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His lips twitched, but I still saw the underlying worry in his countenance. “Perhaps we can stick with all the ways in which I’m wonderful…”
“What I mean to say is, I see you, Thomas Cresswell.” I placed a gloved hand to his face in the barest
hint of touch. “And I think you are truly incredible. Sometimes.”
He remained perfectly still for a few, taut moments, his focus sliding over my features, gauging my sincerity. I kept my expression open, allowing the truth to reveal itself.
“Well, I am charming.” Thomas ran his hands down the front of his waistcoat, his tension ebbing with the movement. “And a prince. You were bound to swoon. Though Prince Dracula is the very gothic opposite of Prince Charming. A minor detail, really.”
I laughed full and rich. “Aren’t you technically from a displaced family? You’re a prince without a throne.”
“Deposed Prince Charming doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, Wadsworth,” he said, huffing faux exasperation, though I could see the twinkle now gleaming in his eyes.
“I’m charmed all the same.”
A different sort of light sparked in his gaze as it slowly traveled to my mouth. Very carefully, he stepped forward and tilted my chin up. I realized—even through ups and downs and mistakes—it wouldn’t be a terrible way to go through life, having him by my side while the world went mad around us. My eyes fluttered shut, ready for a second kiss… that didn’t come. Thomas’s hands were suddenly gone and my skin instantly missed his warmth.
“How inconvenient.” He stood straighter, nodding at the door, and stepped away. “We have a guest.”
The maid I’d sent out with Thomas’s note earlier flushed so deeply I could see the dark hue from where I stood as she entered my chambers. It was not the first time I wished for Ileana to return. I had the urge to melt into the floor, positive she’d read the tension between Thomas and me, even though we were now a respectable distance apart. She lifted the wooden buckets she was carrying in response.
She mumbled apologies half in Romanian, half in English, but I understood.
“No, no, it’s quite all right. You weren’t interrupting anything,” I said, moving toward the now-open door. I did not want her making the wrong assumption. Or the right one. The scandal of Thomas standing in my chaperone-free rooms was already enough to ruin me were news of it to get out. Would this quiet girl ever do such a thing? The way she lingered at the perimeter of the chambers, not quite able to meet my gaze, was enough to incite panic. I did my best to speak in as much Romanian as possible: “We were on our way to the library. Please tell Ileana I’d love to speak with her later.”
The young maid kept her head down, nodding. “Da, domnisoara. I’ll be sure to tell her if I see her.”
I felt Thomas’s attention drifting toward the new maid but didn’t want to draw any more attention to our inappropriate position. I smiled at the girl, then walked with Thomas as swiftly as I dared to the library. We had a case to solve. Now armed with the knowledge of Thomas’s lineage, I feared Nicolae might not be the only one in danger, if my suspicion of Vlad’s bloodline being targeted was correct. Then again, perhaps Thomas was even more in danger since he was Dracula’s heir.
If one branch of the family tree was being impaled and the other drained of blood, neither was safe.
LIBRARY
BIBLIOTECA
BRAN CASTLE
14 DECEMBER 1888
“Couldn’t stay away from me, now, could you?” Noah beamed at me from behind a large tome standing upright on a small desk. “Why weren’t you in anatomy class?”
I exhaled. “Our mutual friend may have caught me outside after curfew.”
Noah shook his head and chuckled. “I hope whatever lured you outside was worth it. That man is more terrifying than any vampire haunting the academy.” Seriousness quickly replaced the levity in his tone. “You’re lucky Moldoveanu found you last night. That maid wasn’t as fortunate. Something got her.”
Thomas and I blinked at each other, and dread pooled in my veins. I hadn’t seen Ileana all morning. In fact, I hadn’t seen her in nearly two days.
“What maid?” I asked, stomach twisting. “What was her name?”
“One of the girls who was assigned to Prince Nicolae’s and Andrei’s chambers. Moldoveanu and that guard are questioning them both right now. Canceled both Percy’s and Radu’s classes this afternoon and everything. We’re supposed to be back in our rooms by three.” Noah eyed us. “I’d consider listening to the headmaster today. Erik, Cian, and I are locking ourselves in to study. That maid’s body was drained of blood. I’d like to keep mine.”
“You don’t truly believe a vampire attacked her, do you?”
Noah shrugged. “Does it matter if it was a real vampire or a fake one? Either way, she’s dead and her blood is gone.”
I couldn’t corral my thoughts fast enough. If now both this maid and the girl from the tunnels had been murdered, perhaps I’d been wrong in my assumption that only members of the royal family were being targeted. The village girl didn’t have any apparent royal ties, and I still didn’t believe she was a member of the Order, regardless of Anastasia’s cryptic note.
“How do you know the blood is missing?” Thomas folded his arms neatly against his chest. “Did anyone see the body? Where was it discovered?”
