Liliana woke up exhausted. Every time she moved in her sleep, the pain startled her. And she moved often, tormented by the images of her failed escape from the castle: the fall, her desperate search for Annie, the creatures chasing her in the forest, the fight, and finally, El’s scowling expression, the blood on his hands. They were still at his mercy, trapped in this tower.
Groaning softly, she sat up. She had removed blood and dirt and cleaned her wounds. At home, Grandmother would have looked after her, but here she had to take care of herself. When she touched the aching rib with her fingers, she could feel a kind of gradation under the skin. Her whole right leg also hurt whenever she moved it, and the ankle that had been bothering her since the vampire attack in the village had swollen again. Her skin was scratched, even torn and bruised in many places. A big bump had grown on her forehead.

She had asked Martha to bring her some herbs: comfrey, ribwort and arnica, which supposedly grew in the mountains, or anything else she could find in this late autumn season. She had also remembered the juniper in the courtyard, which Grandmother said produced a pain-relieving and cleansing effect.

The maid appeared the next morning with a bag full of carefully labelled herbal medicines and a bottle of gin. Where had she found all that? Liliana resisted the temptation to drink the liquor, inwardly following Grandmother’s admonition that her family bred no drinkers. Annie sniffed curiously at the different bottles and jars.

The constant aches and pains took away her desire to do much, so the fact that the following nights and days remained uneventful didn’t bother her one bit. If those vampires left them alone, all the better. Liliana had lost her keys in the forest, but there was already a new one in the door at the top.

Whenever possible, she distracted herself with reading, and she also enjoyed Annie’s unusual clinginess. They painted on the wall with pieces of coal and recited finger verses. At least Annie had been wearing her rabbit fur jacket when they’d fled Heidenried; it represented a last little piece of home.

In the evening, Annie struggled to fall asleep. Their usual day and night rhythm was completely off. Liliana lay down next to her and told the ongoing story of a mouse that left home and came across a cave where bats lived. At first, the bats were vicious, but over time, she discovered that not all bats were mean. Annie wanted to know if there were any horsebats like Nana in the cave, and Liliana said, ‘Sure.’

 

***

Two weeks passed. Although the clothes in the closet fit her remarkably well, she asked for a needle and thread and mended her own dress. Her skin healed and the ankle shrank back to its usual size, but the rib still hurt with every breath and would probably do so for a while longer. Martha delivered new things daily to help keep Annie entertained: string games, wooden blocks and even coloured glass marbles. The girl was thrilled because she had barely possessed any toys at home except for Lisi. Toys had never seemed necessary while they had lived surrounded by meadows, the forest and their animals.

One time, Martha brought a shimmering midnight blue robe along with their dinner. Annie caressed the fabric with obvious delight.

‘Lord Eldric is having a feast at midnight,’ Martha explained, carefully placing the robe over a chair. ‘He wants you to appear as a guest.’

A feast among vampires … She didn’t want to imagine what that looked like. Did everyone bring their own food in the form of a person they had chosen for this purpose? Was this the real reason she was kept here? El had insisted that he wanted to protect her. Or was that only true until her intended appearance tonight? Suspiciously, she looked at the maid, whose nose twitched with eagerness on her pointed face.

‘Only me?’

Martha nodded, bobbing on her heels. For once, she seemed to find it difficult to keep her answers short and meaningless. ‘Mylady  … Lord Eldric would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the family. Hence, there’s no need to be afraid.’

Those two sentences directly contradicted each other. Why would he want to do that? Was there a ritual to be performed in a room full of hungry eyes? A shiver crept down Liliana’s spine.

‘Who is the family?’

‘It currently comprises twenty people, including Lord Eldric. We’ve been cooking for two nights.’

‘You cook?’

‘Yes, Mylady, on request and on special occasions.’

‘And Annie?’

‘I don’t think the feast is suitable for a toddler, Mylady. But, of course, I will ask.’ Martha curtseyed. ‘We will help you shortly.’

