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“Yes, it’s too real down here. I get it.”
She nodded.
“Let’s go back up. Too bad I didn’t bring a good camera though,” he said.
“Yes, too bad,” she said without making any effort to hide her sarcasm.
When they got to the top of the staircase, Christian looked out the window again at the black night beyond. “Maybe we do some more touring some other time.” He gave her a curious look like he was gauging her reaction.
A crow cried somewhere on the roof, and the wind howled against the windows. She shuddered and anxiously searched her memory for the most welcoming room of the tour.
“I think I’d like to go back to the library,” she said recalling the crackling fire in the fireplace and the many harmless books. If she was to stay here by herself, it was there, and nowhere else, that she wanted to be.
“Your call, ma’am . . . I mean, Olivia.”
***
The library was perhaps the most impressive of all the rooms they’d been in. It was huge, of course, with an enormous fireplace expelling comforting warmth with every crack and flicker of its flames. Olivia wanted to reach out to the neat stacks of books in the shelves and run her fingers over the pages and the antique covers. She felt like picking a book, snuggling by the fire, and disappearing into a different world.
“This place is beautiful,” she muttered, running a hand carefully over the old leather spines of the books. “It even has that old-book smell,” she said and sniffed. “But older!” As an avid reader, she felt like a child at a candy store. Christian joined her by the shelves and picked out a book, also taking a whiff.
“Yup, that old book smell,” he agreed. “It reminds me of the books I read as a little boy.”
“You like reading?” she asked, a book written in Latin open in her left hand.
He chuckled. “Of course. Where do you think I get all my excellent tour guide knowledge? I research and read whatever I can get my hands on.” He ran his hand through his hair and smiled. “I uh, I have dreams of going to the university.”
“I thought you already went . . .” She paused and tried to rearrange the words in her head. “You speak English so well.”
“Thanks. But no, I’m still dreaming about going further than . . . this.” He snapped the book shut and placed it back on the shelf, waving a storm of dust out of his face.
She said nothing else.What am I even supposed to say anyway? That I understand what it’s like to be confined to a small farmhouse? What it’s like to struggle for food or money for heat in the winter?Even before she inherited all this money, she never lacked any of those basic needs.
She continued to browse the books. Opening a few, she noticed cursive, almost illegible handwriting in some of the margins. It had to be Andrei’s handwriting.
Suddenly Olivia heard footsteps outside the hall and froze. A long, thin shadow appeared in the doorway. Olivia gasped.
“What is it?” Christian asked and she pointed at the door, at the shadow rising through it. He frowned and walked over to it. She followed behind. They stepped out of the library and immediately saw Mihai walking up to them, mumbling something to himself.
“It was just Mihai. No need to be spooked,” Christian said to her and she sighed. She still had a book in her hand and wanted to go back into the library to return it, but, staring into the library’s open spaces and shadowed corners, she shuddered at the idea of going in there alone. She stretched her hand and placed the book on a stool by the door instead, muttering a low “sorry” to the book for not returning it properly.
Mihai now stopped in front of Christian and straightened his gigantic spine. He opened his mouth and said something, but she couldn’t understand him. Was he speaking English? Eventually, Christian cut in.
She watched them talk for a while before the keeper took one unfriendly look at her and left. At least she thought he was leaving, but she soon noticed him following them.
“Let me show you to your room,” Christian announced. “The keeper has prepared the former lady’s master bedroom for you. I’m sure it’ll be nice.”
“Former lady, as in . . .”
“Long-time-ago former lady. Like medieval times. Andrei wasn’t married, as far as I know.”
Located on the second floor off the main hallway, the room was indeed nice—in a medieval way. The whole room was themed in red silk, including the wallpaper. A cozy fire burned in the corner of the room, which was filled with lots of dark antique wooden furniture. They stepped in, and Olivia’s eyes fell on the huge bed. It looked like it had been taken from a movie set, with four posts and folds and folds of cozy-looking blankets. It was the type kings slept in.
“Nice, huh?” she heard Christian say.
“Very nice.” She nodded.
He stood beside her. “I sure wish I could sleep in a room like this.”
