Page 13 of Hell to Pay
“Oh, yes,” I said, “the country seat of the ruler, which still stands undamaged. About eight miles north of the city, with a formal park and a very large game preserve. Augustus added a building solely for the purpose of displaying birds’ nests. A collector is a collector.”
“So who does that belong to now?” Ashleigh asked. “Who does allthisbelong to? Germany, I guess. So there weren’t any … heirs, or whatever?”
“An excellent question,” Alix said. “I’m reconsidering here about the tiara. Excuse me, Oma, but whodoesall this belong to? Look at this sword. It’s pretty much all diamonds on the holder-thingie and the handle-thingie. And what’s this ugly pin-thing over here? It’s in a case all by itself, so I’m guessing it’s important. How much is all thisworth?”
“The scabbard of the sword, you mean,” I said, “and the hilt. A great many diamonds there, yes.”
“I don’t imagine it would be comfortable to hold that,” Sebastian said.
“I don’t imagine,” I said, “that anybody tried. And the ‘ugly pin-thing’ is the Green Diamond, set into a very large hatpin. This is forty-one carats, and the most valuable green diamond in the world. The sword and the Green Diamond were among the items stolen a few years ago in what may have been the largest jewel heist in history. A family of jewel thieves broke in—very cleverly, I must say, first setting fire to an electrical box to cause a power failure in the entire neighborhood, then cutting through the bars around a window and putting them carefully back in place again so as to go unnoticed—smashed the now unprotected display cases with an axe, and stole over a hundred thirty million Euros’ worth of jewels, though how do you put a price on pricelessness? Some say the true valuewas a billion dollars, just for those pieces out of all you see here. The police recovered about a third of it, but the rest—” I waved a hand. “Gone. The Saxon White Diamond, all fifty carats of it, among many other jewels and artifacts. Wealth distribution, you could say, although I imagine that whoever bought the pieces wasn’t short of cash. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of it ended up back in Russia.”
“Wait,” Ben said, “Russia?”
“Oh, yes,” I said. “The treasures of the palace—all that you see here, and all the important paintings as well—were stored well away from the city during the war. Not all in the same place. Great care was taken. The most valuable items, the precious gems and works here, were held in Königstein Fortress, which is a fortress indeed, more a castle than a palace, atop a high mountain near the Czech border. But to the victor, you know, go the spoils, and Dresden was in the Soviet Zone. All these treasures were taken back to Russia for years before eventually being returned and the Green Vault restored.”
“But don’t they belong to you now?” Ben asked. “If you were the only kid?”
“Wait,”Ashleigh said. “What? You’re kidding. You’re the … the Queen? Seriously?” She was holding her phone before her now at arm’s length, like a microphone boom.
“A princess,” I said, “but as I’ve reminded Alix many times, those titles were abolished in 1918.”
I felt, suddenly, exhausted, and wholly unequal to this. Natural, I supposed, as I’d talked more today than I normally did in a week—when had talking become so tiring?—and I’d been on my feet more, too. But really, it was probably the emotion. Seeing the Royal Household at Delhi again was what had done it. How many hours had I spent in here, weaving stories of the exotic life of the Rajah’s court? A child who wasn’t allowed to run and play with other children due to theillness I’d passed on to my daughter and granddaughter, I’d spent my time composing imaginary games and “helping” the cook, Frau Heffinger, create the beautiful cakes and pastries for which she was famed, at least until supplies grew short. The rooms I most wanted to see, the ones that were on no tour? The kitchens. The kitchens, absolutely. My happiest place, and the place where my father had drawn me aside for that last talk, the one that saved me.
Sebastian said, “You look like you might have had enough for one day, Marguerite. Going back in time is tiring. I should know. Coffee and a snack, maybe, or would you like me to take you back to your room?”
“Oh, goodness,” I said, and tried to laugh. “Coffee and a snack and then back to my room, please.”
“Why is it,” Alix said, “that whenIsay it, it’s hovering, and when Sebastian says it, he’s thoughtful?” Which was at least a diversion from the questions Ashleigh was clearly dying to ask.
“I don’t know,” I said, as Sebastian offered his arm and we headed through the remaining rooms. When had they become so large? Normally, when one goes back to one’s childhood haunts, they appear small, because one is so much larger oneself. But then, everyplace I’d lived since had been compact, possibly deliberately so, and the palace must be close to a hundred thousand square feet. I could estimate that, because I’d been a realtor once. What a strange life it had been.
“The nature of the sexes, I suppose,” I told Alix. “Some things come more easily from a man.”
“Incredibly sexist,” Alix said. “I’m just saying.”
“Oh?” I said. “And yet when you’re ill, you’ll allow Sebastian’s help and not your mother’s.”
“Oh, no fair,” Alix said. “She totally told you that.”
“Totally, dude,” Ben said. “But it’s true that Sebastian kind of babies you.”
“He does not—” Alix began.
Sebastian said, “I wouldn’t say I baby anyone. Iwouldsay that I try to pay attention to the people I love. Who could object to that? I’ll bet you want coffee and lunch too, Alix. And cake.”
“Dirty player,” she muttered, and he laughed and said, “I’m probably going to break training and eat something I shouldn’t, so you can hold that over my head. That cake display has to be seen to be believed. Would you like to join us?” he asked Ashleigh. “As the cat’s out of the bag now anyway. It’s theTaschenbergpalais, the big hotel across the street.”
“Sure,” she said. “I have a million questions, and afterwards, I can pretend I’m staying there and edit my notes in the lobby. Score.”
7
EACH FOR EACH
“So,” Alix finished explaining to Ashleigh half an hour later, “that’s our mission: to find out, if we can, what happened to the tiara after my grandmother escaped the castle. And, of course, to get it back. Too bad about the necklace. I bet you wish you hadn’t sold it, huh, Oma?”
I passed my slice ofEierschecketo Ben. “Can you finish this for me?” I asked. I suspected he could, as he’d already demolished a plate of chicken with polenta, not to mention a slice of Black Forest Torte, while the rest of us had lunched much more lightly. What a pleasure it was to be in a country that had never heard of putting mayonnaise in potato salad.
“Sure,” Ben said, and dug in immediately. “Wow, that’s really good. Germans sure know a lot about cake.”
