“My dear Hessian princess,” Elena said, twirling around in her white dress and looking at herself in the tiny mirror, “that is the best part.”
I rolled my eyes. I wanted to get a message to Grand Duchess Xenia, but there was no one I trusted to deliver it. Not Alix and definitely not Elena. I had considered sneaking out to the ball anyway, but what would I accomplish? I would only anger the empress even more, and for what? Petya should have been able to get word to George by now. I had sent my brother a letter written in the same code as his, begging for more information, but had heard nothing from him. In the end, I decided it was better for me to use my time at Smolny alone to investigate the ghost in the library.
I pretended to yawn. “I hope you three do not wake me when you come home.”
“I suppose we’ll have to tell you all about the festivities in the morning,” Elena said. “Sweet dreams, Katerina.”
“Have a wonderful time,” I said.
I heard Elena say “Hmmph!” as she stomped off down the hallway, with a definitely nervous Alix and an excited Aurora following along behind her. I snuggled down under my covers and read until I was sure everyone had left for the ball.
When the school was silent, I slid back out of bed and headed for the library. I could hear people talking in the kitchen.
“It came out of nowhere, Madame,” said Masha, the school cook.
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s a frying pan. It had to come from somewhere.” It was the headmistress’s voice. Something very bad must have happened for her to be up this late.
“Olga was washing the pots. The frying pan came at her from the other side. There was no one else here with us.”
“Get someone to clean this mess up. Olga, can you stand up?” I heard the kitchen girl moan in reply. Madame Tomilov sighed. “Masha, can you fetch Sister Anna?”
If the ghost was throwing frying pans at people, she was becoming dangerous. I slipped past the kitchen and hurried on to the library before Masha came out and the headmistress could see me.
The library was one of the few rooms in the entire institute that had an electric light. I flipped the switch, and the room was flooded with a dim glow. It was empty, of course. All of the younger girls had gone to bed hours earlier. Everything was in its place, the books lined up neatly on the shelves, the cushion sitting perfectly on the chair, the magazines in a neat stack on the end table. I sat down in the chair and closed my eyes, wondering if the ghost was finished with her hauntings for the night. The forbidding presence I’d felt last week was gone. “Marija?” I whispered, afraid the headmistress would hear me. “Are you in here with me?”
Silence.
“Marija?”
There was a soft sound, like someone exhaling. A heavy breath. The forbidding feeling was coming back. The impulse to get up and leave the room. She was definitely here.
I had no idea what to do with a ghost, especially when I could not see the cold light. “Marija, I’d like to talk with you. You need to stop frightening the girls. You can’t stay here anymore.”
The soft hissing sound grew louder. She was becoming angry. I shook my head. “I can’t leave until we’re finished talking, Marija. Why did you hurt the kitchen girl tonight?”
Suddenly, I was struck across the face with a force that knocked me back in the chair. I yelled out.
My cheek stung. I scrambled up out of the chair. I could still see nothing else in the room with me. The forbidding presence was overwhelming. I felt it closing in around me, as if trying to smother me. I backed away toward the door. “You cannot keep hurting people, Marija! You have to leave!”
“What in the name of the saints is going on here?” I heard Madame Tomilov’s voice as she stomped down the hallway toward the library.
The pressure on me did not let up as I reached the doorway and backed into the headmistress.
“Katerina Alexandrovna! What is the meaning of this?”
Sister Anna arrived right behind Madame Tomilov. “Child, what happened to your face?” she asked. She looked frightened as she stared at me.
I put my hand up to my cheek. “Did she leave a mark?”
“Who did this to you?” Madame’s voice was stern. She grabbed my chin and tilted my head up so she could examine my face more closely.
“I …” What could I say? “I think it was the ghost.”
Madame closed her eyes as she sighed. Behind her I heard Sister Anna gasp, “Mon Dieu!” and she crossed herself.
“What did you think you were doing in here?” the headmistress asked.
“I just wanted to get a book. I couldn’t sleep.” Part of what I told her was true, at least.
“Go back to bed, Katerina. I’m sure this will all seem like a terrible dream in morning.”
She was not going to admit that I’d been attacked by the ghost. Which meant that all of the girls at Smolny were in danger. I turned around and took one last look in the library. The presence still seemed to be in there, waiting. But I had no desire to communicate with her again.
“Oui, Madame,” I said finally to the headmistress, and went back to my bedroom.
The ghost had not stayed in the library. When I reached my room, there was a message from her, in neat black letters on the floor in front of my bed. It was not in French but in Russian.
I traced the lettering with my hand. The words had been burned or scorched into the wooden floor. I shuddered. I got a rag and tried to rub the words out but they would not budge. I pulled a throw rug over the letters and got ready for bed. I glanced in the mirror and saw the red handprint still stinging my cheek. She had definitely left her mark.
I lay awake in bed for several hours, fretting over the ghost. If she wasn’t Elena’s sister, then who was she?
“Marija died of consumption when she was fifteen. Her body was carried back to the Black Mountain for her burial.” It was the crown prince.
I rubbed my eyes. I was too tired to argue with him. Why are you bothering me again, Your Highness?
