happened to her, most of Europe would fall into mourning.”
Elena nodded, sadly. “Like the crown prince of Austria last year.”
“And that is what concerns you most?” I looked from Elena to Aurora. “A stupid ball?”
“The Winter Ball at the Yussupov Palace. My grandmother is taking me,” Aurora said. “I’ll die if I don’t get to go.”
Elena twirled around the room holding the edges of her apron up like a skirt. “I’ve written to Militza and asked if she would take me as well. All of the imperial family will be invited.”
I finished getting dressed and pushed Aurora and Elena out of my way. I was tired of listening to them both. Alix was in danger. I had to reach Sucre and help him find her.
I passed the library on my way downstairs and peeked inside. The room had been cleaned up and straightened. It looked as if nothing had happened in there. No ghostly temper tantrum, no werewolf attack, no decapitated undead Smolny teacher. It was still very cold in the room, however, and I could feel the ghost mourning Madame Metcherskey. Perhaps now that her soul had been released, she would be able to help the ghost as she had intended?
I took a step inside and was pushed back by a painful blast.
My heart sank. Madame Metcherskey had been unable to appease the ghost. I had hoped her spirit would be able to rest now, but would she rest if her task was still unfinished? The memory of last night’s violence made me nauseous again.
The Bavarian sisters were sitting in the front parlor with several of the younger girls. Erzsebet jumped up out of her seat when she saw me. “Katerina! Isn’t it terrible? I’m so frightened!”
I embraced her. “Everything will be all right. Monsieur Sucre and the Smolny guards will find the wolf and keep us all safe.”
“Alix!” Augusta cried, getting up and running to the door. I saw a flash of a woolen cloak as someone walked quickly past the parlor.
I followed Augusta into the hall. She ran after Alix and asked, “Are you all right? We’ve been so worried about you!”
“I’m fine, but I need to lie down.” Alix did not stop. She was in a hurry to get to our room. I hurried after her. Augusta shrugged and returned to the parlor with her classmates.
“Elena and Aurora are in there,” I told Alix. “It might be more restful if you go to see Sister Anna and lie down in her study.”
Alix turned to me with a glare. “Why should you care, Katerina Alexandrovna?”
I wasn’t sure how much I could say. “Where have you been, Alix? Did you know there was a wolf on the loose at Smolny? It came inside the school and …”
No one else knew it had attacked Madame Metcherskey. I did not know what Sucre’s glamour had hidden and what everyone had seen.
“And what?” Alix looked me in the eye. “Did it hurt anyone? Did it attack any innocents?”
“Innocents?”
“There are some who believe a wolf will only attack what is pure evil. And if you say this wolf was inside Smolny, there must have been a very good reason for it. It must have been defending the students from something very evil. I would be very careful on the school grounds if I were you, Katerina Alexandrovna.” She turned back around and headed to our room.
I ignored her threat. “Alix, you’ve been hurt. Please let me take you to see Sister Anna.”
She shook her head. “I am going to bed. I will be fine.”
“If you’re certain,” I said. And then I spotted something crumpled in her right fist. A scrap of red ribbon.
CHAPTER FORTY
My heart pounded in my throat as I stared at Alix limping off to our room. I suddenly remembered she’d been injured earlier in the school year. No doubt she had tried to pass through the empress’s wards. Which meant that she was not normal.
“Alix, wait.” I hurried to catch up to her. “Tell me about the ribbon.” I grabbed her right hand and held it up. I didn’t want to believe it.
Her face was grim as her eyes bored into mine. She was trying to decide something.
I squeezed her hand. “I promise I won’t tell anyone. As long as you’re not in any danger.”
She laughed bitterly and pulled my hand off of hers. “Katerina Alexandrovna, you have put everyone here at Smolny in danger. I am protecting the others from your evil deeds. If you do not repent, I will have to destroy you, just like I destroyed your minion.”
I felt a cold, nauseous feeling in my stomach. “What are you talking about?” I whispered.
A pair of young girls from the Blue Form walked down the hall toward us, whispering and giggling. Alix looked at them and frowned. “Meet me in the library at midnight, if you wish to make atonement for your sins,” she whispered. “Otherwise, I will hunt you down.”
I could do nothing but stare at her stupidly as she brushed past the younger girls. She was serious about her threat to kill me. Like she had killed Madame Metcherskey. I did not want to believe that Alix had been the wolf that I saw attack Madame, but was it possible? If so, Sucre had to stop hunting the wolf. I had to tell him, but first I needed to know the whole truth. And I needed to explain to Alix about my curse. I knew we’d never exactly been friends, but I didn’t want her to think of me as a monster. Honestly, though, I wondered if it was true.
How ironic, if she turned out to be a monster too.
I could not find Monsieur Sucre, but I left a note on the counter in the kitchen. I kept it as vague as possible in case any of the other kitchen servants picked it up.Monsieur Sucre,You may call off your hunt. It is not what you think. She will not hurt anyone else at Smolny.
—K
I avoided Elena the rest of that day. What if she found out Alix’s secret? She was jealous of the tsarevitch’s affection for Alix. Could she do something to hurt Alix? And how much did Alix know about the Montenegrins? Was Elena in danger of Alix’s holy wrath as well? I needed to talk with someone, but I didn’t know whom to trust.
I sat next to the Bavarian sisters at dinner, listening to them gossip about Princess Yussupova’s ball. “Our aunt Therese has come to St. Petersburg for the season and will attend the ball! She says in her letter that it will be more dazzling than the empress’s ball last year at the Winter Palace!” Erzsebet said. “Oh, Katerina, don’t you wish we could go?”
I smiled briefly and nodded, and finished my stuffed cabbage.
“She was just saying our aunt’s dress is being made by a Parisian designer and it’s red and it has more than one hundred tiny pearls sewn into the neckline!”
“Sounds lovely,” I said, trying to participate in the dinner conversation. “Who is her escort?”
Both of the Bavarian princesses looked at each other and shrugged. Erzsebet leaned closer to me. “She did not tell us his name, but I believe it is one of the tsar’s imperial guard. She is the guest of the Demidovs, so it may be one of the Demidov princes.”
I cringed, remembering the death of my brother’s friend Demidov last year. He had died at the hands of Princess Cantacuzene and her Dekebristi.
“Aurora is so jealous!” Augusta said with a giggle. “She is trying to get her grandmother to take her to the ball, but her grandmother says that her education is more important!”
I glanced up at the front of the room, where Madame Tomilov and the other faculty were finishing their dinners. Sucre was standing there, speaking with the headmistress. They both looked over at me. I felt a queasy feeling in my stomach. It wasn’t caused by the cabbage.
Madame Tomilov stood up and followed Sucre into the kitchen. I asked Erzsebet and Augusta to excuse me and put my dinner plate up.
I was making my way across the dining room, toward the kitchen doors, when Elena spotted me. “Katerina Alexandrovna! Where have you been?”
