‘Oh Enemy Sar Batter?’ Olivia tried to repeat the words.
Tessa chuckled. ‘O Inima Sarbatoare,’ she said the words slowly.
‘Oh In-ee-ma Sar-bat-or,’ Ivy echoed in a very American accent.
‘Tessa?’ Olivia interrupted. ‘I think our Romanian might be a little rusty. It sounds like you’re speaking jibberish!’
Tessa frowned. ‘I’m sorry. It doesn’t have an English translation that I know. Its literal meaning is “One Heart Celebration”.’
‘One Heart Celebration?’ Ivy repeated. ‘No offence, but that sounds sort of sad.’
Tessa smiled. ‘It’s traditionally held two nights before a wedding to mark that a person has just one more night as a lonely heart.’ She intertwined her fingers in Alex’s. ‘Because after that, I’ll forever be part of a pair.’ Olivia didn’t dare look at Ivy, who was surely approaching her tolerance level for mushy love stuff.
Olivia kept one eye on the rose meadow, half hoping she would spot the Free Rose. ‘In America, we call that a bachelorette party.’ Olivia tried to picture Tessa running around in a silly veil made of toilet paper and singing bad karaoke, like at the bachelorette parties she’d seen on TV shows back home. ‘But . . . I have a feeling that the Transylvanian vampire version will be a much classier affair.’
‘But don’t think you girls are having all the fun.’ Prince Alex waggled his eyebrows. ‘I’m having my own One Heart Celebration. It’s just a shame Brendan and –’ The whole world seemed to lurch into slow motion for Olivia. He’s going to say it, isn’t he? The J-word. He was going to say the J-word and there was nothing she could do to stop him. She could see Alex’s mouth forming the word. She could make out Ivy’s shadow, stretching out in front of her, arms waving like she was trying to stop a car crash. Then Tessa was reaching for Alex, but before she could grab him, he finished, ‘– Jackson couldn’t be here.’
Ivy’s jaw dropped and Tessa stopped dead. Olivia suddenly felt as if all the oxygen in the entire world had been sucked up by the sky.
Alex’s eyes flitted between the faces staring at him. ‘Um . . . I mean . . .’ he stuttered. ‘You know, I just thought . . .’ Tessa gently touched her fiancé’s arm. ‘My apologies.’ He bowed his head to Olivia.
Olivia swished her hand and did her best to curve her lips into a bright smile. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ To avoid eye contact, Olivia made a show of glancing around. ‘Hey, if you guys are heading back now, I think I’ll catch up with you in a minute. I want to practise my photography a little before the wedding.’
Ivy squeezed Olivia’s arm. ‘You totally should! Look at this meadow. Your shots are going to be awesome.’
Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. Ivy knew exactly when her twin was looking for an exit strategy. Super sister to the rescue!
As Tessa and Alex turned to walk back towards the mansion, Ivy murmured, ‘Are you sure you’ll be OK?’
‘I’m fine!’ Olivia insisted. She was starting to sound like a broken record.
‘All right, then.’ Ivy shrugged. ‘I guess I’ll see you back at the castle.’ She trotted after Prince Alex and Tessa, who were walking at least two feet apart. Even though she felt a pang of sadness, Olivia was quite touched by their effort to avoid rubbing their couple-ness in her face. Then she frowned. It was their wedding weekend, though, and she hoped they wouldn’t allow her situation to get in the way of what should be the most romantic time of their lives. Olivia shook herself. She really needed to pull herself out of this funk before she became a walking, talking mood-killer!
She made her way down the opposite side of the hill and crouched in the long grass. Focusing the lens, she pointed her camera at the roses. The early-morning Transylvanian sun washed the flowers with a warm glow – the view could have been straight out of a postcard. Olivia enjoyed the click-click-click of her snapping camera. She could get lost in the scenery and in capturing the perfect shot. It was such a relief! Birds trilled and squawked as the wind ruffled the grass.
Olivia brought her lens round to the massive greenhouse with its clear glass walls. Sunshine flashed off the surface. Horatio must have needed truckloads of Spray ’n’ Shine to keep it that pristine. Inside, an older woman – probably a vampire judging by her paleness – was potting up flower bulbs. She wore a dark-green apron and canvas gloves, and her frizzy grey hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail.
Something moved at the edge of the greenhouse. Olivia squinted. There was a tall figure lurking near the far wall. She peered through her camera, zooming in. Horatio came into focus, a forlorn look on his face as he stared through the glass at the gardener. Oh my goodness! Olivia had to stop herself from squealing. The puppy-dog eyes, the waiting around with his hands in his pockets – does Horatio have a crush?
Olivia was wondering whether she should go over and talk to him. She didn’t exactly feel right squatting here spying on the butler. But suddenly she was slapped in the face by her own hair. She froze, her heart thudding in her chest. Alex’s story echoed in her head: . . . a fierce breeze will blow through the grounds, plucking a single rose from the meadow and stealing it away . . . Was she about to see the Free Rose?
But as Olivia turned to stare back at the meadow, the wind slowly died. There was no floating rose-head. Which means, she thought, I still have no idea what the future holds . . .
Chapter Four
‘Do you think you need a passport to visit the other end of this table?’ Ivy whispered to her sister. She was seated with Olivia near the end of the Lazar’s ridiculously long dining table. Sparkling chandeliers dripped crystal overhead, and white marble columns stretched to the ceiling. The table was covered with an ornate crimson cloth embroidered in gold, on top of which rows of candles flickered and cast a warm glow.
Olivia almost choked on her water and Ivy patted her back, giggling. The twins, along with a dozen other vampires, were waiting to begin Tessa’s One Heart Celebration, but the princess-to-be was already fifteen minutes late. The wait wouldn’t have been so bad if there had been even a morsel of food on the table, but until the guest of honour herself arrived no festivities could begin, and that meant the servers would not bring out any food. Ivy’s mouth watered at the thought of mounds of buttered rolls and decadent chocolate-amaretto cake. The Lazars employed only the top graduates from the Transylvanian School of Culinary Arts, which meant they employed the best young vampire chefs in the whole world.
‘I hope everything’s all right,’ said Olivia once she’d recovered. She was watching the door for any sign of Tessa’s arrival. The other guests, frankly, seemed unconcerned. Around the table sat several other vamp girls, each with perfectly straightened hair and movie-set makeovers. ‘She’s going to miss her own you-know-what ceremony.’
Ivy rolled her eyes.
‘What?’ Olivia rested her fists on her hips. She was wearing a hot-pink halter dress and a long strand of pearls that clinked together every time she moved. ‘You have to admit it’s an awful name for a ceremony. We have to come up with a better English translation. Lucky Heart . . . Happy Heart . . . Bride-to-be Bash . . . I don’t know! Seriously, though, where is she?’ Olivia turned in her chair, checking the room, as if Tessa might have snuck in without anyone noticing.
Ivy glanced again at her watch. ‘Calm down, Miss I-Take-Two-Hours-To-Get-Ready. I’m sure she’ll be here any minute.’
‘I do not !’ Olivia gently swatted her sister then returned to twiddling her thumbs in her lap. Ivy was feeling restless too. She could practically feel the vamp girls judging her as they shot her looks in between twirling shiny strands of hair around their manicured talons. She hoped Tessa really would be there any minute. Nothing could have gone wrong, could it?