"Which way now?" Nora asked, her face hidden in the folds of his coat after the long kiss, as she realised how addicted she had become to his kisses, his closeness, his scent... Him.
"Up to the Middle Castle and its infinite marble staircase," Martin said, kissing her on top of her head, then taking her by her hand and leading her in the right direction.
"Where are we eating tonight?" she asked as they entered the oldest part of the castle, suddenly impatient for the dinner during which they were supposed to talk, and so she would finally feel entitled to ask questions, to start.
"At Lino's again, I hope you don't mind. The week got busier than I expected and when I called all the restaurants..."
"Lino's place is perfect. I saw Magdalena the other day, I think I forgot to tell you," she said, following him up the magnificent, off-white, spiral staircase, incredibly wide and so smooth that the marble felt slippery under her feet.
"Their eldest daughter is babysitting Daniel tonight," Martin said, smiling. "Lara is his favourite babysitter."
"Ooh, so Daniel's Lara is Magdalena's daughter?" Nora smiled too. "No wonder he likes her, if she's as kind and pretty as her mother."
"She is a very nice girl," Martin agreed, as they ascended the stairs, holding hands. "But the reason he likes her most is that unlike Adele, she does whatever he wants to. I found them watching movies till late or taking a walk outside after dark on several occasions. But, when Adele is not around, he insists on having Lara. They are friends. And I," he said, not meeting Nora's eyes, "don't feel like the best ever father for leaving him so often, and always call her when he asks for her."
He shrugged as he unlocked the first door they just reached after having climbed too many steps.
"You are a very busy man and a wonderful father nonetheless," Nora said, squeezing his hand tighter before letting go of him and entering the chamber he had unlocked. "I know that Daniel doesn't blame you, I don't blame you either. I understand."
"Sometimes I wish..." he muttered, descending a short flight of wooden stairs, whose railing was embellished with three statuettes of dogs which Nora remembered immediately, into the Blue Salon.
"We can't have it all, no one can. And nothing's perfect. Like the kings of the old, we are bound by obligations and responsibilities, some of us more than others." She smiled at him before starting her lecture about the gold-plated stars adorning the ceiling, the coats of arms of the most important owners of the castle before it was given to the Pállfy family, and the Joker, the Intellectual and the Artful, the three wooden dog statuettes guarding the chamber, and their symbolism.
She felt quite tired when they finally reached the Knights' Hall and the Citadel after having walked through chambers situated on other two floors of the Middle Castle, then descended the gorgeous staircase again, walked across the same courtyards as well as others, which they hadn't seen before, to reach the castle's tomb. From there, Nora rushed outside into the evergreen French Park lying beyond. Seeing the enormous marble sarcophagi of the previous owners and their family members always gave her shivers, the strange smell filling the tomb made her crave fresh air.
The evergreen, sculpted trees of the park were covered with snow as well as its gravel paths, and it was freezing outside, but she preferred the coldness to the ghostly, death-like scent reigning within the tomb.
"Lead the way to the cave," she told Martin, inexplicably happy and sad at the same time that the tour was almost over. She didn't want to leave the castle and yet she wanted to spend the evening with Martin away from here; the old building seemed to influence him as much as it influenced her, making them feel and act slightly different, ancient... and too serious for their own good. "Just don't you switch off the lights, please," she muttered, earning herself a mischievous smile from him. "I've seen the 'cave darkness' before, and it frightens me."
He chuckled, pulling her behind him across the park, past the tall trees that lined both sides of the path trembling in the freezing wind, towards another door, then down several flights of slippery stone steps and a long, low and narrow winding tunnel into the travertine cave with its endemic moss and two deep lakes sitting twenty-six meters under the Fourth Courtyard, one of them serving as the castle's well, its only source of water in the past.
"Miss Princ, you are hired," Martin said after he locked the last door behind them. He pulled her into an embrace in the middle of the First Courtyard, and the light reaching them from the Entry Hall illuminated his fingers playing with the strands of hair blown into her face by the increasing wind intermittently, as the old lamps hanging from the ceiling swung from side to side, disappearing from view at moments.
She looked into his eyes, shaking her head in mock disapproval. "This... is hardly fair. You are biased. Why didn't you tell me that you... That you are the new Count?" She forced herself to push the words finally out.
His eyes crinkled at the corners with suppressed laughter as he replied, "I didn't think it was important, not for you. And I was certain someone would have told you by now, Clelia, Magdalena, your friend Richard in the market, or Daniel..." He shrugged.
"So... you own this castle," Nora fluttered her hand in the air in a gesture encompassing the ancient walls and towers surrounding them, even as he took her other hand in his and led her towards the Entry Hall. "And the entire spa..." Her mind struggled with the idea.