“You have accused my family of terrible things. Of course my sister’s body is properly buried in Cetinje. There is no way Marija’s spirit could be restless. Or imprisoned at your beloved Smolny.”
Forgive me, Your Highness. I did not mean to imply any such thing. There must have been other girls who had died at Smolny Institute over the years. There had to be a way to find out who they were. But I was certain Madame Tomilov would not tell me.
“I had hoped to see you at the ball this evening, my beloved. There was another who was searching for you.”
My heart leapt. “George?” I whispered.
The crown prince’s laugh was cruel. “No. He was not in attendance this evening. It was your brother, the young Oldenburg. He was very upset when he heard that you had gotten into trouble at Smolny.”
I sighed, overwhelmed with disappointment. I knew Petya would not have mentioned anything about the Order to Danilo. I wondered if he’d been able to get in touch with George.
“Do not feel too bad, my dear. I have heard news of your Romanov friend. He is still in Paris, with the Black Magi.”
“Who are the Black Magi?” I demanded. “And how do you know this?”
“They are a secret sect of magicians in Paris who conjure spirits to do their bidding. Your friend is learning many new things as he studies with these men. Dark things.”
“There is a specific reason that he is studying with them. Some special knowledge he needs for the tsar,” I said, trying to defend George, and trying to make sense of this news myself. Was the tsar aware of the true nature of the Black Magi? What if the traitor within the Order had sent George to see these magi? “How do you know all of this?” I repeated. “And when was the last time you saw George Alexandrovich?”
“I?” Danilo laughed. “If I never see the tsar’s son again it will be too soon. I have many friends in Paris, however. Loyal friends.”
I took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. My heart was pounding out o
f my chest. “Danilo, would you warn me if the grand duke was in any specific danger?”
His soft laughter made me nauseous. “I know many grand dukes, Katerina. How can I possibly keep up with them all?”
“You know I am speaking of George Alexandrovich. Is he in danger right now?”
“It depends on what you consider danger, Duchess. I am beginning to believe the other magi are in more danger from him and his growing powers. He has started down a dark path, my dear.”
“You are lying to me.” I rolled over in my bed, putting the pillow over my head as if it would shut out the crown prince. Of course, it did not.
“Katerina, why would I lie to you? It matters not to me what the grand duke does. He is not bound to you like I am.”
“The blood bond means nothing, Danilo. I will never marry you.”
“We shall see, Katerina. We shall see.”
There was no way on earth that George would use dark magic. He belonged to the Court of Light. He was half fae. And half whatever the tsar was. The rumors that our sovereign was a shape shifter had dwindled in the previous years, but according to Maman he’d been called Sasha the Bear when he was younger. And not just for his size. But none of the tsar’s children were shifters. And none of them were as powerful in fae magic as their mother. But what if George had received the gifts from both of his parents, and with the occult knowledge he was learning in Paris, all of it had somehow changed him?
Suddenly, I felt sick to my stomach. What if I had been the cause? Had my dark powers changed him in any way? I wanted to cry. I could never live with myself if I had somehow tainted the grand duke’s soul.
“Such a guilty conscience,” Danilo said. I’d forgotten all about him. His laughter mocked my pain.
“Please leave me in peace,” I whispered, tears rolling onto my pillow.
“Do not cry, Duchess,” he said. “There may be some hope for your grand duke after all.”
“Leave me be!”
The silence was immediate. I was alone with my pain and my tortured thoughts. I did not know if I’d pushed him away on my own, or if he’d just decided he’d had enough of taunting me. Either way, I was glad. I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep the rest of the night away. With no dreams.
But I did wake up when the girls returned from the ball. They stumbled in late, just hours before dawn. I had no interest in hearing their tales. I already knew what I’d wanted most to know. George had not been there. And the ghost that was haunting Smolny was not Elena’s sister Marija.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“And the empress’s dress was exquisite! Ice-blue silk embroidered in silver with sapphires and diamonds! Oh Katerina, I wish you could have seen it!” Erzsebet could not stop talking about the ball over breakfast the next morning.
Even Princess Alix seemed to have enjoyed herself. She blushed a little when I asked if she liked the dancing. “Of course. It was an honor to represent Smolny Institute in front of everyone at the Winter Palace.”
Elena and Augusta rolled their eyes. I glanced up and saw an older woman following Madame Tomilov across the dining hall to the kitchen. It was Dr. Bokova. I wondered if she’d been summoned to attend the kitchen girl, Olga. I hoped the poor girl’s head was feeling better that morning. I could not understand how Olga had provoked the ghost into causing such harm.
Elena leaned closer to me and whispered, “Danilo was most disappointed he did not get to dance with you last night. He came all the way from Cetinje to see you.”
It was my turn to blush. “I’m sorry he wasted his time.”
Elena shrugged. “Perhaps Madame Tomilov will let him visit us here. Surely she cannot begrudge a sister a visit from her brother. And if he happens to see you at the same time, all the better.”
I set my spoon down on the table beside my bowl. “Elena, please get it into your head that I am not going to marry your brother. He needs to get it into his head as well.”
