‘. . . I think the poet wanted to show that you can’t judge something, or someone, at first glance.’
Oh my darkness, Ivy thought. He’s talking about poetry!
Then Alex grabbed her sister’s hands but a gust of wind prevented Ivy from hearing what he said next. Uh-oh, she thought. Picturesque views, clutching hands, poetry, Olivia looking wistful. Ivy knew exactly what was going on here. It was the day before Valentine’s Day and Alex was milking the romance for all it was worth. The vampire prince has fallen in love with Olivia!
Just then, her foot slipped. She tried to catch herself, flailing her arms and staggering, but it was too late. She twisted over, landed on her backside and slid down half the hill, right into the bushes. A pile of snow fell on top of her.
Ivy wiped chunks of ice from her face. I should have asked for snow boots!
She climbed to her feet, brushing the snow off her sleeves.
‘So much for my vampire skills,’ she muttered. Vampires were meant to be extra-specially agile, but that hadn’t stopped her from falling on her behind.
Back to the warm, she decided, marching towards the palace doors. And after that? She’d find out once and for all what the prince was up to.
Chapter Six
‘Welcome back, Miss Ivy,’ said Horatio as he opened the car door. Ivy breathed a sigh of relief.
Compared to the Queen’s estate, this is almost as ‘at-home’ as the Meat and Greet, Ivy thought.
‘Right over there,’ Prince Alex was saying to Olivia. He leaned in close to show her where he was pointing.
‘That fountain was where I broke my arm, trying to prove to Tessa that I could balance as well as she could,’ Alex said. ‘I couldn’t.’ Alex had insisted on accompanying them home.
‘I remember that,’ the Count said. ‘We had to send you off home in an ambulance. You were only eight.’
Alex smiled at the memory. ‘I got into lots of trouble.’
Ivy watched carefully, trying to see if Olivia had realised that Alex seemed to be into her, but Olivia was as relaxed and happy as ever.
Lunch at the palace had involved even smaller portions than last night’s dinner so Ivy decided to sneak off to the kitchen for the half hour before they were going to meet in the games room for a darts tournament.
Ivy pulled open the kitchen door and saw Tessa. She was washing plates in the deep ceramic sink. ‘Good afternoon, miss,’ she said and curtsied, her hands full of soap suds. Strands of dark hair had come out of her long braid, framing her pretty, heart-shaped face.
Ivy felt guilty for interrupting her work. ‘No, no, please, don’t be so formal,’ Ivy insisted. ‘I’m just sneaking in for a snack.’
‘Of course, what would you like?’ Tessa replied.
‘I can make it myself,’ Ivy said. ‘Please don’t stop what you were doing.’
Tessa smiled so that the freckles on her cheeks crinkled up. ‘Honestly, I’m happy to do it, and I know where everything is,’ she pointed out.
Ivy couldn’t argue with that, and she was pleased to see that Tessa had recovered from her crying fit last night. ‘OK, you can help, but you aren’t allowed to laugh when I put my smiley face of honey on my Platelet Porridge.’
Tessa grinned. ‘The Countess does that, too.’
Ivy was glad to learn that there was a fun streak to her grandmother.
‘Have you always worked here?’ Ivy asked. She didn’t know how to ask Tessa about the crying; she didn’t want to embarrass her.
‘My father was Horatio’s right-hand man before he passed away five years ago, when I was eleven. I grew up here,’ Tessa explained, reaching for a saucepan. ‘I’ve only been working since I turned sixteen.’
As Ivy pulled down the box of porridge, Tessa started to speak: ‘Er, excuse me, miss. If you don’t mind my asking, is everything OK for you? I mean, you’ve seemed a little upset since you arrived.’
Ivy looked at Tessa, wide-eyed. But you were crying the other night! she wanted to say. Still, if Tessa wanted to pretend that had never happened, Ivy would just have to go with it.
‘It’s been hard to adjust,’ she stuttered. ‘Especially when my sister fits right in. Everyone loves her – even Prince Alex.’
Tessa stopped stirring the milk into the porridge. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Olivia’s the human. I’m the vampire,’ Ivy explained.
‘No, I mean, about Prince Alex,’ Tessa asked.
‘Oh. That he seems interested in Olivia.’ When Tessa blinked in confusion, Ivy said, ‘You know – romantically.’
‘He’s not,’ Tessa stated.
Ivy put down the honey. ‘But I heard him spouting poetry on the hilltop at the palace.’
‘I’ve known him my whole life. He’s like that,’ Tessa said, turning back to the stove. ‘He’s just trying to irritate his mother as much as he can. Trust me.’
A warning sign flashed in Ivy’s mind. ‘What makes you say that?’
‘Over the past year, Prince Alex seems to take every opportunity to annoy her.’ Tessa shook her head, and put Ivy’s bowl of piping hot Platelet Porridge on to the counter. ‘Flirting with a human girl will certainly do that. The Queen would burst into fog if the heir to her throne was in a romance with a non-vampire – or anyone she deemed . . . unworthy.’
Ivy felt her blood boil. Could the prince be pretending? Is he just using Olivia? Well, no boy is going to hurt my sister! I don’t care if he’s a movie star or a prince!
But before Ivy could ask for any more details, the kitchen door was flung open and Olivia burst in.
‘There you are!’ she said. ‘Come on! Alex and I want to go to the frozen lake to ice-skate. I already asked the Countess, and she said we can borrow whatever we want.’
‘There are plenty of pairs of ice skates in the shed,’ said Tessa.
‘What about playing darts inside where it’s warm?’ Ivy said, wanting to avoid anything that involved her sliding around on ice. Her behind was still throbbing from that fall outside the palace.
‘Oh, I’ve already proven that I can beat Alex hands down,’ Olivia said, grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl. ‘Let’s skate! Tessa, will you join us?’
Ivy wanted to say something about Alex, but the last time she’d become involved in Olivia’s love life, she’d made a mess of things. She sighed. I’ll have to wait until I’m absolutely O-positive that Prince Alex is up to no good.