The floors were polished stone with enormous carpets strewn about, and then there were the paintings. Generations of residents of Waverly Castle stared down at us from their gilded frames, their lips set in tight brittle lines, their tiny noses turned up ever so slightly, their eyes cold and hard. Maybe I was imagining it but it felt as if they did not approve of the modern use of their home.

Mr. Jenkins closed the door and neatly stepped around me. A staircase, also made of stone, swept up one side of the great room and he started up, leaving me to follow. Along the wall were more portraits of disapproving expressions. I kept my eyes averted, not wanting to see any of these faces in my dreams tonight.

“Tea will be delivered to your suite at four o’clock and dinner will be served in the dining room at eight,” he said. “Ms. Tremont mentioned that you and Mr. Eisel would be joining her for tea?”

He posed the statement as a question, obviously looking for confirmation.

“Yes, absolutely,” I said. I marveled a bit that Viv had acclimated to castle life so quickly that she had already issued orders to the butler. I was positive I wouldn’t ask the man for so much as an umbrella during a rainstorm for the duration of our stay. Intimidated? Me? Yup.

At the top of the staircase was a long passageway that overlooked the great room below. Three corridors branched off it, and Mr. Jenkins turned at the last one, following it all the way to the end. He paused in front of a closed door and knocked three times.

“Come in,” a voice I recognized as Viv’s called out.

Mr. Jenkins opened the door for me and stepped back to allow me to enter.

“If you need anything, Ms. Parker, do not hesitate to ask,” he said.

“I won’t,” I lied.

His lips twitched again in the corners as if he knew I was fibbing. For a second, I wondered what it would be like to grow up in a house like this. Was this what childhood had been like for Prince William and Prince Harry? Were there just people around all the time, making certain their every want and need was attended? How extraordinary.

I stepped into our suite and then halted. I was standing in a large sitting room that boasted a thick blue carpet and cream-colored furniture. Viv was reclined on a divan, looking like the fair maiden waiting to be rescued from the tower by a knight.

She was reading a book and didn’t look up from the page when she spoke. “Your room is over there.” She waved a hand in the direction of a doorway on the far side of the sitting room.