Silver in the Blood (13 page)

They sat down to a long meal with many dishes that Lou had never seen before, like spicy chopped pork wrapped in cabbage leaves, sour cream and chicken soup, and cucumbers in a strange dressing. She had tasted
mamaliga
before, but this time the little cakes of cornmeal soaked in cream had been heavily spiced, and had her reaching for her lemonade several times.

By the time the plates were taken away it was full dark and moths were fluttering around the lanterns. Lady Ioana sat the head of the table in a large chair not unlike a throne. Lou had been watching her carefully all evening, waiting for the old woman to do something. Thus far she had only eaten with hearty appetite, making a little conversation with Uncle Horia on her right hand and Uncle Daniel on her left. But when the footmen had filled everyone's glass with rich red wine, including Lou's and Dacia's, Lady Ioana dismissed the servants with a sharp word and rose to her feet.

The family also stood, waiting in eerie silence until the maids had scuttled indoors. Lady Ioana raised her glass and they all copied her. Across the table, Lou could see Dacia's eyes shining in the dimness, clearly delighted to be included in the toasts.

But they quickly turned their attention to Lady Ioana, who was almost swelling with her impending toast, or speech, or whatever it was. Lou felt her ears straining, she was so determined not to miss a single word.

“We are the Wing and the Claw,” Lady Ioana announced, her shoulders back and her chest puffed out. “We guard the greatest treasure of the Romanian people!”

Lou dared not take her gaze off Lady Ioana, not even to get a glimpse of Dacia's reaction. Lady Ioana was peering down the table at them, and Lou was afraid to move without the old woman's permission.

“The time is coming,” Lady Ioana went on, “when that treasure must be revealed, and we must have every Florescu with us, ready to fight and defend! The daughters we sent to America, and their daughters, have returned to us, and we must initiate them into the family's great power. For now the time has come! Now the signs are clear! We must depose the false king, and put the true king on the throne of Romania, that he may rise to rule all of Europe!”

A cheer went up from the family, and Lou felt her jaw slipping downward. Lady Ioana raised her glass as high as she could, and cried out.

“Down with Carol the Usurper! Long live King Mihai! Long live House Dracul!”

“Long live House Dracul!” The family chanted it together, and then they drank deeply from the glasses.

All except for Lou and Dacia, who were standing there with shocked expressions on their faces. Dacia let her glass fall to the table, spilling the red, red wine on the white cloth. Lou felt her father put a hand under her elbow. “Steady, LouLou,” he whispered to her. He sounded concerned . . .

. . . but not surprised.

 

THE DIARY OF MISS DACIA VREEHOLT

5 June 1897

Arrived in Bran late in the night, after an uneventful journey. Rather hoped that Aunt Kate's “true love” would stop us along the way. Perhaps stage an abduction dressed as a highwayman and carry her off.

We will be touring Castelul Bran tomorrow, Peles the day after, to be presented to the king and queen. I find it odd, considering that my family is apparently plotting treason. I suppose these are Aunt Kate's “appearances” that must be kept.

Note: Remain calm. Take mental stock of new Parisian gowns to prevent hysteria. Stay away from any plots to overthrow the current, beloved monarchy. (Surely Uncle Cyrus will take Lou and me home if Lady Ioana is serious . . . ?)

Note, second: find out if Mihai really
does
have better claim to throne.

The Florescu country estate was a few miles from Bran, hidden in the rolling, forested slopes of the Carpathians. It was a long, low house, whitewashed, and with a red tile roof in the style of the local farmhouses, just on a much grander scale. In addition they owned much of the surrounding mountain, with a beautiful stream and a small farm where the maids' husbands grew vegetables for the table and kept chickens and cows for the eggs and milk and cheeses.

Standing in front of the traveling carriage, Dacia looked at the long house and suddenly felt tears spring to her eyes as the inexplicable feeling that she had come home swept over her. She had never been here before, had never even seen a picture of this house, but yet she knew it. Everything about it was foreign to her, far more foreign than the mansion in Bucharest, but she had never felt at home there. Here, the smell of the earth and the trees, the bleating of the goats in a nearby field, everything reached out to embrace her.

She looked at Lou, and saw her cousin staring at the house with a shocked expression. Dacia could tell that Lou felt the same way. Radu stepped between them, taking Dacia's hand and then Lou's.

“You can feel it, can't you?” His voice was subdued.

Dacia only nodded, embarrassed by how emotional she felt. It was as though she recognized each tile and beam and window, and they were as dear to her as her own family members.

Lou answered aloud. “Oh, yes,” she said quietly, fervently. “We're home. Home at last.”

“Then I'm both glad and sorry,” Radu said, maddeningly. “Come inside.”

They paused before the front door, which was low and wide and had the Dacian dragon carved on the lintel. Radu was tall enough to reach up and touch his hands reverently to the carving, which was smooth and black from age. Dacia adjusted the gold dragon bracelet on her wrist, then reached up and found that she was just tall enough to brush it lightly with her fingers. She expected to feel something: the prick of teeth, the dryness of scales, but it was just carved wood. Beside her Lou gave a little shiver and walked in without trying to touch the carving.

Silent servants in traditional dress showed them to a pair of bedrooms. The rooms were small but clean and bright, with white walls and dark wood floors, and beautiful blue coverlets on the beds. Most importantly, Dacia's and Lou's rooms were side by side, opening onto a shared balcony, sadly also shared with Aunt Kate's room. Dacia still couldn't believe the change that had come over Aunt Kate, their onetime supporter and confidante. Would she act this strange and grim forever?

“Still,” Dacia whispered to Lou, “she can't watch us every minute. We'll be able to speak privately soon!”

They would need to make plans, sooner rather than later. No matter how at home they felt here, Dacia was determined not to let herself or Lou be caught up in some mad plot to murder the king!

