Free Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George Page B

to be Lou’s. Her cousin looked around briefly, set her reticule and hat on the dresser, and then collapsed into a chair.
    â€œI can’t speak of it all just now,” Lou said. “You had better go first. What has happened since your last letter?”
    â€œIt’s been awful,” Dacia blurted out. “I feel like I’ve been put in prison, and all because a young man likes me!” She leaped to her feet and paced back and forth. “All Prince Mihai wants to do is take me to the opera one night. But Aunt Kate is acting very strange, and so is Uncle Horia, and you are going to be appalled when you meet Lady Ioana!”
    â€œWho is Lady Ioana?” Lou asked, looking even paler.
    â€œThe most unnatural grandmother the world has ever known,” Dacia said.
    â€œYou mean Grandmother Florescu?” Lou’s brow puckered in anxiety.
    â€œWhatever you do, don’t call her Grandmother Florescu,” Dacia said in a dark voice. “No one warned me, which is beyond rude, but it seems that everyone calls her Lady Ioana, even Aunt Kate—her own daughter! And everyone is terrified of her. Even Aunt Kate!
Especially
Aunt Kate!”
    Lou looked shocked, and Dacia made a face. She hadn’t meant to terrify her cousin the moment she arrived, but Dacia sensed that it couldn’t be helped. Lou was so much more sensitive than Dacia was, and it would do Lou no favors to have her run afoul of Lady Ioana, who was expected for dinner. Dacia looked carefully at Lou’s face, to make sure she was ready for the next bit of news. She saw the puckering of her cousin’s forehead: a sure sign that Lou was upset. Dacia drew in as deep a breath as her corset would allow. She knew that what she was going to say next would make Lou upset for certain.
    â€œLet me tell you about meeting Lady Ioana,” she began, proceeding to tell Lou about her less-than-fortunate introduction to their grandmother, followed by Lady Ioana’s strange words.
    â€œThe Wing? She said that she was the Wing?” Lou’s pallor had gone waxy, and her voice hardly a whisper. “She said that
I
was the Wing?” Her dry lips barely made any sound at all on this last question.
    Dacia knelt in front of her cousin and took her hands. “Yes. And that I was the Claw,” she said softly. “But I don’t know whatit means any more than you do. I tried to ask Radu, but he said that Lady Ioana would kill him if he told me before she gave her permission. And Lou, he really meant it. There’s something going on here, only I don’t know what. Everyone’s acting like there’s a reason for us to come here, beyond just meeting our cousins.
    â€œThe worst part is they make it sound like we’re never leaving.”
    A soft knock came at the door, which made them both jump, but it was only a footman with Lou’s luggage. Dacia remained at Lou’s feet, both of them frozen in a strange tableau as he brought in her things, trying hard not to gape at them.
    â€œI met your Lord Johnny, Lord John Harcastle that is, on the train,” Lou said, changing the subject after the footman had gone. She opened the lid of her trunk and began to remove an array of beautiful new gowns.
    Dacia felt a warm flush start up her neck and cheeks. “He’s not
my
Lord Johnny,” she said, but couldn’t keep a faint smile at bay. “What did he say?”
    â€œHe—he was very kind,” Lou said. “I accidentally wandered into the smoking car, and he offered to let me sit in his compartment for a while and catch my breath.”
    â€œWhy was he on the Express?” Dacia found that now she was smiling, she couldn’t stop, thinking of Lord Johnny. “Did he say? Did he mention me?”
    â€œOf course,” Lou told her, laying out her new gowns. Dacia gasped appreciatively at the pale pink satin evening gown. “Well, I brought you up first, because I