The Gathering Storm kt-1

by Robin Bridges

  The orchestra began to play and the curtain rose, so she could say no more to me.

  That night was the ballet’s debut, and I was intrigued by the Indian costumes. The music was beautiful, the choreography somewhat on the simple side. Several times during the first act, a group of university students in the general-seating area below us caused a ruckus, applauding and yelling bravos so loud that His Excellency the Governor General of St. Petersburg turned around and shook his finger at the students.

  “Mon Dieu,” Maman whispered. “The ballet is not that good.”

  In the imperial box, I could see Grand Duchess Xenia looking bored. Her brother leaned over and whispered something to her that made her giggle.

  I waited impatiently for the second act so I could speak with Prince Danilo. I hoped to use reason with him. I would tell him that I would not make a good queen for him, and that he needed to find a more suitable princess. I was still determined to accomplish important things with my life. Becoming a doctor was one of them. Rescuing Count Chermenensky was another.

  Jelena Cornalba was beautiful onstage, as usual. I regretted having to miss her pas de deux, but I wanted my conversation with the prince to be over. I slid my gloves off and looked down at my hands, one wearing the engagement ring, and the other the obsidian ring. I whispered to Maman, “I need some air. Do not get up. I will be right back,” and slipped out of our box. I hurried to the lobby, where my prince was already waiting. “You are impatient, Your Highness,” I said. I did not smile coyly anymore.

  We walked over to a dim corner of the lobby and sat on a black velvet upholstered settee. We were half hidden from the rest of the lobby by a large palm tree in a Chinese vase.

  Prince Danilo took my hand, once again pressing it to his lips. “It is torture to be apart from you, my love. I want to hear you call me by my Christian name.”

  “Danilo,” I whispered, wondering how much power there was in a name. His seemed to hold sway over me. “We must discuss something very important.”

  “Yes, Katerina?” His thumb rubbed over the inside of my wrist. “I am delighted that you have come to me.”

  I shook my head. “This is not what you think. Danilo, I want us to have an understanding. I know you are the heir to a kingdom, and I will assume certain responsibilities by becoming your wife. But I want other responsibilities. I want to become a doctor and study diseases and their cures. I want to care for sick women and children.”

  Prince Danilo looked at me silently. His black eyes showed no emotion at first, and I was suddenly more afraid of him than ever before. Perhaps I should not have discussed my ambitions with him.

  Then something in the prince’s face changed. He picked up my hand again, caressing it gently. “You are a very special woman, Katerina. When you are my bride, I will build hundreds of hospitals throughout Montenegro in your name. You may spend your days visiting and comforting the sick.”

  I pulled my hand out of his. “Your Highness, that is not my wish. I do not want hospitals named after me.”

  “Becoming a doctor is not an option. My queen shall never have an occupation.”

  “But—”

  He stood up, pulling me with him by the elbow. “We have been absent from the ballet long enough. You must return to your family, and I to mine.”

  “We must talk about this,” I protested.

  “No.” His eyes flashed with anger. “There will be no more discussions. You are to start behaving like a proper fiancée.”

  I saw red. How dare he tell me how to behave? I calmly pulled the engagement ring off my finger and placed it in his hand. “Then I can no longer be your fiancée.” How could I have fallen under his spell? He was an arrogant young man, not charming at all.

  Prince Danilo grabbed my right hand, turning it to reveal the obsidian ring. “I see someone has been filling your head with lies about me.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered, pulling away from him. “Please leave me alone.”

  The crown prince smiled. “Just because you are protected does not mean those closest to you are safe.”

  I gave him the frostiest gaze I could summon. “Stay away from me. And stay away from my family.” I turned on my heel and walked off before he could grab me again. I was shaking as I heard the crown prince laughing behind me.

  Maman turned to look at me as I slipped back into our box and sat down. “Where on earth have you been?” she whispered.

