I was left alone, with the sound of my fiercely beating heart.
And the taste of betrayal in my mouth.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.
"I"m proud of you," Celeste told him. "You"re a credit to the family and a worthy heir."
Raphael summoned a pleased smile, though he had hated every minute of the evening so far. The weight of what he knew sat heavily on him, and he could barely bring himself to look at either of his grandparents. He wondered when, if, he could escape. But an exhausted-looking Cadmium seemed to put pay to that plan.
"Dear, you should rest." Celeste took her husband"s arm, concerned. "Let me help you upstairs."
Cadmium didn"t protest. With irritation, Raphael saw the relief on his face.
"You will be happy to preside over the rest of the evening?" She smiled winningly at Raphael, patting his arm. "Good boy."
Raphael watched them climb the grand staircase, then disappear out of sight, before he turned on his heel. For tonight he would have to play the part, but his thoughts were more galvanised than ever. He wanted to find out where Milo had disappeared to if he was still alive. Once he had found him, he would ciscover what had really happened to his father. And why this web of lies had been laid to cover up the truth.
Standing nodding at the hordes streaming in and out of the great room and into the hall, he recognised Jane, saw her look around anxiously, then move quickly across the hall to the door that led through to the kitchens.
"What is she up to?" he murmured to himself. As he sidestepped the over-excitable Tilly, he was thwarted by a pair of rangy vampire girls, their identical bodies clad in skin-tight black leather dresses. Their faces he saw were identical too. Vampire twins. In spite of his curiosity about Jane, Raphael was stopped in his tracks.
"Haven"t you grown?" said one, holding out a skinny arm. "I remember you as a little cherub of a boy ..." Her lavish lips parted to reveal pearly white teeth. "But you wouldn"t remember us ..."
"I"m sorry," he said politely, "I don"t recall you ... I can"t think why."
The girls both t.i.ttered. "Charming," said the other twin. "Would you care to dance?"
"I really ... There is something I need to do ..." he began, before both beauties moved to hem him in.
"Do it later," one of them purred. "Surely it can wait a while ..."
Raphael opened his mouth to protest, but they were clearly having none of it. They quite forcefully diverted him, like a pair of supermodel bodyguards, into the music room. On stage, two women dressed in black silk catsuits were bent over a cello and a double ba.s.s, accompanied by a quiffed teddy-boy on drums as a suave, black-eyed and incredibly tall man in a cla.s.sic suit sung into a microphone.
The music changed from moody jazz to a jauntier swing-style number. Beside him, one of the vampire twins was tapping her foot, her slender arms waving.
"Perfect," she said, nodding to her sister. "Ready?"
Swiftly they took one of each of his arms and began a mesmerising dance. Raphael had never been much of a dancer, but these girls were working some magic because he had never felt more a.s.sured on the dancefloor.
For the moment, all thoughts of betrayal were gone from his head.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT.
Eventually, I crept, dazed, across the corridor and down the stairs. After the quiet of upstairs, the noise coming at me seemed deafening.
"Luca, Luca, Luca," I whispered to myself, feeling that if I said his name enough times I could wipe out what had happened only minutes before. I had no idea where Soren had got to and, though I didn"t particularly want to find him, I knew that Dalya would be looking for us, expecting Soren to reveal who he was to his sister.
A man in a silver tuxedo slunk past me, holding a circular tray of gla.s.ses aloft. He glanced briefly at me as he went, frowning. For a paranoid second I wondered if my dark bob had slipped, that what had happened with Soren was obvious.
But silver tux didn"t linger, and I was left alone, still working out what to do.
"There you are." Dalya appeared in front of me, a little out of breath, her hands on her hips. "Mother is talking about going home soon. Hanni has already left with a headache. If Soren is going to tell Lila, he needs to do it now." She peered up at me, a tiny crease in her forehead. "You look odd."
"Do I?" I waved my hand. "Well, this is all a little odd, isn"t it?" I heard my laugh, false and tinkling. Dalya"s eyes lingered on me a little longer than necessary.
"OK," she said slowly. "We really need to find him ..."
"Good. OK. Yes." I stammered, catching sight of a familiar figure at the end of the hall. "I think I see him. Over there."
