to say back. I merely tried to force a smile and wished that the floor would open up and swallow me. Fortunately Matty didn’t suggest dancing again so I wasn’t forced to dance with Siegfried. Instead a roulette wheel was brought out and what seemed to me like large sums of money were soon being wagered.
“How old are you now, Georgiana?” Siegfried asked me.
I told him I was twenty-two. He placed a stack of chips on twenty-two. “In your honor,” he said. “I feel sure you will bring me luck.” And sure enough, the wretched wheel landed on the number the very next spin. Siegfried smiled and pushed a mound of chips over to me. I put random chips on the board, without the slightest idea what I was doing, and it seemed that I couldn’t lose. I noticed that both Patrascue and Dragomir had entered the room and were standing watching in the shadows.
“I think I had better give you back your chips before my luck turns,” I said when I could stand the tension no longer.
“Your luck will not turn while you are with me,” he said, “and of course the winnings are yours to keep. You will need to start preparing your trousseau.”
When I went to cash them in I was amazed and delighted to find that I had apparently won several hundred pounds. On any other occasion this unexpected windfall would have brought relief and jubilation. Tonight it was like a condemned man hearing that his horse came up on the Derby.
As soon as I was able I slipped away, up to my room. Still no sign of Queenie. I felt a growing knot of fear in my stomach. People didn’t just disappear without reason. One person had been murdered already. Had Queenie stumbled upon the killer and been in the wrong place at the wrong time? If it was our light-haired young man, then she had seen him in her room and could identify him. Of course then so could I, which might mean I was also in danger. I went across and peered out into the night. It was snowing gently now and outside was the silence that only comes with snow.
“I wish you were here, Darcy,” I said into the night. “I hope you’re all right.”
I latched my shutters, pulled the heavy drapes back into place and stood staring at the dying fire. My nerves were wound as taut as watch springs. In one day the head of a secret police had threatened me with jail, I had found that I was engaged to the repulsive Siegfried and my maid had vanished. Not to mention that there had been a murder in the castle. I certainly couldn’t go to bed not knowing what had happened to Queenie. I lit a candle and made my way up to her room again. But it was untouched. The hallways and stairs were deserted. I really didn’t know what else I could do. I stood peering down one dark passageway after another. Dragomir had promised to send servants to look for her and I didn’t know my way around half of the castle. I had no choice but to go back to my room and get ready for bed.
I lay there for a long time, unable to sleep. I was just drifting off when I heard a scraping noise outside my window, then the rattle of my shutters. I sat up, awake and alert. I had latched the shutters from inside, hadn’t I? I stared into the darkness, wishing the heavy drapes weren’t covering the windows, every fiber of my being poised for flight. Nothing moved. There was no more sound. I relaxed. It must have been a sudden gust of wind that had rattled the shutters, nothing more, I told myself. But just to be on the safe side, I went to the mantelpiece and retrieved that candlestick again.
I lay there, gripping the candlestick, and began to feel rather silly. I was worrying too much, I told myself. Queenie had slipped and fallen down some disused stair. She’d probably twisted an ankle and would soon be found. And there was no such thing as vampires. Even as I had this thought I felt a waft of icy air strike my face and the curtains moved. Then, as I stared in horror, a white hand appeared between the curtains and a figure slipped noiselessly into my room.