  “I needed fresh air,” I hissed back, still seething inside. I knew she would be hysterical when she discovered the engagement had been broken off, but I would let her know in the morning. Princess Cantacuzene would be disappointed as well, since it would interfere with her own schemes. As for Princess Militza, I was no longer afraid of her. Not much, anyway.

  Maman took me to see the empress and Grand Duchess Xenia after the end of the second act.

  The empress’s brown eyes twinkled and she smiled kindly. “My dear, we have heard news of your engagement. Congratulations, Katerina Alexandrovna.”

  “Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty.” I curtsied. She would have more gossip the next day when she heard of the engagement’s being broken. I could not tell the empress without telling Maman the bad news first.

  Grand Duchess Xenia followed me to the anteroom behind the imperial box, where servants stood ready to pour wine or tea. There was a feast of hors d’oeuvres, called zakuski in Russian, laid out on a white linen–covered table. We each took a small glass of wine and sampled some of the caviar. “Tell me about the prince’s proposal!” the grand duchess said. “Was it in the moonlight? Did he get down on his knees?”

  I smiled weakly. “Not at all. It was at Grand Duchess Miechen’s ball. And he most definitely did not get down on his knees.”

  “Did he kiss you?” the grand duchess asked. Mon Dieu, she was a nosy thirteen-year-old.

  I blushed. “I cannot tell you that, Your Imperial Highness.”

  “He did!” she exclaimed, laughing.

  “He did what?” the tsarevitch asked as he and his brother appeared, taking glasses from the impeccably dressed servant’s silver tray.

  I almost choked on my wine.

  “Katerina Alexandrovna was telling me about the night her prince proposed to her.” Their sister giggled. “And the prince kissed her!” I felt my face burn scarlet.

  “Congratulations, Duchess,” the tsarevitch said warmly. “It is a wonderful match. And we will be calling you Your Majesty one day!”

  I should have confessed right then the engagement had been broken. But instead, I said, “Thank you, Your Imperial Highness,” with a feeble smile. I could not bring myself to look at the grand duke’s face.

  “Will you be married in St. Petersburg or in the prince’s country?” Grand Duchess Xenia asked.

  “Most likely Cetinje, though it upsets my mother so.” This conversation was ridiculous. I was discussing a nonexistent engagement and wedding plans that were no longer valid.

  “You leave many responsibilities behind in St. Petersburg,” the grand duke said in a low voice while Xenia asked the tsarevitch something about the ballet.

  I glared at him. “You know nothing of my responsibilities, Your Imperial Highness,” I whispered back.

  “Don’t I?” he said softly. “Your troubled friend was sighted, not four days ago, across the Neva River.”

  “The count?” I whispered. I almost dropped my plate of blini. “Why did you not send me word?”

  “What would you have done? Run after him? That would not be safe, Duchess. I am merely pointing out the fact that you have created a mess that you would leave behind for your new life in Cetinje. Besides, would your fiancé approve of your traipsing through the woods after an undead count?”

  I almost told him right then and there about the Vladiki, and Princess Cantacuzene and Miechen. I almost told him that I had just broken off my engagement. That I would not give up on saving Count Chermenensky.

  The e
mpress and my mother entered the anteroom at that moment. “Katerina! We must hurry back to our box, dear, before the next act. Ooh, chanterelles? Merci!” Maman said, picking up an hors d’oeuvre. “These are divine!”

  I risked a glance at the grand duke before following Maman out. He raised his glass to me but did not smile. I looked away in a hurry.

  Slipping into my seat next to Maman, I settled in to watch the remainder of the mediocre ballet. Fortunately, the Montenegrins did not visit our box the rest of the evening. I did not know what Danilo had said to his sisters, if anything. They would be coming to call on me as soon as they found out; I was certain. I wanted to be the one to tell my parents, but I did not want to spoil their evening. I promised myself I would tell Maman and Papa first thing in the morning.

  Ah, well, some other girl could be the prince’s fiancée. Let her become queen and have hospitals named after her. It was not for me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  I dragged myself out of bed the next morning, dreading the day I knew I was going to have. Before anything else, I had to tell my parents about my broken engagement. Somehow I did not think Papa would be terribly disappointed. Maman might take to her bed, however. We would have to send for Dr. Kruglevski.

