she didn’t see what she thought she saw?
I took a deep breath. “I think she must have had a nightmare. Alix kept tossing and turning, muttering about unholy things. That is why I was sitting up. I was afraid she would harm herself with her thrashing about.”
“Really?” Elena looked extremely interested.
“Maybe the ghost was stirring up trouble again. Did you have strange dreams last night as well?”
Elena shook her head. “I slept peacefully.” She finished putting her hair up and tied on her apron.
“Then I don’t know what caused her distress.” I shrugged, and hurried to finish getting dressed. Lying to Elena came so easily, it barely pricked my conscience anymore. What kind of person was I becoming?
I dashed downstairs with Elena to the dining room. Sucre was placing baskets of hot biscuits on the table. He seemed oblivious of the several students gazing up at him with starry looks in their eyes.
With the most polite nod, he handed me a biscuit. “Duchess, you seem to find yourself in more and more trouble every time I see you.”
“Merci, Monsieur.” I placed the biscuit on my plate as I sat down at the end of the table.
“First it was a ghost, and now you are plagued with the undead as well?” He shook his head, smiling viciously.
I glanced around in alarm and realized that no one else would hear the faerie speak unless he wished them to. Everyone was enjoying the enchanted breakfast in ignorant bliss. I pushed the biscuit to the side of my plate, and reached for my tea. “How did you know?”
“Duchess, your creature made enough noise to wake the true dead last night. All of the Dark Court knows there is a newly risen ghoul walking the streets of St. Petersburg.”
“What about the empress and the Light Court?”
He nodded. “It is only a matter of time. Yes, your empress will know soon enough.”
“It’s not my fault,” I said, cringing even as I said the words. “I don’t know how it happened.” The empress was not fond of me already. And now this? She would tell the tsar, and I would be sent to Siberia for certain this time. I looked up at the fae cook, who smelled of cinnamon and honey. “Monsieur Sucre, tell me the truth. To which court do you belong?”
The cook’s eyes flashed from light blue to cobalt. “I serve whichever court serves me best,” he said softly. “And at this time, it serves me best to belong to Her Imperial Majesty.”
“You are not only here to protect us from the ghost, are you?” My eyes narrowed. “You were sent here for another purpose.”
“Be careful, Duchess. It would be safer for you if you were not so inquisitive.”
I swallowed my tea, and tried to calm my suspicions. I had other things to worry about that were more pressing. “What did you do with the poor kitchen girl?”
“I told you not to worry about that.” He placed an extra biscuit on Augusta’s plate, which she took happily. “But yes, she was killed by the ghost. And yes, I have sent her body back to the village where she came from. Her family will think she died from influenza.”
I sighed, wishing we’d been able to stop the ghost before something like this had happened. “Why was she so angry? And why would she have gone after Olga?”
“Shouldn’t you be more concerned with your own creature?” Sucre asked.
“Are you going to tell the empress about Madame Metcherskey?”
“Of course not, Duchess. She will find out long before I have a chance to speak with her.”
I wanted to cry. “I don’t suppose you have any idea what I should do with her.”
“Sending her to the Tibetan was probably not a wise choice. She will draw much attention to him.”
The thought frightened me. “Will he be in danger?”
“It’s too late to worry about that. And now there is a student here that knows what you are. What will you do about her?”
I almost choked on my tea. I glared at Monsieur Sucre. “Is there any secret at Smolny you do not know?”
He chuckled as he turned to head back into the kitchen. “I would not want to be in your shoes right now, Duchess.”
I glanced down our long dining table. As I had suspected, no one had noticed my conversation with Sucre. Not even the headmistress, who seemed to be extremely fascinated with whatever Sister Anna was saying to her. But I spotted Alix, staring straight at me.
She had seen me speak with Sucre. She could see through his glamour just as well as I could. The Hessian princess had her eyes fixed on me with a mixture of revulsion and sadness. There was nothing I could do but smile sweetly back. As I finished my breakfast, I prayed she had not been serious when she had threatened to kill me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
That night I had a terrible dream, not about the ghost, or Madame Metcherskey, or Princess Alix, but about George Alexandrovich. He was surrounded by a circle of crimson-robed men who were chanting something in low, deep tones. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. George held a black candle in his hands, and was staring intently into its flame. His sapphire-blue eyes reflected the candlelight. The men’s chanting grew louder before it suddenly stopped. Then George blew the candle out, leaving everyone in total darkness.
I could smell the burning wick and the smoky air burned the back of my throat. I heard his soft voice. “Isn’t this what you wanted, Katiya?”
I woke up with a start and was startled to find tears rolling down my cheeks. I glanced across the room in the dim moonlight, and could make out Elena and Alix sleeping soundly in their own cots. I took a deep breath. It was just a ridiculous dream, I told myself, wiping the tears from my face. It didn’t mean anything.
I tried to go back to sleep but was haunted by George’s face illuminated by the black candle. He had looked thinner, his cheeks sunken and pale. Like a corpse. Why would he think I wanted him to become a black mage? I closed my eyes. Did he believe I wished that he belonged to the Dark Court as I did?
You are being ridiculous, Katerina Alexandrovna, I told myself. The grand duke was most likely pretending to be a dark wizard in order to spy on them for his father. The tsar had sent him to Paris to discover a way to prevent the return of Konstantin. George was strong. He would not be tempted by the Order of the Black Lily.
The walls in our dark room seemed to close in on me, and I had difficulty breathing. It was too stuffy, and I felt like I had to escape. It was the darkness itself pressing in. I scrambled out of bed and fumbled for my robe and slippers. I didn’t know where I was going, but I had to get out of there. I held my breath as Aurora shifted in her sleep, but she did not awaken. Elena and Alix snored softly. Carefully, I tiptoed out of our room and down the hallway.
I did not even think about where I was going until I ended up at the door to the library. I took a deep breath and pushed the heavy door open. It didn’t make a sound.
It was colder in the library than it had been in the hallway. I couldn’t help shivering. But I did not see or hear the ghost. Whether she was there watching and waiting for me, I could not tell. “Why won’t you show yourself?” I whispered, scared I would wake the headmistress or one of the students.
There was no answer. No sense that anything unnatural was present in the tiny room. Other than the chill.
“Looking for trouble, Duchess? I thought I told you to stay away from the library.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin, and glared at Sucre, who was leaning in the doorway, smiling at me menacingly.
I pulled my robe closer around me. “I had a bad dream, and wanted to get a book to distract myself.”
“You don’t fool anyone, Duchess.” Sucre stood up straighter, and folded his arms across his chest. “I am glad you were not in your room, actually. I came to tell you that you have visitors. At the front gates.”
“In the middle of the night? Don’t be ridiculous. And what would you have done if I’d been asleep? Surely you would not have entered a room full of sleeping girls.”
Sucre smiled. “A glamour would have easily persuaded your friends that you were talking and walking in
