The field marshal put a meaty hand on my bare arm and gave it a squeeze. “I like this girl. She has fire,” he said to Nicholas. “She shall sit beside me at dinner tonight and I will get to know her better.” And he gave me what could only be described as a leer.

“I’m afraid that my bride has insisted that Georgiana sit close to her at dinner. They are dear friends, you know, and they will want time to chat. Have you met Maria Theresa yet, Georgiana? I know she is dying to see you again. Let us go and seek her out.”

He took my arm and led me away. “Odious fellow,” he whispered when we were out of earshot. “But we have to tread carefully in Bulgaria at the moment. He is from our southwestern province of Macedonia, and there is a strong separatist movement in that area, wanting to break away from us—and Yugoslavia would like to annex our part of Macedonia to its own. So you see, it’s delicate. As long as Pirin holds power, he can keep them loyal. If he goes, they will try to break away. There will be civil war. Yugoslavia will undoubtedly take the side of the break-away province and before you know it another regional, if not world, war will be on our doorsteps. So we flatter and humor him. But he’s a peasant. And a dangerous one.”

“I see.”

“That is why this alliance with Romania is so important. We need them on our side if there is any kind of Balkan conflict. But no talk of gloomy things tonight. Tonight we feast and celebrate my wedding. Ah, there is my lovely bride now. Maria, Schatzlein, look who I have found.”

I turned to see where he was looking but there was nobody I recognized. Only a slim and elegant creature, obviously dressed from Paris, her dark hair sleekly styled and an ebony cigarette holder in one hand, was moving gracefully through the crowd. When she spotted me, her face lit up. “Georgie. You made it. How wonderful. I am so glad to see you.”

And she came toward me arms open.

She was about to embrace me when she stopped and laughed. “Your face, darling. I keep forgetting that people who haven’t seen me in a while don’t recognize me. It’s Matty, your old friend Matty.”

“I can’t believe it,” I said. “Matty, you look stunning.”

“Yes, I do, don’t I?” she said with satisfaction. “All those months in the Black Forest certainly paid off, didn’t they?”

“The Black Forest?”