21 April 1820

21 April 1820 marks a night of covert intervention and uncertain reunion in Buda: in her journal, Glynis Wright records entering her sleeping brother Andrew’s dreams to warn him against Vlad Dracula, then leaving the estate and meeting Ignatius at its gate. The date brings her divided loyalties into sharp focus: she is trying to shield her family from Vlad while remaining entangled in his power, and she cannot be sure whether Andrew has recognized what she has become.

Date and Setting

The date appears as the heading of an entry in The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright, set in Buda, Hungary. Its setting is not merely a place of refuge: Vlad has brought Glynis there from his castle and is using her presence in the city as part of a larger plan. Her visit to Andrew must therefore be conducted under the threat of his husband’s manipulation and surveillance.

The entry’s movement from the estate to its front gate gives the date a clear dramatic shape. Glynis first reaches Andrew while he sleeps; later, alone outside, she sees a watcher among the shadows and fears that Vlad has followed her. The night ends not with the feared pursuer but with Ignatius emerging into the moonlight.

The Warning to Andrew

Glynis goes to Andrew while he sleeps and speaks into his dreams, hoping he will delay Vlad. She leaves him apparently sleeping peacefully, but the act weighs on her: she senses Andrew’s own power pushing back against hers and worries that he may have seen her true face. The dream encounter is therefore both a warning and a risk of disclosure.

Her purpose is protective but not limited to her brother. Glynis believes that her words may keep Andrew from Vlad’s manipulations and help him protect Angeline and Johnny, while giving her a chance to save herself. She cannot know whether the warning will work. Her fear that Andrew has recognized her supernatural condition complicates the relief of having reached him: to keep him safe, she may also have exposed the truth she most wants to conceal.

The Threat Behind the Date

The entry belongs to a longer struggle over Vlad’s plans and the limits he imposes on Glynis. Before this date, he had ordered that she wear a veil around Andrew and avoid clothing or jewelry her brother might recognize, so that Andrew would believe the family’s possessions had been lost in an accident. Her attempt to reach Andrew in secret stands against that managed appearance: the veil can obscure her face in person, but it cannot guarantee secrecy in a dream.

An earlier journal entry by Sir Stephen Sheridan, dated 4 September 1819, records that Vlad’s new plans were already in motion. Sir Stephen expected to return to the castle with him and then travel alone to sell one of Vlad’s properties to finance the next undertaking; he also admitted that Vlad’s scrutiny frightened him. Separately, Vlad had spoken of escaping his confinement to his own country and reclaiming a place in the halls of power. These earlier ambitions provide context for Glynis’s concern that Andrew could be drawn into Vlad’s designs, without establishing that every part of that plan is being enacted on 21 April.

Ignatius at the Gate

After leaving Andrew, Glynis crosses the estate lawn through fine mist and approaches the front gate. A stationary shadow on the enclosing wall makes her fear that Vlad has found her; she gathers her power, preparing to flee. Moonlight then reveals Ignatius, dressed in black. Glynis reaches toward him in relief and tells him that he frightened her; he immediately apologizes.

The encounter closes the dated sequence on recognition rather than confrontation. Glynis has acted alone to protect Andrew, but her fear at the gate shows how precarious that independence remains. Ignatius’s appearance offers a momentary reprieve from the threat she associates with Vlad, while leaving unresolved what Andrew understood in his dream and what consequences Glynis’s intervention will bring.