good. Two pretty girls tonight for me to feast the eyes upon. Very nice. Feast for eyes and feast for stomach at same time." His smile was disconcerting. As my mother had said the night before, he was mentally undressing us.

"Beware that horrid man. He was pinching my bottom yesterday," Hannelore whispered to me.

"Don't worry. I've already encountered him and I'm avoiding him," I whispered back.

I noticed Anton looking around, obviously trying to locate Belinda, who was nowhere in sight, presumably sitting at a far end of the table with the lesser mortals. I couldn't help glancing at Matty and my gaze went straight to her mouth and neck. They looked perfectly normal but then she was wearing a high-necked dress. She caught my eye and then looked down uncomfortably. I found myself checking out the guests at the table to see if any of them showed obvious bite marks on their necks. One woman at the far end was wearing a lot of strands of pearls, but apart from that their necks seemed to be pristine. Maybe vampires bit each other. What did I know?

The meal began, course after course of rich food, culminating in a procession carrying a whole roast wild boar with an apple in its mouth.

"Not the one we shot today," Anton said. "Ours was much bigger."

"Who actually shot it?"

"I did"-Anton lowered his voice-"but we let Siegfried think that he did. He cares about these things, you know."

Throughout the meal Dragomir had been hovering in the background, directing servants like an orchestra conductor. As the main course came to an end he appeared at Nicholas's shoulder and banged on the table with a mallet.

"Highnesses, lords and ladies, please rise," he announced in French, then in German. "His Royal Highness Prince Nicholas wishes to drink a toast to the health of his bride and to her wonderful country."

Nicholas rose to his feet. "If the toasts are to begin, then more champagne, if you please," he said. "How can I toast my beautiful bride with anything less?"

"Forgive me. Of course. Champagne." Dragomir barked instructions and bottles were produced, opened with satisfying pops and poured. And so the toasts began. An endless stream of toasts. At home toasting at formal banquets is a stylized and decorous affair with the toastmaster drawling out, "Pray be upstanding for the loyal toast," and everyone murmuring, "The king, G.o.d bless him." Here it was what my mother would have called a beanfeast. Anybody who felt like it could leap up and toast whomever they pleased. So there was a great deal of sc.r.a.ping of chairs and shouted toasts up and down the table.

Dragomir, as toastmaster, tried to keep control of things, banging his mallet with a flourish before each speech. The toasts were conducted in a mixture of French, German and English as hardly any of the party spoke either Romanian or Bulgarian. If the two parties were close enough together they clashed gla.s.ses. If they were far apart they raised gla.s.ses and drank together, the rest of the diners often joining in with a swig of their own to show solidarity. One by one the men rose to make their speeches and toast their guests. Maria was the only woman who dared to rise and toasted her attendants, so I had to stand up and reach across the table to clink gla.s.ses with her. Then Nicholas rose to toast his groomsmen. "These men have watched me grow up from disreputable youth to serious manhood," Nicky said and various men at the table hooted and laughed. "And so I toast you now, you who know my darkest secrets. I drink to my dear brother, Anton, to Prince Siegfried, to Count Von Stashauer, to Baron . . ." Young men rose to their feet as he named them, twelve in all, reaching out to clink gla.s.ses with Nicholas. He was speaking in German and I couldn't take in all the names, until I was aware he had switched to English and was saying, " . . . and to my old friend who has valiantly arrived in spite of all obstacles in his path, the Honorable Darcy O'Mara from Ireland."

I looked down the table and there at the far end I saw Darcy rise to his feet and raise a gla.s.s. If my heart had beaten fast at finding what seemed to be a vampire bending over me, it was positively racing now. As Darcy took a sip from his wine, he caught my eye and raised the gla.s.s again in a toast to me. I went crimson. I wish I could get over this girlish habit of blushing. It's so obvious with my light complexion. I was actually glad for once when Field Marshal Pirin rose unsteadily to his feet.

