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Thomas rubbed his hands along my arms, but it wasn’t enough to take the chill from deep within my soul. Ileana, the girl I knew as my maid, was part of a secret warrior society and had cut a woman down as if she were spearing a chunk of hard cheese. Right before my very eyes. Though Anastasia was hardly innocent in the matter. I knew Ileana had had no choice and yet… I sank against Thomas, too tired to worry about what anyone might think of my lack of decorum.
“Are you all right, Audrey Rose?” Ileana accepted a cloth from Daciana and wiped down her blade, blood streaking across the silver at first before disappearing with the next swipe.
“Of course,” I said automatically.
“All right” was such a relative term. My heart was beating, my body functioning and alive. On the surface I was most certainly all right. It was my mind that wanted to curl up and hibernate from the world and all the harshness within it. I was tired of destruction.
Thomas removed his gaze from Anastasia’s body and shifted it toward his sister. I could see his mind whirling around from one fact to the next. It was a way for him to cope with the devastation, I realized. He needed to work the puzzle out to find his calm center amidst a raging storm.
“How?” he asked.
Daciana knew precisely what he was asking. “When I turned eighteen, I received a partial inheritance from Mother. Some of her possessions—jewels, finery, art—and a bundle of letters. At first the letters were just little bits of her… stories of how she met Father. How much she loved and cherished us. Birthday cards she’d prewritten for me. A note for when I married.” Ileana brushed a tear from Daciana’s cheek. “For a long while, I couldn’t bring myself to read more. Then, one snowy afternoon, we were trapped inside. I took out the letters again and read one. Then flipped through toward the end.”
“And?” Thomas asked. “Please keep the suspense short.”
“Mother told stories of nobles who still believed in the ways of the Order. Who longed for corruption to be eradicated from the governing system. They approached her because of our family ties. Not to become a member herself, but to offer a safe space for them to gather. Do you remember the dragon painting in her chambers?”
Thomas nodded, face grimmer than I’d ever seen it before. I recalled the drawing he’d created on the train, and the story he’d shared about his memory of it.
“It was an honor bestowed upon your family line. And still is,” Ileana said quietly.
“The Order would like you to consider offering your services, Thomas,” Daciana said. “We need honest people who are unafraid of rooting out the corrupt.”
There was an extended moment of silence while Thomas considered this.
“In essence, the Order is simply a vigilante group.” He studied his sister and Ileana. “They are not the law, but believe they may uphold it better than the rulers.”
“No,” Daciana’s eyes widened, “we do not believe that at all! The Order simply means to keep the balance. To quite literally maintain order. Power often corrupts. It is a wise man—or woman—who accepts their role as one part of a whole. We are simply a line of defense. The royal family asked for our help.”
While Thomas peppered his sister with more questions, Ileana inspected me a bit too closely for comfort.
“We’ve all endured a long evening, so I’ll keep this brief,” she interrupted. “I am a high-ranking member of the Ordo Draconum. Our mission has always been to maintain order and peace. Once it was for the Dracula family; now it’s for nobility and commoners alike. Our loyalty is to our country. Which includes all of our people.”
“Ah. I see.” Thomas narrowed his eyes. “So Daciana has always been aware of the title you hold, then?”
Ileana nodded. “She’s kept my secret, and I hope you both will do the same. Very few know of my association with the Order. I am the first female to be invited into their ranks. Daciana is the second.”
“How did you know to infiltrate the castle?” I asked, ignoring the pool of blood at my feet. Part of me wished there was a bag of sawdust to sprinkle about the ground. “I assume you must have been placed here purposely.”
“Yes. Due to the arrival of members of the House of Basarab, I was tasked with infiltrating the staff. After the first murder, in Brasov, the Order felt it necessary to have someone close to the village. I’d also be in a good position to hear rumors going on at the academy. Maids and servants gossip. It seemed like an excellent place to gain information.”
I considered this, recalling Radu’s lesson about the Order and who made up its ranks. “How did the headmaster not recognize you as nobility?”
Ileana smiled sadly. “Moldoveanu, like most, pays little attention to those in his service. Out of my finery? I become anyone.” She lifted a shoulder. “He might be more observant because of his particular skill set, but he is not infallible.”
“Why did it take you so long to stop Anastasia?” I asked. “Why wait until now?”
“We didn’t know it was her.” Daciana moved forward, touching Ileana’s arm gently. “We’d been combing the tunnels over the last week or so, hoping to find information. Anastasia was clever. She moved around a lot. We never could locate her.”
“I’d thought most of her questions odd. At least worthy of investigating,” Ileana added, “but when she was found ‘dead,’ we didn’t know what to make of it. Nicolae seemed suspect again, yet he’d never been present or in the same area as anyone who was murdered. The Order is not known for solving crimes. We did the best we could by arming ourselves with knowledge. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”
Prince Nicolae rolled to his side, sputtering up foam. I felt reprehensible for not thinking of him sooner and getting him out of this
chamber. Thomas crouched beside him, holding his head up. He flashed a look of concern at Daciana. “He needs a doctor. We need to take him back into the castle. It may already be too late.”
Wind gusted through crevices in the mountainside. I shivered as the frigid air wound its way over and through my damp clothing. I’d forgotten that I was standing in my underthings.
Surviving the tunnels seemed as if it were something that had happened to another girl, at another time. Not missing any detail, Thomas pointed at his sister. “Perhaps you might offer Audrey Rose your cloak.”
