Royal Blood - By Rhys Bowen Page 0,64

pass right after we came through.”

“It certainly did,” he said. “By the time I’d found a car willing to drive me to the castle, the wretched road was blocked.”

“So how did you manage to make it here?”

“Used my initiative, my dear. Got a lift as far as I could, then bargained for some skis and skied over the pass. I must say it was a delightful run all the way down to the castle.”

“You’re pulling my leg.”

“Absolutely not. Would I lie to you?”

“Sometimes, I’m afraid.”

He was still holding my wrist and we stood there, staring at each other. “I don’t ever remember lying to you,” he said. “Omitting some of the truth, maybe, on occasions when I wasn’t allowed to tell you everything.”

“So tell me the truth now. Are you here because Nicholas invited you to be his groomsman, or to keep an eye on me, or because you decided to crash another wedding?”

Darcy smiled. “What would you do if I said I couldn’t tell you?”

“I’d say you’ve probably been sent here, by somebody you can’t tell me about. Undercover, for some reason.”

“Something like that. Let’s just say that certain people felt it would be good to have some eyes and ears on the spot, in case of trouble.”

“So you were expecting trouble?”

“Come for a walk with me,” he said, taking my hand.

“Where?”

“In the castle grounds.”

“There is deep snow, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“Then go and put on your boots and coat. I’ll meet you down here in five minutes.”

“But I haven’t had breakfast,” I said, looking longingly at the spread on the sideboard.

“Breakfast can wait. We may not have another chance to be alone together. At this minute Their Royal Highnesses are greeting their respective parents and relatives, so we can slip away undetected.”

“All right,” I said. “Just let me pour myself a cup of coffee.”

I gulped it down, then hurried up to my room, where, of course, I discovered that Queenie had forgotten to return my overcoat and thus had to wait while she went to her room to find it. Darcy was waiting impatiently at the foot of the stairs. The guards at the door saluted us as they opened it. Snow had been cleared from the courtyard, where the various motorcars now stood. We crossed it to the big outer gates. The gatekeeper looked at us with surprise when we indicated we wanted to go out. Much snow, he said in German. And nobody was to leave.

“We just go for a small walk. English people need fresh air,” Darcy replied. So having decided we were mad English people, he opened a small door beside the big gates and we stepped through into the outside world. Pristine snow stretched before us. The boughs of the fir trees were bent heavy with snow and every now and then there was a soft whoosh and thud as snow slid off to the ground below. It was so bright that it was dazzling. Darcy took my hand and we crunched across the snow, keeping to the tracks the motorcars had made until we were among the trees at the base of the great crag on which the castle stood. An icy blast whistled down from the pass, freezing my nose and ears. The silence was absolute, except for the rattle of a dead branch in the wind.

“This is nice,” I said, my breathing hanging like smoke in the chill air. “Nice but cold.”

“I wanted to talk to you away from prying eyes and ears,” Darcy said. “I wanted to sound you out on Pirin’s death. Nicholas’s parents arrived this morning. His father will want to know the truth sometime. Nicholas can’t keep on pretending forever, and I’d like to have found out who might have killed Pirin before then, so that hopefully an international incident can be averted.”

I nodded.

“You must have some ideas on the subject,” he said.

“Actually I don’t,” I said. “I was sitting opposite him at dinner. And I don’t see how he could have been poisoned. The only people who came anywhere near him were servers and Dragomir. The servers put food from the same platter on everyone’s plate, and as for wine, well, the rate he was drinking it, his glass was being constantly refilled.”

“You saw it being refilled, did you?”

“Yes, I did. From the same carafe as everyone else.”

Darcy frowned. “Cyanide takes effect almost instantly,” he said, “so it’s unlikely to have been in the food because he’d cleaned his plate pretty well. Unfortunately he knocked