I sighed. “Please, Maman, we should stay home.”
“Not attend Miechen’s dinner party?” She looked at me as if I’d grown another head. “Katerina, if you are feeling poorly, I will allow you to stay home, but I wouldn’t miss Miechen’s dinner party for the world! Her French chef is divine!”
Not divine, but probably fae, I remembered unhappily. The grand duchess always did have a passion for the exotic.
“No one is going anywhere tonight,” Papa said as the footman let him in. He took off his hat with a frown. “Except Katerina.”
George Alexandrovich entered the house behind him. He did not look happy either. Nevertheless, he seemed like my knight in shining armor when he clicked his heels together and said, “Katerina Alexandrovna, you must come with me immediately.”
12
“What has happened?” I asked, rushing back down the stairs.
Papa put a heavy hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “I should let the grand duke explain everything to you.” He turned to my mother and asked, “Shenia, will you have Anya begin packing a trunk for Katiya?”
Maman gave a frightened little cry. “She must leave now? Where is she going?”
“I’ll explain it to you in a minute, my dear. You must tell Anya to hurry. They do not have much time.” He led Maman gently up the stairs with her exclaiming the whole way.
I looked at George, who was standing in the hall at the foot of the staircase. “Tell me what has happened,” I demanded.
“You were right about the lich tsar. He is here, in St. Petersburg, and he’s been raising a new army of the undead.”
“Then I need to help your father.” We would be summoning the bogatyr to fight Konstantin Pavlovich.
George shook his head. “No. The Koldun believes it is not safe for my father to go through the ritual again. There is another weapon we think might work.”
“And you want to leave your father unprotected to look for this weapon?”
“He is safe, Katiya, for the time being. Both the Order of St. John and the Order of St. Lazarus are escorting him and my mother back to Gatchina tonight. The Koldun is under heavy guard as well. You are the one we are concerned about.”
“Me?” I could not help thinking Danilo’s words might be true. That I was a liability to the tsar as long as I was alive. Should I tell George that I’d just been standing in the Field of Mars speaking with the lich tsar?
“Without your powers, Konstantin cannot fully return to life.”
“But he’s a powerful sorcerer.” Before he’d married the blood drinker and necromancer Princess Cantacuzene, he’d been the Koldun for his elder brother, Tsar Alexander the First.
“He is a powerful sorcerer without a physical body. He cannot perform any rituals himself.”
“But he could possess someone else and use their body,” I suggested.
George stared at me, and I realized neither he nor the Koldun had thought of this possibility. “He could not pick just any body to possess,” George said. “It would have to be someone to whom he was closely linked. Like you.” He put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed them gently. “But you will be safe, I promise. I’m taking you to Gatchina tonight. The palace is built like a fortress. No one can get to you there.”
“I can’t go with you alone!”
“Your brother is going as a chaperone,” he said with a grim smile. “And my parents will be there soon as well.”
That did not make me feel any better. How could I face his parents now? I’d chosen medicine over marriage to their son. The empress might be happy that I would not become a daughter-in-law, but like the tsar, she did not believe women should become doctors.
“And Xenia will be delighted to have you. She has been lonely since her Greek cousins left.”
One more thing for the empress to be displeased with. I was certain to be labeled an inappropriate influence on the grand duchess.
“And what about this weapon you’re seeking?”
“It’s an ancient sword, rumored to command a magical army when held by a necromancer.”
“You want me to use the sword?” I asked.
George laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. We just want to keep the sword from falling into Konstantin’s hands.”
I was irritated by his dismissive tone. I’d never wielded a heavy sword before, but I had taken fencing with Petya when we were young. Our tutor had often told me I was the better pupil. “Fine,” I said at last. If it was the tsar’s will to lock me up as a prisoner, there was nothing I could do.
“You must be ready to leave immediately, Katiya. We are expected at Gatchina by nightfall.”
I excused myself and returned to my room to help Anya pack. How long did they expect me to stay? I got down on my hands and knees and pulled
“Katiya?” Maman came sweeping into my room. “Dearest, Papa has told me you are going to be a houseguest of the empress at Gatchina for a few days. Have you reconsidered the grand duke’s proposal?”
“No, Maman.” I closed my trunk and went to embrace her. “I don’t think the empress would be happy with a Dark Court daughter-in-law.”
“And why not? You know very well that just because she is from the Light Court of the North does not mean all Romanovs must marry Light Court. My Romanov mother married a Dark Court husband. Twice, actually.”
I smiled. It was such a simple thing to Maman. She was still dreaming about Romanov grandbabies. “I will be home as soon as I can.” If the tsar ever decided to let me go.
“Whatever for? Enjoy your stay, darling. And give my warm regards to the empress.”
“Of course.”
Papa came to my doorway as well. “The grand duke is getting anxious, Katiya. Are you ready?”
I ran to his arms and hugged him with all my strength. “Please be careful, Papa. And look after Maman.” Danilo had planted a seed of doubt in my mind. Would the tsar find some way of dispatching me in order to protect himself from Konstantin? I tried to shrug off the ridiculous suspicion but found I couldn’t. Perhaps the tsar would not stoop so low, but I knew the Koldun would. He’d had no qualms about sacrificing Princess Alix when he believed it would protect the tsar. And Alix still had not forgiven him.
“Of course, my dear,” Papa said. “Petya will be joining you later this evening. He is currently out on patrols with his regiment.” I already knew this. The Preobrajensky Guard was out searching for more of the undead.
I took one last look around my room, making sure I’d remembered everything. I did not know if I’d be able to send for anything I’d forgotten. Papa helped me carry my trunk downstairs, despite Maman’s protests that we had servants for that very purpose.
George was looking at his watch unhappily. He glanced up as we descended the staircase. “Very good,” he said. “My driver can take the trunk from here.”
I followed him silently to the carriage, thanking him only when he helped me inside. It would be a long drive to Gatchina, which was nearly thirty miles outside of St. Petersburg.
As we rolled out of the driveway, he leaned over and picked up my hand, pressing it to his lips. I closed my eyes. It was the same hand Danilo had claimed earlier. Why couldn’t I simply choose to be a good wife to George? But I knew I would never be happy just staying at home and raising a family. Maman had her charities and her social obligations, but I wanted more than the life she had with Papa. I wanted George and I wanted my medical degree too. I wanted everything.
“Katiya, I have a plan.”
I opened my eyes. George was caressing my hand with his thumb and looking extremely serious. I realized we were alone in the carriage on a dark night. The quarters suddenly seemed much smaller. “What are you
