Silver in the Blood (37 page)

“A good question,” Johnny said.

But before he could continue, Dacia interrupted him.

“I have a reputation to maintain, you see,” she said, her voice coming out a bit too high and fast. She thought again of her
nightmares. In some of them, Lady Ioana and her mother watched her kill Mihai, and laughed. “I've managed, despite all this, to salvage that. My name remains untainted despite Will Carver's accusations and the Incident in London.

“My mother will not speak to me now, however, and my father might very well follow her example. My maternal grandmother is a fugitive, along with roughly half of my Romanian family. So I ask you, what can your Archangels do for me?”

She was panting slightly, and she realized with a start that she had twisted her fingers into the satin belt of her morning gown until the fabric had shredded.

But Lord Johnny's eager expression did not falter. He gazed at her from beneath his mop of hair—really, did he ever visit the barber?—and continued to smile. Then he reached out one hand and took her fingers out of the ruin of her belt.

“The Arc—the
Society
offers you the opportunity to go beyond balls and parties and worrying about your reputation, an opportunity to do what you know is right. But it also offers you a very interesting education in topics that would have given your governess the vapors . . . not to mention travel to exotic locales and exciting company.” He smiled winningly at her.

“Exotic locales?”

“Morocco, Bombay, Australia . . .”

“Paris?”

“Naturally.”

“Is that all?”

Lord Johnny laughed, and got to his feet. He held out a hand to Dacia, who took it, and he raised her up. Putting his other hand at her waist, he began to waltz her around the room.

“There's also adventure,” he told her. “Not to mention romance!”

“Romance? Are you quite certain?”

“Oh, yes!” Lord Johnny bent his head and kissed her. “There must be romance!”

Dacia pulled back. “Your Society is very romantic, then? Lots of too-clever young lords who are going to write me sonnets and send me flowers?” She allowed herself to be kissed again.

“Well,” Lord Johnny admitted, “mostly just
one
young lord who is planning to write you sonnets and send you flowers, but he's very, very dedicated to romancing you.”

They heard the front door open, and Lou's excited voice calling out for her father.

“Papa! Dacia! Theo is taking me to Istanbul to meet his family!” Lou sang out. “We leave at once so that we have time to explore before I begin college!”

“Wonderful,” Dacia shouted back. “Johnny is taking me to Paris!”

In the autumn of 2009 I had a fantastic idea for a story about two spoiled American cousins who travel to Bucharest and discover a Terrible Family Secret. The story would be set in the present day and be told through diaries, e-mails, and texts. I pitched the story to a good friend who is also a writer and she suggested that I set the book a hundred years (or more) earlier, which would make the Terrible Family Secret even more shocking, as young society ladies of the 1800s wouldn't even have words to describe things like shape-shifting. This suggestion really sparked my imagination, and I set to work researching Romania, about which I knew almost nothing.

My goodness! What a rich and fascinating history! I had no idea that Bucharest was one of the stops on the Orient Express, that it was called Little Paris, and was
the
vacation spot for wealthy Europeans in the late 1800s. But I soon realized that I could read about Romania all day for weeks, and still never really understand it or capture the feel of the country.

And so I suggested to my husband that we take a little trip . . .

In the spring of 2010 my husband and I took a private tour through Romania with our guide, Horia Matei of Adventure Transylvania. Horia took us to palaces and fortresses, cathedrals and graveyards, monasteries and museums and farmhouses. It was the trip of a lifetime! I wrote pages of notes and descriptions and took hundreds of pictures.

I started this book in Romania and finished it back home in Utah. I know it doesn't fully do justice to the rich culture and history of Romania, but I did the best I could, and I hope that you liked it. If you would like to see pictures and read more stories about our adventure in Romania, check out the
Silver in the Blood
page of my website,
www.jessicadaygeorge.com
.

This book needed a lot of help, and a lot of people deserve thanks, so bear with me!

First of all, a big thank-you to my husband, who wanted to go on a cruise, but didn't complain when I announced that our vacation that year would be a research trip to Romania. You, sir, are an excellent traveling companion! (I'm sorry about the food . . .) Thanks also to Amy Finnegan, who suggested that I set the book in the 1800s that fateful day as we rode the zoo carousel with our kids. Special thanks to my kids, too, who first put up with my leaving them for two weeks to travel to a place that probably seemed farther away than the moon, and then with my being gone every afternoon for months while I did the actual writing. I definitely need to give a shout-out to my awesome babysitters: Miranda, Ethan, Kelsea, Elisabeth, Emilie, and Sadie! And thanks, too, to the fantastic library staff at my local library, who make it such a delightful place to work and browse.

A great big thank-you hug goes to Mary Kate Castellani, my editor. This is the first book that Mary Kate and I did together from beginning to end, and it's been a joy. Many thanks also to Cindy, Cristina, Erica, Emily, Beth, Lizzy, Linette, Brett, and all my Bloomsbury friends. And to my editors who read the book but moved onward and upward before the work began, Michelle Nagler and Caroline Abbey, who both made me cry happy tears by immediately saying, “I just love Lou so much!”

Double and triple thanks served à la mode go to my agent, Amy Jameson, who not only encouraged me to write this book, but was so patient while I mulled and dithered and pondered over it for years.

And of course a big thank-you to all my family. My husband (again!), my parents and siblings, in-laws, and the kids (again!), who always remain so loving and supportive, no matter how crazy things get! I love you all!

Dragon Slippers
Dragon Flight
Dragon Spear

Tuesdays at the Castle
Wednesdays in the Tower
Thursdays with the Crown

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Princess of the Midnight Ball
Princess of Glass
Princess of the Silver Woods

Copyright © 2015 by Jessica Day George

All rights reserved.
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. For information address Bloomsbury USA, 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018.

First published in the United States of America in July 2015
by Bloomsbury Children's Books
This electronic edition published in July 2015
www.bloomsbury.com

Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury Children's Books, 1385 Broadway, New York, New York 10018

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
George, Jessica Day.
Silver in the blood / by Jessica Day George.
pages    cm
[1. Shapeshifters—Fiction. 2. Supernatural—Fiction. 3. Cousins—Fiction. 4. Family life—Romania—Fiction. 5. Romania—History—19th century—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.G293317Sil 2015     [Fic]—dc23     2014027934

eISBN: 978-1-61963-432-9

To find out more about our authors and books visit
www.bloomsbury.com
. Here you will find extracts, author interviews, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for our
newsletters
.