your sleep. Don’t you want to know who your visitors are?”
My heart leapt for just half a heartbeat, and I immediately felt stupid for thinking of George Alexandrovich. What reason would he have to sneak into Smolny Institute when he was thousands of miles away?
“I hate to disappoint you, my love,” the crown prince’s lazy voice filled my head.
No. Danilo? Why are you here? Alarmed and suspicious now, I followed Sucre down the stairs and into the kitchen, still warm from the dying hearth fire. As he opened the outside door, however, a gust blew through, killing the flames. He stepped back, holding the door open for me.
“I feel it is necessary to protect you from your newest creature.”
As I looked out into the darkness, I saw two figures standing at the edge of the courtyard, just beyond the barrier of the empress’s spell. Sucre struck a match and the figures’ faces were illuminated: Dr. Badmaev and Madame Metcherskey. Madame was looking even paler than before. The Tibetan doctor did not look quite his normal color either. “Mon Dieu!” was all I could think to say when I saw the pair. The crown prince stepped out of the shadows as well.
“Good evening, my beloved.” I could see Danilo smirking even by the light of the tiny flame.
“Stop calling me that,” I said to the crown prince, but I glared at Sucre. He enjoyed his little games too much. I stepped forward to greet Dr. Badmaev, but Madame Metcherskey hissed when I moved toward them. I froze.
Dr. Badmaev shook his head. “I am sorry, Duchess. She is very strong, and insists that she needs to be here. If you listen to her story, I think you will agree with her.”
“Madame?” I looked at her.
“You must release me, Mistressss. I still have tasks of my own to complete. She is in danger.” Madame had been pulling on her sleeves. The edges were frayed, and looked as if they’d been chewed on. I tried very hard not to shudder.
“Who is in danger?” I asked.
Madame stood ramrod straight, her hands clasped firmly in front of her. “I was told to protect her. I am here to watch her.”
“Can you tell me who she is?” I pressed, but Madame stared straight ahead, her eyes now empty and colorless. I looked at Dr. Badmaev. “Has she told you anything else?”
He shrugged. “Only that there is a Smolny student that she has been protecting for scores of years.”
“Scores? No one has been here that long.” But there was, I realized, as the back of my neck prickled with fear. “Madame? Are you protecting the ghost? Who is she?”
Madame continued to stare straight ahead and wring her hands. Slowly, her eyes focused on me. “I promised not to tell a soul. She must be kept from harm.”
“What harm, Madame? She is a danger to everyone at Smolny. She has already killed someone.”
“Duchess,” Sucre leaned over and said in a soft voice, “I do not think even you can command her to break her vow. You must allow her to complete her mission.”
“You’ve known about her all these years?” I asked Madame. “Why wasn’t a priest consulted for an exorcism?”
Madame Metcherskey’s face wrinkled into a scowl. “There were several attempts to send her soul on. Every attempt … failed.”
“You kept her from disturbing us all this time, didn’t you? She didn’t start causing trouble until after you became ill and left.”
“She is looking for me, Mistressss. If you had not called me back from the grave, I would have been here in spirit and would have been able to guide her to a safe place.”
A stab of guilt twisted in my gut. Not only had I disturbed Madame’s soul, but I had also prevented her from helping another. Everything the ghost had done to terrorize the students at Smolny, it was all my fault. “What can we do now, Madame?”
She drew herself up straighter. “We must do God’s will. You must pray for our souls. Each and every one of us. I must see her.”
I looked from Dr. Badmaev to Sucre in alarm. “But you can’t come inside, Madame. The empress’s spell will prevent you.”
“I must be allowed to see her. I must talk to her, to calm her fears.” She took a step toward me. Immediately there was a burst of light and she was pushed backward.
Dr. Badmaev gently helped her to stand. “Madame, we must think of another way.”
“Monsieur Sucre?” I asked. “Is there a glamour you could disguise her with?” I was freezing and longed to forget all of this and crawl back into my bed.
Sucre shook his head. “No glamour would allow her to get past the empress’s spell, Duchess.”
I turned to look at Dr. Badmaev. It was a little awkward, after our last conversation in the cemetery. And there had been times when I’d wondered if I’d made a mistake to turn his offer down. But he smiled at me with his usual kind smile.
Madame Metcherskey was fretting and chewing on her fingernails, which were blackened from the wards. “I must see her now,” she said.
“You know there is a way we can solve this, beloved,” Danilo said. “Our blood bond is more powerful than the empress’s spell. We can use it to help deal with your ghost problem.”
“No,” I said. “We can’t just tear the wards apart. What would the empress say?”
Danilo laughed. “You are just afraid she won’t let you marry her son. It’s too late for that already, beloved.”
My cheeks grew hot even in the icy night air. I hated that the crown prince was right. The empress already disliked me. Destroying her wards would not change anything between us.
“Are you certain our bond is strong enough for this?” The crown prince shrugged carelessly. I had no other choice. I worried that I was making a deal with the devil, but finally nodded. “What do you need me to do?”
“This may hurt a bit, Duchess. I need your blood.”
Sucre took a kitchen knife I had not realized he was holding and grabbed my hand before I realized what he meant to do.
“Ouch!” Sucre had stabbed my palm, and a few drops of blood dripped onto the snow. He and Danilo had planned this all along.
“Now give me your hand.” The crown prince held his hand out, just touching the edge of the barrier. There was nothing to see, but we could sense the power of the empress’s spell between us. No one should have been able to pass through.
I lifted my hand toward him, and Danilo took it. There was a sharp tingling, not just from the injury, but also from the empress’s spell as my hand passed through it.
Danilo took my hand and held my palm up to his mouth. I don’t think I had truly realized until that moment how strong our blood bond was. The spell fabric wobbled and surged as Danilo drank my blood. He closed his eyes, enjoying every second of it. He drank as if he’d been dying of thirst.
I gasped at the pull I felt toward him. There was no other way, I kept telling myself. I had to get Madame Metcherskey inside to the ghost. Before anyone else was hurt.
The tingling subsided and Danilo let go of my hand with a satisfied sigh. He took a step toward me. The barrier was gone. We had torn down the empress’s magic.
Moving away from the crown prince, I reached out and took my dead instructor’s arm. “Come with me, Madame.”
“I know the way, Mistressss.” She jerked her cold arm out of my grip and pushed past me.
“I will take my leave now,” Dr. Badmaev said, backing up. “Good night, Duchess. And good luck to you.” He touched his hat and nodded to Sucre. “Monsieur.”
“Bonne nuit,” Sucre said, as if he were saying goodbye to a guest at a dinner party.
We hurried after Madame toward the library. She had no need for light, as she seemed to know instinctively where she was going. I shuddered, afraid of what the ghost’s reaction would be. Would she truly be soothed by the presence of Madame?
Madame had already stepped into the library when we reached the doorway. She stood very still in the center of the room, with her eyes closed.