I had noticed that he'd been drinking more than his share of red wine all evening, holding up his gla.s.s to be refilled again and again. He had had a good swig at all the toasts whether they applied to him or not. Now he grabbed his gla.s.s and launched into a speech in what had to be Bulgarian. I don't think anyone else understood, but he went on and on, his speech slurred a little, his face beetroot red, then he thumped the table and finished with what was obviously a toast to Bulgaria and Romania. He drained his gla.s.s in one large glug. Then his eyes opened wide in surprise, he made a gagging noise in his throat and he fell forward into what remained of his plate of wild boar.

The company behaved exactly as one would have expected of those who were brought up to be royal. A few eyebrows were raised and then guests went back to their meal and their conversation as if nothing had happened, while Dragomir fussed around, directing the servants to lift the unconscious man and carry him through to a couch in the anteroom. Nicholas had also risen to his feet.

"Please excuse me, I should see if there's anything I can do for him," he said quietly.

At the far end of the table Lady Middles.e.x had also risen. "I don't suppose there's a doctor in the house. Let me take a look at him. I was a nurse in the Great War, you know." And she strode down the room after them. I noticed that Miss Deer-Harte followed in her wake.

I could hear the murmurs of conversation.

"He was drinking far too much," Siegfried said. He had been sitting on the other side of Field Marshal Pirin. "Every time the servers came past he had them refill his winegla.s.s."

"The man drinks like a fish," Anton agreed, "but I've never seen him pa.s.s out before."

"He was disgusting," Hannelore muttered to me. "The way he eats. No manners. And the wrong forks."

I noticed that Darcy had also excused himself from the table and was making his way toward the anteroom. Ice cream was served, then the cheese board was brought around and still neither Nicholas or Darcy reappeared.

When the meal was almost over, Nicholas came back to the table, leaned across and muttered something to Anton in German. I looked to Anton for a translation. He had a strange expression on his face. Before he could say anything Nicholas spoke in a loud, clear voice to the dinner guests.

"I regret to inform you that Field Marshal Pirin has been taken seriously ill," Nicholas said carefully. "May I suggest that, given the circ.u.mstances, we ask you all to leave the table and retire to the withdrawing room. I'm sure our hosts, Prince Siegfried and Princess Maria Theresa, will be good enough to arrange for coffee and drinks to be served there."

The only sound was that of the sc.r.a.ping of chairs as the dinner guests rose to their feet.

"Please follow me," Matty said with regal composure that I had to admire.

Anton pulled out my chair for me and I stood with the rest, feeling rather sick and shaky that the event had taken place so close to me. Anton was staring into that anteroom with a strange expression on his face-a mixture of horror and delight.

"Was it his heart, did your brother say?" I asked.

He took my arm and drew me close to him. "Don't say anything to the others, but old Pirin has kicked the bucket," Anton muttered into my ear.

"He's dead, you mean?"

He nodded but put a warning finger up to his lips. "I can't say I'm exactly sorry. Couldn't stand the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but Papa is not going to be thrilled. I suppose I should go in there and support my brother, although I can't stand the sight of dead bodies in general and I'm sure that Pirin's will be more revolting than most of them."

He held out his arm to me. "I should probably be gentlemanly and escort you to the safety of the drawing room first, in case you faint or something."

"Do I look as if I'm about to faint?" I asked.

"You look a little green," he said, "but I expect I do too. At least he had the courtesy to wait until the meal was over before he died. I'd have hated to miss that wild boar." And he gave me a grin that reminded me of a naughty schoolboy.

"I'm all right. I'll find my own way," I said. "I expect your brother would like to have you with him."

Everyone was behaving with the greatest decorum, leaving the table quietly, some of them glancing across at the archway to the anteroom where Pirin's feet could be seen sticking off the end of the couch. I heard my mother's clear voice over the discreet murmur. "The way that man wolfed down his food and drink he was a heart attack waiting to happen."