In The Name Of Love

Chapter 3

I know I said that I was going to update last Monday/Tuesday and I didn't, but plans changed and I didn't have time to let you all know, so here's the chapter that I should have put up then. The next upate will be Tuesday and from now on there will be an update every Tuesday :D 

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Apparently the Romanian Royal family wasn't recognisable in this part of the world. It was either that or people didn't expect to see a queen and prince in Wales so they skipped over Elisabeta and Mircea and passed them off as faces in a crowd. Whatever the reason, getting into the private car of the train was a bit of a non event. At least until I stepped inside. The first car we had was a lounge/dining area and there were thick curtains at the windows in heavy materials, there was gilt work on the edges of the ornate table which had movable chairs like you'd find in a normal dining room, only they had tall, carved backs. There were a couple of sofas facing one another in the lounge area with a low coffee table between then. A couple of chandeliers lit up the carriage.

The next one over was separated into a couple of bedrooms and a really, really nice bathroom in which there was actually enough room in to move around and have a shower. Yes, there was an honest to god shower on the train. It looked better than the shower I had back at my house. I didn't look in the bedroom Mircea put a couple of small suitcases into because I was afraid I'd never come out.

As soon as the train was underway a polite hostess told us that dinner was going to be served in a few minutes. I looked at Mircea's watch. It was ten at night. I couldn't quite believe it and realised how hungry I was. I nearly said that I was starving, but remembered that in Romania many people had actually starved to death during and just after the war.

"What have we got, Mama?" Mircea asked and sat down looking more hungry than I'd ever seen him.

"Lamb stew with dumplings. I have been told it is a local delicacy," she replied looking to me for confirmation.

I sat down with a grin. "My absolute favourite."

The hostess from a moment ago curtsied and spoke to Elisabeta showing her a bottle of red wine. Then Elisabeta gestured to me.

The lady bobbed a curtsy to me and asked, "Wine go with lamb?"

I felt my eyes widen and I couldn't breathe for a moment because I didn't know what to say. I didn't know anything about wine! I was a farmer's daughter! Not... not a connoisseur!

"I don't know anything about wine," I confessed after a few heavy, silent seconds.

"Dorina speaks German," Mircea whispered to me.

I smiled and repeated myself. The wine was served anyway and as soon as Dorina was gone I drank some because my throat was parched.

"Bad idea," Mircea warned me.

"I can hold my liquor, even on an empty stomach, unlike some," I warned right back and had some more just to spite him.

Elisabeta laughed and had some of her wine too. Mircea poured himself some water which had been kept cool in an ice bucket and drank that. Dinner came out a minute later and any conversation we might have stared up went out the window for a little while as we ate. The food was chunky and hearty and pretty good, but I was convinced that no matter how good the chef was, home food would always be better just because my mum cooked it.

After the food we sat around for half an hour talking about British recipes and then we went to bed. The train got in early in the morning and we'd get a chance to freshen up and shower at the palace before we went into the meeting so I went straight to bed suddenly really, really tired.