Lou gave her a knowing nod, while Radu looked on from the doorway of Lou's new room. The maids slipped away to see to the luggage, and Dacia realized that the three of them were alone for once.

“I know it's hard—” Radu began.

Dacia pounced on him. She pulled him into her room, slapping his hand when he tried to cling to the doorjamb. “You can either give us some answers to what is going on, or you can . . . go away!” She didn't want to say anything too threatening, since she knew that Radu meant well. He was simply too terrified of Lady Ioana to be much help.

He heaved an enormous sigh. “I don't know what I can say that won't get us all in trouble,” he said.

“Is the family really planning to overthrow King Carol?” Lou's voice was soft, but it didn't mar any of the urgency in her voice. “And then take over the rest of Europe?”

“The
family
isn't planning to, no,” Radu said carefully, after a small pause. “Because that's not our decision to make.”

“Then whose decision is it?”

Dacia had to admire Lou's astute line of questions. She herself was so bubbling over with the many tangles around them that now she didn't even know where to begin.

“Prince Mihai's,” Radu said reluctantly.

Dacia managed to sort out one question she'd been meaning to ask. “Does he really have the better claim to the throne?”

Radu's broad, handsome face twisted into an oddly scrunched expression. For a moment, Dacia couldn't tell if he was thinking, or in pain. It seemed, though, that he was thinking. “It's hard to say,” he answered finally.

“No, it's not,” Lou retorted.

She waved one hand as though the question didn't matter, and Dacia felt a little stung. Mihai was courting Dacia; his royal status was very important to her, at least!

“Mihai is a prince of
Wallachia
,” Lou reminded them. “Carol is the king of
all Romania
, united. Why would Mihai have any claim to the throne of Romania?”

“There's . . . it's complicated,” Radu said, wincing. “Very complicated.”

“Clearly,” Dacia said, grabbing at another vital question. “Then tell us this: What are the Claw and the Wing? And the Smoke?”

The squished expression fled Radu's face entirely, to be replaced by something akin to sorrow. He looked them both up and down. “I can't believe it,” he said, almost as though talking to himself. “I don't want to believe that you're going to . . . join us . . .”

“Radu! Stop dithering and tell us!” Dacia moved toward him menacingly, even though he was twice her size.

He actually cowered, eyes cast down. “It's just . . . not something I imagined my beautiful little cousins being a part of. And I cannot tell you what it all means! I promise that I would if I could. But you'll find out soon. In two or three nights, I hear.”

“Why not now? Why can't anyone tell us anything?” Lou twisted her hands together in frustration.

“It's not something you can simply
tell
someone,” Radu said. Dacia was about to take him to task, but she realized that he wasn't trying to be evasive. He truly did not know how to tell them. “It's something that you have to . . . see . . .” He looked over his shoulder into the corridor for a moment, then leaned forward conspiratorially. “Promise me something?”

Dacia looked at Lou, and Lou pressed her lips together for a moment before nodding. Dacia looked back at Radu and answered for them both. “All right.”

“I would take you away right now if I could,” Radu said, his face very grim.

Dacia was about to say something scathing, but Radu's words sank in and she stopped. He would take them away? From their family? There was a coldness in her chest, and she suddenly didn't want to know what the Claw or the Wing or the Smoke was.

“But I can't,” Radu said. “I'm too much a coward, I suppose. But when you find out . . . when it all happens . . . if you can't bear it, please leave. Tell your father, LouLou, to take you both away. He has to take you both away. I'm afraid if he tries it right now, Lady Ioana will have you brought back by force.”

“I'd like to see her try,” Dacia said, trying to sound strong.

“No,” Radu said, shaking his head. “You really wouldn't.”

“Radu,” Dacia said, chilled and exasperated in equal measure. “Please don't give us more questions to—”

“The bathroom is at the end of the corridor,” Aunt Kate said, appearing out of nowhere. Dacia's heart banged against her breastbone, and she took an involuntary step backward. Kate
moved Radu out of her way with a single finger on his sleeve. “Did Radu tell you already? Though the house is quite old, it has all modern fittings. My room is just there, next to Lou's. Dinner is at eight o'clock, we dress for it in our traditional clothing.” She looked at them with her head cocked. “Any other questions?”

Dacia went from cold to hot, her anger boiling over. How
dare
Aunt Kate? She knew very well they weren't asking where the bathroom was! Aunt Kate had been as close as a mother to Dacia and Lou (closer, in Dacia's case). How could she turn on them, treat them like strangers, now when they needed her?

“Yes,” Dacia said, speaking as clearly as she could with her teeth gritted. “What is the Wing, the Claw, or the Smoke? Does Prince Mihai have a better claim to the throne than King Carol? Are you really asking us to take part in treason? Was that man you were kissing on the train to Bucharest Prince Mihai's uncle?”

“What delights me,” Aunt Kate said in a voice so icy that Dacia took a step backward and Lou let out a small whimper, “is that very soon you two will finally know your place.”

Dacia had never responded well to fear. Whenever she was afraid, she lashed out instead of retreating, which frequently resulted in her saying and doing things that she normally never would have. The Incident in London had been a result of that, in a roundabout way.

“Just like you've learned
your
place?” Now Dacia cocked her own head to the side. “We can all see how happy that's made you, all these years.” She took Lou's arm, pulling her cousin around, and did her best to stroll casually out to the balcony with Lou in tow. “We shall see you at dinner, then.”

Aunt Kate made a sound that was disturbingly like a growl, and after a minute, Dacia decided it was a laugh. “Wait until the moon goes dark. Three nights from now. Then we'll see some of the sauce taken out of you, miss.” Aunt Kate marched out, and Radu followed her.