Nimble as usual, she disappeared before Liliana could ask who wanted to help her with what. They ate the potato casserole that Martha had served them. After that, they took a closer look at the robe, which consisted of two parts and was laced under the breast.

It was dark outside when footsteps sounded on the stairs. Two servants carried a bathtub in, followed by a bulbous cauldron in which they heated water over the fire. Both vampires paraded their squeaky clean uniforms and canines. One of them gave her a long look with his frog-like, rust-coloured eyes before he cleared their plates and politely withdrew. The other servant was a middle-aged man with a ponytail. His eyes were an interesting shape and his skin had a bit of a strange undertone. He dripped a fragrant essence into the bathtub. Additionally, he lined up several objects on the table: a mirror on a stand, a bar of soap, a brush, a powder box, a bowl of nutty-smelling paste and a ball that looked like porous, dried moss. He then stood next to the door with his hands clasped behind his back.

‘The bath is ready, Mylady.’

‘Thank you,’ Liliana said.

Did he intend to stay here? As a country girl, she knew little shyness in dealing with nudity. Still, she didn’t feel like getting into the tub while a uniformed servant, a vampire at that, stood in the corner with a stony expression.

‘I don’t need help with bathing.’

‘You are free to dismiss me whenever you please.’ He bowed and slid out of the room.
She put Annie in the water before getting in herself. The little one splashed around and giggled. Sitting in a real metal bathtub surrounded by flowery scents was a very different feeling from taking a lukewarm bath in the old tub at home, in which someone else had already scrubbed their dirty skin. Annie played with the soap and almost drowned with laughter when it suddenly slipped out of her hand. Only once the water had cooled down and their fingers were completely wrinkled did they get out. They sat in front of the fireplace and brushed each other’s hair. Liliana braided hers in a side braid over her shoulder.

A knock interrupted the intimate setting. Martha appeared with a thick scarf and a pair of delicate, flat shoes. Liliana noticed the typical vampire teeth  on her for the first time.
‘Are you ready, Mylady?’

‘Is it already starting?’ she asked without getting up.

‘Very soon, Mylady.’

‘Is Annie coming with me?’

‘I regret to inform you that children are not welcome tonight.’

‘I can’t leave Annie here by herself!’

‘Do not worry, Mylady. I was asked to stay here and take care of your daughter.’

‘What if I refuse to go to this feast?’

Martha kept her friendly smile. ‘In that case, I am to tell you that it was you who – I am quoting Lord Eldric here – complained that you were imprisoned, and that you will continue to be after this night if you refuse to accept the invitation.’

She could literally hear El’s voice seeping through. Annoyed, she turned away. He knew her curious streak and that the prospect of learning more about her surroundings would entice her. But he also realised that the situation scared her. Therefore, he had backed his request up with blackmail.

Could she trust Martha and leave Annie here? The maid had already taken care of Annie unplanned after their escape had failed. But at the time, Annie had cried herself to sleep. Would El really make the extent of freedom they were granted conditional on her appearance at this feast?

She rose, which Martha took as a sign to help her put on her outerwear. Accompanied by many ooooh sounds from Annie, she looked down at herself. The robe was much more elegant than even her mother’s dresses. The sheer fabric accentuated the silhouette of her body. She found the way the low neckline showed off her bosom quite unseemly, and the short sleeves that exposed her arms were entirely unsuitable for the season. After she’d wrapped the scarf around her torso like a half-length cloak, however, she felt more comfortable. It also covered the gradually fading bruises and scratch marks.

She sang her favourite songs to Annie and tucked her in. Then she gave her a big kiss goodnight and explained that Mummy was going to a feast, where unfortunately only grownups were allowed.

‘Mylady, Sebastian will collect you at any moment now.’

Ignoring the maid, Liliana bent over Annie. ‘Mummy loves you very much. Sleep now. Martha will take care of you, and I’ll be back as soon as we’re done. Tomorrow we’ll be able to play outside!’