Dalya followed the direction of my gaze, then took off, darting in and out of stray guests.
I watched as she grabbed at his jacket with all the impulsiveness of a child, then whispered into his ear. I saw him look up and across at me. I sighed, and walked over to join them.
"You two stay here and I will fetch Lila," Dalya instructed us. "Don"t move."
"Are you sure?" I shook my head, reluctantly turning to Soren. His eyes swept over me, unreadable.
"Leave it with me. I"ll tell her it is good luck to sit out in the palace gardens," she said. "Lila believes in all that superst.i.tious rubbish."
I really didn"t want to be alone with Soren.
"I need to freshen up," I told him. "I"ll meet you out there in a bit."
Not waiting for either of them to speak, I ran for the bathroom at the back of the stairs, collapsing into a cubicle, my head in my hands.
"Compose yourself," I whispered. But so many thoughts were rushing round my head. Being here, the music, kissing Soren. I sniffed, more loudly than I realised.
"h.e.l.lo?" An unpleasantly familiar voice came from the other side of the door. "Who"s crying in there?"
I held my breath, trying to keep silent. But I hadn"t locked the door behind me and one elegant foot was inching it open.
"You?" Natalia stood there, eyeing me warily. "What the devil is the matter with you?" She bent, scrutinising my face, then quickly straightened up again. "Lover"s tiff is it?"
"I don"t know what you mean!" I subtly checked that my bob had not dropped forward. I was literally itching to take it off. "I don"t have a lover."
I expected to see a smug smile appear on her face, but instead she seemed to relax.
"Thank Lucifer for that. I"ve had it up to here with the vulgar displays of affection going on out there. I mean, I adore Vanya, but quite honestly she should know better at her age. She and Valdar they should have more decorum. It"s unseemly, is what it is."
"Oh," I said, getting to my feet. "Well, I guess they must be in love..."
"And as for the other two!" She tossed her hair back. "That wolf-boy and the insipid blonde. All over him like the pox, she is."
"Oh," I repeated, feeling nauseous. "How awful. But you danced with Raphael?"
She snorted, then stood and pouted into the mirror, checking her wide red mouth. "Not a flicker from him, my dear! That boy is a cold fish, if you ask me. Perfectly charming, I suppose, but one just knows when a man is uninterested ..." She whirled around to face me. "So it seems that Sofi, you and I are the party wallflowers," she sighed. "n.o.body loves us. We should have a little party of our own."
"I need to be somewhere," I said quickly. "But I"ll come and find you if-"
"Of course," she cut in, and I glimpsed a tiny c.h.i.n.k of loneliness, of humanity underneath the make-up. "Another time."
Leaving her examining her face in the bathroom mirror, I went to face the music.
The corridor was dark, just a crack of light under a door ahead of me. Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I didn"t bother trying to find a light switch, treading slowly and carefully ahead. I could hear the bustle of activity going on in the kitchens and realised I would have to think of a pretty good excuse as to why I was walking through here. How had Soren managed it?
Suddenly the door in front of me burst open, flooding the corridor with light. A girl dressed in a waitressing outfit and carrying a huge silver platter of cake frowned at the sight of me. When she saw my eye-make up, and the skin-tight velvet, she looked wary.
"Can I help you, Miss?" she asked, stopping.
"I need some air," I said, making my voice a little haughty and authoritative. And a little quiet-time." I smiled conspiratorially at her. "All these people are giving me such a headache."
She drew in a breath, still holding the platter perfectly still.
"Well you"re not the first to come through here for a little peace and quiet, Miss," she said. "Quite a little procession we"ve had this evening."
"Really?" I said casually. "I was hoping the kitchen gardens might be empty."
"Some lovers" tiff going on out there ..." She sniffed.
"Oh well, I will just take a minute," I said, pointing in the direction of the kitchen. "Through here?"
The waitress nodded, watching me closely as I pa.s.sed by her. If she thought I was a vampire then I didn"t blame her.
"Thank you so much," I drawled, sweeping on. I had to admit, a small part of me was quite enjoying pretending to be a vampire. In different circ.u.mstances this evening would have been fun.