“He is taking me back home to Cetinje for the Christmas holidays. Perhaps you would like to come and spend Christmas with us?”
I glared at her. “You know I do not.” I would never willingly set foot in Montenegro again. It had not been willingly the first time I visited.
“You are no fun, Katerina. I don’t know what Dani sees in you.”
“Power. Untapped, beautiful power.” The crown prince had been listening to our conversation through me all morning. Before losing my temper, I closed my eyes and counted to ten. “Of course I’ve been listening. My name was mentioned. I had hopes you were thinking wicked thoughts of me.”
I reached ten and then continued counting to twenty.
“Do not be angry, Duchess. They will only think you are insane.” He laughed. He knew he was the reason for my apparent nervous breakdown. I had to find a way to get him out of my head. I wondered if an exorcism would work.
The wicked thoughts I was having of the crown prince were not the ones he had in mind. I smiled, imagining him tied up and dragged behind a horse, or thrown into the Black Sea.
“Katerina? Are you all right?” Augusta asked. All the girls at the table were looking at me curiously.
The voice in my head was silent again. I smiled even more. “Perfectly,” I said, and finished my porridge.
The girls in my Blue Form class would not stop whispering about the gossip they’d heard regarding the ball, and some of them seemed to know about the kitchen incident. But I was not interested in listening to them.
“Focus on your lessons, mes petites,” I told them. “We have several weeks left of class before the Christmas holiday begins. Open your textbooks to page one hundred fifty-four.” I turned around to write a sentence on the blackboard.
“But Mademoiselle Katerina,” Charlotte asked, “is it true they served pineapple sherbet sprinkled with gold dust at the Winter Palace?”
“Did you really dance with the tsar’s son?” asked Sarah, another student.
I turned around and looked as stern as I could. Madame Fredericks was sitting in the back of the room, absorbed in a Marie Corelli romance. But I knew she was listening to everything that happened. “I will only answer questions that you ask en français,” I told the students.
The girls were happy to comply and I spent the rest of the hour regaling them with stories of the Smolny Ball. From the previous year.
I was counting down the days until the end of the school term. I missed my parents, not to mention my brother, Petya. And I was certain that George Alexandrovich would have to return to St. Petersburg to spend the holidays with his family. We had much to discuss. Surely the empress could not expect me to stay at Smolny during Christmas? Would she be that cruel?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
In the end, the empress was not that cruel at all. The spell was lifted, and my mother and brother arrived at Smolny to pick me up the day the Christmas holidays began. Maman seemed nervous as she came to my room to oversee my packing. “It is freezing in here, Katiya! How do you sleep at night?”
I didn’t know if she was sensing anything supernatural or not. I decided not to mention the ghost to her, for surely she would want to hold a séance. Petya was waiting in our family carriage at the gates. I gathered up my belongings and hurried downstairs. We had almost made it to the door when I saw Elena’s brother and sister in the hallway.
“My lovely duchess, Katerina Alexandrovna,” Crown Prince Danilo said, taking my hand. His warm lips lingered on my skin. I tugged my hand away. “And your beautiful mother is with you.”
Maman curtsied. “Your Highness.” He did not take her hand, I noticed.
Anastasia of Montenegro, now the duchess of Leuchtenberg after her marriage to my uncle George, smiled at Maman. “Our mother is anxious to see us all home. She delivered a healthy baby boy last month, Prince Petar.”
“Please give both of your parents our warmest congratulations,” Maman said.
My brother took my bag when we reached the carriage and helped me and
Maman into our seats. It was good to see them both. Petya looked as if he’d aged years since I’d seen him last. He was thinner, with several lines etched in his face that I had never noticed before. I hoped he would have time to talk to me about the Order. Maman babbled the whole ride home about the servants and Papa’s ongoing plans for his Institute of Experimental Medicine. I leaned against the window and stared out at the snow-covered streets. It had been months since I’d been outside of the school. It felt wonderful. And strange.
“I suppose you will not want to attend Miechen’s Children’s Ball,” Maman said with a sigh. “She was so looking forward to seeing you. But I told her you would probably think you were too old.”
“That’s fine, Maman. I’ll go,” I said, still gazing out the window at St. Petersburg. My city was beautiful in the winter. A new snow had fallen overnight and blanketed everything in white.
“Wonderful! You’ll have the chance to see all of your cousins,” she said, not pausing to breathe. “Of course, you’ll need some new dresses made. For evenings at the ballet too.”
Petya was staring out the window as well, and did not seem to be paying attention to a word Maman was saying. We passed a patrol of imperial soldiers. I glanced at my brother. I was dying for a chance to talk to him alone.
Betskoi House looked the same as it always had. Papa came to the door to meet us, along with several servants. Anya was there and gave me a hug before Papa could. “Duchess! It’s so good to have you back!”
“I’ve missed you too,” I said, even though I thought she was safer here at home with my parents than she would have been at Smolny.
“How’s my girl?” Papa said, embracing me in his strong arms. His mustache tickled my cheek. He smelled wonderful, like fine tobacco and old books. “I’m so sorry things did not work out this year the way we’d planned,” he whispered.
The Unfailing Light (The Katerina Trilogy 2) Page 11
