I got into bed and he followed. I put my head on his shoulder. It felt wonderfully comforting and safe. This is what I want and need, I remember thinking. If only . . . I suppose I must have fallen asleep because the sound of screams at first seemed to be part of my dream. Only gradually I came to the surface and realized that they were part of the real world. Darcy was already standing up.

“What now?” he demanded. “Can’t a fellow get a decent night’s sleep in this place?”

“I’ll go,” I said. “It’s probably another of Patrascue’s men frightening the maids by walking around in a suit of armor.”

Darcy laughed. “Quite possibly. I’ll stay put for now. I really don’t want anyone to know I’m here.”

Siegfried was standing at his door again. “I must apologize, mein Schatz. Two ridiculous disturbances in one night is unforgivable. I will demand that this man Patrascue take his underlings and leave our castle immediately.” He strode down the hallway with me in tow. This time we went down the first flight of stairs and met nobody. Other guests in night attire were standing at their doors along the second hallway as the screaming continued, coming up from down below.

“Some hysterical maid,” my mother said as I passed her. “Probably had to fight off the footman. Happens all the time.”

We came under a low archway and found ourselves at the top of that final flight of steps above the entrance hall—those alarming steps that hugged the wall with no kind of banister. A group was already assembled at the bottom. One of them was indeed a maid, now sobbing instead of screaming while other servants attempted to comfort her. Beside her was a spilled scuttle of coal. The rest of the group was standing around something on the floor.

“What is it?” Siegfried called, his voice echoing through the high-ceilinged hall. “Why are we being subjected to this noise?”

The group broke apart. A couple of maids curtsied. Dragomir stepped forward. “Highness, there has been a tragedy,” he said. “The English lady. She must have fallen from a great height. There is nothing to be done.”

And there at the bottom of the steps lay the body of Miss Deer-Harte, her head at an unnatural angle. I had seen death before but the heightened tension of the past few days brought bile up into my throat. My head started to sing and for a second I thought I was going to faint. I leaned against the cold stone of the wall and inched my way down the stairs before I could pass out and join Miss Deer-Harte on the flagstones below.

“Someone should let Lady Middlesex know,” I said, trying to master myself. “This lady was her companion.”