It was difficult not to look at him through a different lense knowing this, she mused as he stopped in front of a locked door within the Entry Hall, entered a small office and exchanged the castle's coat for his own, then removed the thong from his hair and ran his hand through the shoulder-length strands quickly before locking the door again. That must be the reason why he didn't tell her before; he didn't want to sway her opinion on him or influence her decisions. Most likely, she would have acted the same way should their roles be reversed.
Martin sighed, observing her from the corner of his eye as they crossed the drawbridge, the soles of their shoes clattering sharply against the frozen wood under their feet. "And there is one more castle close to the capital, and a chateau in Vienna, and Prague, and a smaller one in Paris..."
Nora shook her head, trying to focus on more important things. "How can I accept this job? It would make you my employer, again! And, most importantly, because of your failing to tell me you owned this castle, I promised Daniel to decorate his Christmas trees. Plural. I don't like making Christmas trees. Just how many will we have to decorate for the entire castle?!"
Martin laughed, obviously relieved by Nora's decision to take everything from the simpler side. "Usually, there are around fifty of them throughout the castle each Christmas, but we personally do only five."
"So, when do you want me to start?" she asked, looking up at the castle from across the moat as they started walking down the hill towards the town.
"You are busy with Clelia during the weekend, and the castle is shut on Mondays. You can start on Tuesday, do two back to back tours each morning between dropping Daniel off at school and picking him up. It will get easier to organise once the Christmas market is over and Adele comes back. You can do as many tours as you like then."
"That sounds wonderful," Nora muttered, despite her lingering idea that becoming Martin's employee was wrong. Working in the castle had been her dream for so long, and it was finally coming true. And it would most likely mean that she would spend more time with him...
She started and drew closer to him halfway down the hill, when a hedge growing on their left, in the park surrounding the lake with the rotunda, shivered violently, and at first a furry antlered head appeared, then its owner's white body followed, attracted by Martin's voice.
"Snow White!" Nora exclaimed, laughing, even as Martin stopped and frowned, his hand letting go of Nora's to grab the reindeer's collar while he searched the pocket of his coat for his phone, dialling someone quickly.
"Lara," he said after a moment, staring at the reindeer who nuzzled his chest, the force of the animal's love making him stumble backwards. "Would you pass me Daniel, please?"
A moment of silence followed before he spoke again. "All right. Then would you tell him that I'm out with Nora tonight? Yes, just that, he will understand. And tell him that I want to find him in bed when I return, or he's in trouble. Thank you, Lara."
"I'm sorry, Nora, I must take her back into the stables before we go down to town," Martin said, dropping his phone back into his pocket before running his free hand through his hair.
"Of course," she agreed, turning around and starting to walk up the hill again, Martin and Snow White in tow.
They walked in silence for a few moments, the hoofbeats drowning the sound of their footsteps, until Nora spoke again.
"All right, I give up, I must know what Daniel has to do with this. I'm a curious woman, it's one of my many faults, you should know that before..."
She didn't get to finish her sentence before he laughed, then grabbed her by her hand and drew her in for a kiss, Snow White nudging Nora's shoulder with her pink snout jealously.
"I'm almost certain that it's him who lets them out. I've lost a key from the stables months ago, and since then, the reindeer seem to get out on nights when I'm not at home. Whenever Daniel thinks that I'm with Victoria."
"Oh..." Nora muttered, several pieces of her mental puzzle of Martin sliding into place. "He doesn't like the idea of... you and Victoria spending time together, he told me so. But how does he let them out? And... I'm sorry," she said as they stopped in front of the wrought iron gate of the stables, and Martin fished a set of keys from his pocket, "but it's really... intelligent of him, and funny... I can imagine you being called by someone about your runaway reindeer during a dinner..."
"Why, you have the same sense of humour as my son!" Martin called in fake indignation, then laughed. "Yes, he is a clever boy. And he knows what he wants, whom he likes and whom he doesn't," he muttered, leading the white animal towards its enclosure.
"So how does he do it? He's never alone..." Nora mused as they descend the hill again, her arm laced around his.
"With Lara, he has it easy, she just takes him out if he asks her to, and I suppose he has his ways to distract her for a while, to sneak into the stables and let them out. She might know about his plan, too." Martin shrugged. And with Adele... Daniel knows all the kids of the people working in the castle and the hotel. I imagine it wouldn't be hard for him to persuade one of them to let the reindeer out for him. See, he has this... ability to make people do what he wants them to," Martin sighed. "I myself am a victim of that, so I can't judge his other victims."
Nora giggled, then watched his profile from the corner of her eye as they reached the first street of the town and continued towards Lino's restaurant, faint Christmas music reaching them from the square reminding her that she would have to spend a few hours in the market with Clelia after dinner.
Martin was... loving, understanding, caring, romantic, responsible, and respectful... and so charming. He was as close to perfect as possible, in Nora's book.
She felt her heart swell as he kissed her on her forehead before opening the door of the crowded restaurant for her.