  Anya’s friend Lyudmila had been hired to help out while Anya was recuperating from a late-winter cold. She was not as friendly as Anya, but I thought she was just shy, having traveled from Kiev and leaving her family to come here. I tried to put her at ease. “Do you know Anya’s brother?” I asked her. “He attends the medical school in Kiev.”

  She cast her eyes down, her face a deep scarlet. Lyudmila must have known him rather well, but she said nothing.

  She fixed my hair in a slightly different fashion, more Russian than European, but I liked the change. The curls framed my face, making my cheeks seem thinner. “This looks beautiful, Lyudmila. You’ll have to show Anya how to do my hair like this.”

  “Thank you, Duchess,” she said, finally smiling.

  I gave myself one last glance in the mirror before going to face Maman.

  She was in her boudoir, having tea and toast. “Katiya! You are up early this morning! I expected you to sleep until noon. Sit with me and have some tea.”

  “Maman, I must tell you something and I do not want you to be upset.” I slumped into a peacock-blue velvet chair. “I broke off the engagement with Prince Danilo last night.”

  She let her butter knife slip, and it hit the table with a loud clang. “Katiya! What on earth would you do that for?” She turned to her maid, who was putting several dresses away in the wardrobe. “Please send for my husband at once! Oh, Katiya, how could you?” She was going to be hysterical again.

  I helped her to her bed, sighing. “Please understand, Maman. I am not consort material. The prince and I had a disagreement and I realized that he is not someone I would be happy with.”

  “Happy? Being queen would not make you happy?”

  “Would you have married Papa if he did not make you happy?”

  “Well, that was different. I should have married him for his title, even if he hadn’t made me happy. We were extremely fortunate that our personalities were so … agreeable to each other.”

  “Agreeable? Is that what you call it?” Papa said, catching the tail end of our conversation. “You were hopelessly in love with me.”

  “It was you who were hopelessly in love with me,” she said indignantly. “Anyway, it is not our marriage I’m concerned about. Katiya has broken off her engagement with the crown prince!”

  Papa raised an eyebrow. “And?”

  “And? And you must convince her to change her mind—if the prince will take her back.”

  “Did the prince try to take advantage of you?” Papa’s face looked grim. “I’ll challenge him to a duel if he did.”

  “Heavens, no, Papa! It was nothing like that.” I sat down on the bed beside Maman. “I told him I wanted to be a doctor and he said he forbade it. He said it would not be proper for a crown prince’s consort to have a career outside of the home. So I told him I could not be his consort.”

  “Oh, Katiya! This foolish nonsense about medical school again?” Maman wailed. “Alexander, please talk some sense into your daughter!”

  “My dear, are you sure you’d give up the chance to be queen? You would have the money to open a hundred hospitals and fund more medical research. A doctor can only do so much in his lifetime.”

  When he put it that way, I felt almost selfish. But I shook my head. Not as the wife of a blood drinker. “I don’t want hospitals named after me. I want to be the one finding new cures and antidotes.”

  He shook his head and smiled. “Then I suppose you would not make a very good queen. How did the prince take it?”

  “Alexander!” Maman said. “You are not taking this seriously! Do not encourage this foolishness!”

  “Shenia,” Papa said, using his pet name for Maman and taking her hand. “The world is changing. Our daughter does not belong to our old ways. She is going to be one of the brightest women of her age. The Russian Medical Council has filed a petition requesting that the minister of education reopen the women’s medical courses. Dr. Kruglevski was one of the doctors here in St. Petersburg who signed the petition.” Papa winked at me as he said this.

  “However,” he continued, “if Katiya cannot attend medical school here in Russia, we can take her to Switzerland. Or Berlin. And if she never finds a husband that accepts her and loves her for who she is, then she can live at Betskoi House with us forever.”

  I wanted to cry with happiness. “Thank you, Papa!” I flew into his arms as Maman pulled away from him.

