took a step into the small barge.
No sooner had we both arranged ourselves in the boat than the man pushed off from the dock and the boat floated down the dark river. “Where are we going?” I whispered.
“Into the heart of the underworld,” George replied. “Beyond the seven gates.” His face was grim. “Don’t worry. We’ll make it to the sword soon, love.”
I reached over and threaded my fingers in his. “How did you learn so much about the Morning Star?” I asked. “From the Order of the Black Lily?”
He nodded. “We also found an old manuscript in Moscow that described it. It took Papus and me several months to find the ritual that would reveal its hiding place.”
I shivered as we floated through the mist. The motion of the boat was making me sleepy, and I leaned my head against George’s shoulder.
“Don’t fall asleep, Katiya.” He shook me gently. “That is one of the worst things you can do in the Graylands. Focus on your cold light.”
It was like sleepwalking on a boat. I started to see visions of girls in white ball gowns dancing the mazurka with dashing young Cossacks dressed in red. I saw crocodile shapes swimming in the water. I saw skinny wolves trotting warily alongside the riverbank, tracking us. I did not know if I was dreaming or if these visions were real. I tried to focus on my cold light and hoped that George knew where we were headed.
We came at last to a stone landing, and the boat pulled up close enough to let us out. George went first, then held my hand and helped me. He led me up the stone steps to a great hallway lined with enormous golden doors. We hurried through the hall, not stopping at any of the doors.
“Katerina, you realize that once you hold the sword, we will have to destroy Konstantin and Johanna once and for all. It’s the only way to end the threat against my father.”
“How, though? Death did not stop them before.”
“Only a necromancer can grant the second death that the pharaohs were so terrified of in ancient Egypt. Only you can prevent them from ever returning to the land of the living. The words you’ll have to recite should be in your
He had insisted I bring the ancient book with me. I opened it and began flipping through the pages. I knew I’d seen a spell that mentioned the second death.
“And what of Danilo and Mala?” I asked. For certainly their souls were still here in the Graylands. “What if we could bring them back instead of Konstantin and Johanna?”
He picked up my hand tenderly. “Katiya, you know that for us to be absolutely safe, the crown prince and the ballerina must not return. I’m sorry.”
“But Mala did not ask to be sacrificed for Princess Cantacuzene,” I said. “She did not deserve to die like that. And if Konstantin and his princess are gone, there’s nothing to cause Danilo to act against the tsar.”
George shook his head. “There will always be that wound on Danilo’s soul. The cold lights of Konstantin and Danilo are so tightly woven together now that I don’t believe you can ever separate them. Johanna has not been in Mala’s body long, and Mala’s soul is here somewhere in the Graylands, but we can’t risk any ties between the two women either.”
“I must defeat Konstantin here in the Graylands, then?” I asked. I’d found the ritual of the second death in
George looked over my shoulder at the open spell book in my hands. “The second death is also mentioned in the Ani Papyrus, the Book of the Dead. You will need to use the sword.”
A hooded figure stepped out of the dark mist.
“There is no one else, my Queen of Swords.” It was Grand Duchess Militza, the vampire sovereign of St. Petersburg.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as George moved to stand protectively between us.
Militza smiled. “It is easy to travel the ways of the Graylands when one is the daughter of a necromancer, Duchess. My mother sent me to look for you. You are the only one who can help my brother.”
I’d almost forgotten that Queen Milena, Johanna’s sister, was also a necromancer. One more person who must never hold the Morning Star. I clutched George’s hand in alarm.
George shook his head. “Absolutely not. Katerina is not putting herself in danger to save that bastard.”
Militza’s eyes flashed bloodred. “Katerina is not the cold-hearted killer you want her to be, George Alexandrovich. She knows it would be wrong to take the lives of two people who have no control over the dark forces inside them. I do not think Katerina is willing to live with the consequences of such actions.” Militza smiled. “The Koldun wishes that Mala be spared as well. Even if Miechen does not.”
“Does the Dark Court know all that has happened in Egypt?” I asked, astonished.
Militza nodded. “The Grigori have been excellent messengers. And now Nicholas and the French mage have returned and given their detailed report.” She looked from one of us to the other. “Both the Light and Dark Courts have been watching the situation. We have decided to work together to defeat the threat of Konstantin.”
“Then surely both courts realize Danilo is too dangerous to be allowed to live,” George said.
Militza’s face was white as stone. “Both courts agree it would be easiest to allow his soul to share the second death with the lich tsar. But there is another way. I will not give up on my brother until every option has been examined.”
“You believe there is a way to separate his soul from Konstantin’s?” I asked. “Is it safe?”
The blood-drinking grand duchess laughed. “Why should you expect anything in the land of the dead to be easy, Katerina?” she asked. “Or safe?” She looked at me with piercing eyes. “Doing the right thing is sometimes very difficult. And very painful.”
“Are you saying that saving the blood-drinking crown prince is the right thing?” George asked. I knew he did not share Militza’s opinion.
“The Dark and Light Courts have agreed to work together to save Russia from the lich tsar and his soldiers. This includes the faerie courts, the blood drinkers, the Order of St. Lazarus, and the Order of St. John and all of its sorcerers. The wolf-folk have also pledged to help. As long as you carry the sword, Katerina, we will have the Grigori on our side too.”
I glanced at George nervously. We had no reason to trust Militza. “Do you have proof of the Dark and Light Courts’ cooperation?” I asked.
She nodded and waved her hand across the grayish mist. The clouds parted to reveal a scene in a large looking glass hanging at the end of the hall. There, in the mirror, I saw the tsar and the empress kissing the cheeks of the dark faerie Miechen and her husband, Grand Duke Vladimir, the Koldun. At Miechen’s side, my mother knelt before the tsar.
Militza nodded grimly. “You have your proof. Everyone is committed to see this through, Duchess. We’re all in danger if Konstantin defeats our tsar.”
I looked closer at the edges of the picture and saw a silver-white wolf and a much larger black one standing at attention beside Grand Duchess Ella. Ella was gently scratching behind the ears of the black wolf.
My brother and father stood at attention, both in smart dress uniform, in the tightly disciplined formation of members of the Order. They would be joining the battlefield as well.
I turned to Militza. “Isn’t there a way I can prevent the battle?” I asked her. “If I kill Konstantin with the sword and give him the second death, then no one would have to go to war.”
“I doubt you’ll be able to just walk up to the lich tsar and expect him to allow you to kill him,” George said.
Militza’s tiny, razor-sharp fangs showed when she smiled this time. “It is too late to avoid battle now, Duchess. We are going to war, whether we want to or not.”
“I know why you do not wish to go to war, Militza,” a sickeningly familiar voice said as two figures approached us out of the mist. George took a step closer to me. It was Mala’s body, but it was Princess Cantacuzene’s voice that dripped venom. “You will lose the support of the St. Petersburg vampires once I return.”
Militza hissed. But she did not attack either the princess or the lich tsar. “Konstantin Pavlovich, you will pay for what you have done to my brother,” she threatened.
The lich tsar laughed. “It was your mother’s ambition, as well as your own, that destroyed your brother. You