Liliana very much hoped her nervousness didn’t speak from her voice. No matter what she wore, she didn’t feel ready to face him again. But if El’s threat was to be believed, well … at least she had to be alive to continually be imprisoned, right?

She pressed another kiss on Annie’s forehead. When the servant announced himself with a knock, she waved to Annie and followed him, but stopped as soon as he closed the door behind them. It was the same man from before, with the odd features and the ponytail. Heart pounding, she sat down on the first step and listened. Annie didn’t cry. She asked something, and Martha gave a brief answer. Silence followed.

Sebastian had stopped a little further down. ‘Mylady—’

‘Shhh!’

She sat on the stairs for a few moments longer. It seemed strange that El wanted to introduce her to the family without having Annie there. Did he not know that Annie was his daughter, or was he indifferent to having fathered a child? And why bother doing that anyway? Should she just run back and barricade herself in with Annie and Martha?

‘Mylady—’

‘Hush!’

As quietly and slowly as possible, she pushed open the door and peered through the crack. Annie sucked on her thumb; her eyes closed. Martha sat at the table and stared into the fire like someone who was overwhelmed by the task of doing nothing. Before Sebastian tried to speak again, she pulled the door shut.

‘Mylady—’

‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘We’re going to be late.’

Her stomach wound up like a bobbin while she followed Sebastian, every turn down the stairs adding a new layer of tension. In the corridor, the second servant from before, the one with the rust-coloured frog eyes, was waiting with a candlestick. Flanked by the two vampires, Liliana reached the courtyard. She was still limping, thanks to the aching leg. The moon hung in the sky like a tarnished silver disc. A light breeze swept down from the snowy mountains, and she pulled the scarf tighter around her. El’s family … Back when she still thought he might be some kind of scribe or a merchant, she would have been thrilled to meet his family. Now that thrill had taken on entirely different connotations.

In front of the main entrance, flames danced in golden bowls on either side. Above the gate loomed an equally imposing coat of arms. The image, with the moon over a mountain peak, curving treetops and a river through the middle, looked familiar. Of course: the minting on the back of their coins! How many times had she exchanged goods for money at the market in Roinnenstadt, unaware of where the picture came from? It was the coat of arms of the noble family that ruled over the Highlands. At the bottom was even the leafless tree, the symbol she had seen on El’s buttons.

Liliana shivered. A single servant opened the gate for them. She gulped as they crossed the entrance hall. The shimmering quartz floor reflected some of the dim light, but it didn’t reach the corners and ceiling, as if the room somehow stretched into infinity. They headed straight for a double door. She heard muffled voices and music behind it. No wonder the noble family hardly showed themselves: they were monsters, creatures of the night … if only the conceited townspeople knew who the rulers they tried to emulate in everything really were!
Someone broke away from the shadows and intercepted them.

‘Took your sweet time, didn’t you?’

The two servants bowed hastily. ‘Lord Eldric.’

‘Thank you very much. You are dismissed.’

El nodded at them, his hands resting inside the pockets of his open, knee-length coat. Liliana’s heart pounded against her painful rib. Seeing him again was even worse than she’d expected. She had never set foot on a ship, and yet, she imagined the swaying on the high seas to feel exactly the way she felt right now.

He was so entirely the man she had fallen in love with: the calm voice, the expressive features, the casually elegant movements. And yet, he had changed. His bearing was more arrogant, his expression cooler, as was undoubtedly fitting for the nobility. He wore his hair shorter, except at the front, where it fell over his forehead in an intentionally accidental way. The dark clothes – vest, shirt and trousers – were perfectly tailored to his tall, slender figure.

She stared at him, not knowing what to say, and only noticed the departure of the servants by the fading candlelight. Eventually, she perceived nothing more than greyish outlines and the softly glowing bronze in El’s eyes. He came closer, put a hand on her back, and directed her forward.

‘How accommodating of you to join us after all,’ he whispered in her ear before he tore open the double door.

The torrent of music and chit-chat abruptly dried up as she stepped inside.