“Tati’s looking very unwell,” observed Cezar, leading me through a complicated maneuver that turned me away from her.
“Mmm,” I murmured, thinking I had better do as Aunt Bogdana had suggested and consult the herbalist. Under the bright lights of the party chamber, Tati looked not so much ethereal as wasted. It frightened me.
“A brighter color would have been more appropriate,” he went on. “She looks quite washed-out. And it’s important that she present herself at her best.”
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“Oh?” I would not help him through this particular conversation.
“Well,” Cezar said, putting his hand on my waist as we made our way down the line, “isn’t that what tonight is all about? Beginning the search for possible partners?”
“More or less,” I said. “It’s not something I particularly relish, Cezar. But I’m happy that your mother has enjoyed helping. And I suppose I should thank you for paying for everything.
I don’t imagine you actually wanted to.”
He grunted some kind of response, and his hold on me tightened, brushing me up against him. In the formal line of the dance, I could not wriggle away. “You hope that Tatiana will attract the interest of these young men? You think any of them eligible?” He ran his eyes over those closest at hand; his expression was one of disdain.
“Aunt Bogdana chose them. They’re all eligible. If Tati doesn’t snare one, maybe I can.” I attempted an insouciant laugh, without a great deal of success.
“You far outshine your sister tonight, Jena.”
I stared at him, full of suspicion. His expression alarmed me. It was deadly serious.
“Besides,” said Cezar, “for you, there is no need to go through this exercise—this fishing for suitable husbands.”
“Really?” I remembered a conversation with Aunt Bogdana.
“Because I’m the one destined to stay at home and tend to Father in his old age, you mean?”
“Don’t tease, Jena,” Cezar said. “You know what I mean.”
I hate him. The frog was trembling with fury.
A horrible possibility suddenly occurred to me. I recalled 235
that awkward conversation with my cousin in the workroom, the one in which he had seemed on the point of some declaration. I thought of certain other things he had said recently, certain other gestures he had made. Surely I must be wrong. I was the sensible sister, not the beautiful one. Besides, even Cezar must see it was ludicrous. The two of us did nothing but argue.
The music came to an end. Across the room, I spotted Tati sitting quietly beside Aunt Bogdana and a group of older women. She looked like a grieving young widow. Shockingly, she looked as if she belonged there.
“You must dance with each of my sisters,” I told Cezar.
With Gogu in my pocket vibrating with ill will and my cousin’s conversation troubling me more than I wanted to admit, I decided I would avoid Cezar for the rest of the evening. “And make sure you’re nice to Iulia,” I added. “Remember, she’s only thirteen.”
Cezar smiled at me. Then the pimply Raffaello asked me for the next dance, and my cousin let me go. I could feel the imprint of his hand on my waist, like a brand of ownership. Perhaps that had been what he meant: he and I. The look in his eyes had frightened me. It had been a look of utter certainty.
I danced with Raffaello, whom Gogu had already dismissed as an idiot. I danced with Anghel.
I can’t see from in here. Put me on your shoulder.
Anghel glanced down: the wriggling form of the frog was clearly visible under the close-fitting skirt of the red gown.
“My pet frog,” I muttered. “He would insist on coming.”
Pet. The tone was accusatory.
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“A frog?” Anghel struggled for words. “Or did you say a dog?”
“Er, no—although it’s not unlike one of those little dogs, the kind ladies carry about . . . ,” I babbled, hating myself.
“Yes, my mother has one,” Anghel said, holding me at arm’s length lest he come in contact with Gogu, even through a layer of fabric. “Hideous little thing. It sheds everywhere. One can’t wear black.”
“What a trial for you,” I murmured, calculating how soon I could politely excuse myself.
Looks like a stoat. Gogu’s head was out of the pocket. Sounds even sillier than the first one. You can do better.
I danced with Vlad, whose uncle was a voivode. Vlad was better-looking than the others—tall and broad-shouldered, with thick dark hair. His manners were exemplary. We chatted about the weather and the music. We talked about his home near Bra¸sov and his horse and his hunting dogs. He complimented me on my hair and on the party, which Aunt Bogdana had told him I organized all by myself, and on the red gown. He asked me for a second dance and I accepted. He fetched a little platter of pastries, which we sat down to share. Gogu had retreated to the depths of the pocket. Quite against logic, the sense I was getting from him now was: No. No. No.
“I have to ask,” said Vlad, smiling to reveal perfectly even white teeth, “whether it’s true you have a pet frog. Someone told me you carry it around everywhere.”
“Well, yes,” I said cautiously. “His name’s Gogu. I rescued him a few years ago.”
I waited for the nice young man to shrink away, to make 237
an embarrassed comment, or to fall silent. Instead, he leaned forward.
“May I see?”
I was charmed. I got Gogu out and held him on my palm, where he embarrassed me by cowering in abject terror. “He’s usually quite friendly,” I said. “I don’t know what’s come over him.”
Vlad reached out to touch, and such was the shock emanat-ing from Gogu’s small body that I drew my hand away.
“Oh, yes, I find them fascinating,” Vlad enthused. “I have a big collection myself, you know. It’s a special study of mine.”
“Really?” I began to wonder whether it was possible that there might be a man who was not only eligible, but genuinely suitable—someone I could actually come to like. From over by the hearth, Cezar was staring at us with an expression dark as a thundercloud.
“Yes, I have one of every species to be found in the Carpathian region, and a number of more exotic ones as well. But nothing quite like your little fellow. I can’t tell exactly what he is. You realize how very unusual it is for him to be active in winter. A scientific curiosity of the first order.”
“Yes, well, I think Gogu’s one of a kind,” I said.
“I can see that we have a great deal in common, Jenica,” said Vlad. “I’ll ask Mother if she can arrange a return visit in the spring—I could show you my laboratory. I’ve devised a wonderful new method for preserving my specimens. They keep more or less indefinitely, you know. I start with a few drops of ether on a cloth, and then—”
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“Excuse me.” I felt sick. In my hands, Gogu was trembling like a leaf. “I think I hear Aunt Bogdana calling me.”
I fled to the safe company of my aunt and her friends. Tati was no longer with them. I scanned the crowded room, wondering whether she had gone back upstairs already.
“Tatiana is such a lovely dancer,” observed my aunt’s friend Elsvieta. “And what an exquisite gown . . .”
“If it’s possible to obtain something similar,” said another woman, “I think your son will be flooded with orders after tonight, Bogdana.”
“You’re a nice little dancer, too, Jenica,” Elsvieta went on, smiling at me. “I could see my son was enjoying himself. Vlad is rather too fond of his own company and his experiments. I hope you may come to visit us in the spring. A little riding, perhaps, and some music. It would be so good for him.”