  “We are not finished discussing this!” Maman said. “Alexander, I must put my foot down!”

  “Maman, please think about it,” I said.

  “And what will all of St. Petersburg say? My daughter threw away a crown to dirty herself with the sick and the dying?” She sat straight up, her face pale. “What did the prince say?”

  “The prince was not happy when I handed his ring back. I expect we shall have a visit from his sisters sometime soon.”

  Maman wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. “The Montenegrins will tell everyone that he broke off the engagement.”

  “It will all blow over, my dear,” Papa said, squeezing her shoulder gently. “Have courage. Katiya, I think I shall name my medical institute after you. That way, you can be a doctor, and have your own hospital.”

  I couldn’t help smiling; I loved my father so much. I thought he’d been unhappy when I had accepted the prince’s proposal. “That would be wonderful, Papa.”

  Maman blew her nose loudly. “Well,” she said, getting out of bed as soon as my father left us. “The only thing to do is to leave immediately for France. Even though I hate to abandon St. Petersburg in the middle of the season, we must go and let the scandal die down. In a few months, no one will be talking about it anymore.”

  “Maman, do you really think that many people care about what a silly little Oldenburg girl does? There won’t be much of a scandal.”

  Maman looked astonished. “Katiya, you are the great-granddaughter of a tsar! Of course people will care! And you are rejecting a crown prince!” She told her maid to begin packing. “We must make plans to depart immediately.”

  “What about my lessons at Smolny?”

  “I will send word to the headmistress, and we will hire a tutor for you. I must go and speak to your father about our trip.”

  I did not want a tutor. As much as I dreaded lessons with Madame Metcherskey, I liked my classmates (most of them) and I loved Madame Orbellani. I did not think a personal scandal was a good enough excuse for not attending my classes.

  I started to pack my bags, but there was one person I could still not abandon. Count Chermenensky. I did not know where he was hiding, but the grand duke George was right; I could not leave my messes behind for someone else to clean up. I wished I could find the count and take him with us to Fran
ce. I needed to speak with Dr. Kruglevski.

  Perhaps he would have some kind of tranquilizer we could inject Count Chermenensky with, subduing him for travel. I told my parents I was going to visit the patients at Oldenburg Hospital and tell the doctor goodbye, since we would be leaving soon. Papa let me take the family carriage but insisted that I bring Anya with me and have the doctor give her medicine for her cold.

  Anya was reluctant to leave the house, but I made sure she was well bundled in furs and I let her keep the hot brick under her own feet. “Thank you, Duchess,” she said, snuggling into the warm fur. “I went to the healer in the Gypsy quarter, but I haven’t felt any better since her treatment.”

  “What did she do to you?” I asked.

  “She prayed and rolled an egg up and down my arms. She—” Anya’s fitful cough interrupted her story. It was several moments before she could talk again. “It seems to me the illness is in my chest, though. Why wouldn’t she have rolled the egg there?”

  I frowned. “Because she knew nothing about proper medicine. Dr. Kruglevski will know what to do.”

  Anya sat back, worn out by her coughing. “I just hope I’ll be well in time for Rudolf and Lyudmila’s wedding.”

  No wonder Lyudmila had blushed when I’d asked if she knew Rudolf. I patted Anya on the shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll feel better in no time. And if not, perhaps they will wait with the wedding until you are.”

  “Oh, no!” Anya said, distressed. “The date has already been set. If they don’t marry on that date, it would be bad luck for them to marry at all.”

  I tried to soothe her, reassuring her that she would be healthy again soon. I shivered, wondering what my wedding date would have been. Thankful that I was no longer the crown prince’s fiancée, I did not worry about superstitious wedding omens. I had enough to worry about.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The nurses at Oldenburg Hospital were much happier to see me when I arrived with my maid in the carriage bearing the Oldenburg family crest. We were ushered into the doctor’s office and each given a cup of hot spiced tea. Dr. Kruglevski came in and listened to Anya’s chest and gave her a small vial of cough syrup.