The door to the gardens was a little ajar and, peeping through the gla.s.s, I could see that Soren and Lila were face to face. I quietly opened the door, stepping out into the cool night air. There was no sign of Luca, thank goodness. But it was only a matter of time before he came back here and found his betrothed with Soren. I needed to stay, but was careful to stand in the shadows next to a pleasant-smelling rose bush. A little noise behind me made me turn round.
"It"s me," Dalya whispered as she slipped through the door. "I was hanging about in the kitchens, just in case, and I saw you come through." She hid herself next to me, allowing herself a quick peek at the pair standing at the edge of the gardens.
"Why are you saying this to me?" Lila"s voice, confused and breathy, rang out. Without thinking I put my head out to look. She had her head in her hands. In front of her, Soren moved to take hold of her, but she shrank away from him. Pa.s.sing by, one of the palace cats paused in its night-time forage to gaze curiously up at the pair of them.
"Lila." Soren"s voice was uncharacteristically gentle. I saw his hands flop down by his sides, his face a picture of anxiety. "Believe me, I didn"t want to tell you, but I owe you the truth. In your heart perhaps you have always felt-"
"I want my mother." Lila"s tone turned sulky. "She is not far away you know, she will be wondering where I am." She turned in our direction and I moved quickly back, pulling Dalya with me.
"Oh, this was not such a good idea." Dalya said, rubbing at her arm where a thorn had scratched it. "Soren is only scaring her."
I thought for a moment. "Perhaps ... perhaps if you went and spoke to her ..." I said hesitantly. "Perhaps she would believe what Soren is saying if you backed him up?"
"You think so?" Dalya was reluctant. "It might make her even more agitated."
"Well we have to do something time is running out," I whispered. But as I spoke the sound of footsteps tramping through gra.s.s halted me. "Now, Dalya. You have to stop her."
As Lila came closer, I stepped out in front of her, attempting a rea.s.suring smile.
"Lila!" I said. "It is Lila, isn"t it?"
"Who are you?" Lila glanced behind her to see Soren following.
"What do all of you people want with me?"
"Dalya," I hissed, willing her to show herself. And finally she moved from behind me to embrace Lila.
"It"s OK, Lila," Dalya said soothingly. "Soren is telling you the truth ... I"m sorry. But you have nothing to fear, I promise."
Lila looked from me to Dalya, her eyes wide.
"He is really my brother? I don"t remember him. I don"t remember anything ..." She paused, a pained expression on her face. "But that is odd, isn"t it? I don"t remember anything before I was five ..." She shook her head. "Though I dream sometimes."
"What do you dream of?" Soren asked behind her.
"Nightmares." Lila stared down at the ground, her lips trembling a little. "I dream about a day when I was all alone ... in a house in a wood. And there was a mess on the floor." She looked up. "A horrible mess of blood and people."
Soren"s intake of breath was audible. All of us were silent, giving Lila time to recall events she had blocked out of her mind for so long.
"I do remember a boy. He was there in ... in the kitchen. And then he ran away. He left me there with all the mess."
"Lila, that boy was me. I was scared. I had done such a terrible thing to our mother and father ..."
Lila had paled, her pretty face clouded with pain.
"Dear angels in heaven," she whispered. "My mother ..."
The rest of us stood uncomfortably witnessing her pain.
Lila held out a hand and Soren gripped it. I saw then the tenderness in his eyes as he supported her.
"Why have you come back now?" she asked him. "All this time ... I had learned to forget. I had almost succeeded, but for those awful dreams ..."
Dalya fidgeted a little on the spot. Behind us all the kitchen staff were still clattering dishes, oblivious to what was going on in the garden.
"What dreams?" Soren asked softly.
"Night after night," she sighed. "I was playing in a strange garden with other children, and I was happy. And there was a boy who looked after me. In my dream we were so close ..." She looked around at all of us. "But when I told Hanni about the dream she said it meant nothing. That dreams weren"t reality. That I should forget about them. But they made me feel so sad. The boy made me feel so sad."
"That boy is me," repeated Soren. "Lila, I know it"s confusing. And your mother your adopted mother she didn"t want you to be upset, that"s why she kept it from you."