The Gathering Storm kt-1

by Robin Bridges

  My breath caught. How could I have forgotten? Flying insects, like moths.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  I decided not to visit the princess Cantacuzene, and returned home instead. There was a carriage with the imperial family crest in front of my house. As I walked inside past Papa’s study, I heard a familiar voice. Grand Duke George Alexandrovich. I swallowed back fear and a little bit of irritation.

  I went to Maman’s parlor and started working on a piece of embroidery, something to keep my fingers occupied, even though my mind wandered. I craved to know what Papa and the grand duke were discussing. Maman chattered away about the latest gossip concerning the deaths of the Austrian crown prince and his mistress. Something about lycanthropy. I rolled my eyes. Surely Erzsebet and Augusta would have told me if their uncle and his mistress had turned into werewolves.

  I stared out the window onto the snow-covered grounds below. It was a dreary gray day, with months to go before the spring thaw. I sighed. At least it would be pretty and warm in Biarritz. Maman and I expected to leave that Friday, with Papa joining us the following week.

  One of the house servants appeared at the door. “Your Highness, forgive me, but His Imperial Highness would like to speak with his daughter in his study.”

  I put my needlework down and quickly went to Papa’s study. I hoped the grand duke was gone.

  He wasn’t. He was sitting in Papa’s favorite leather chair.

  My father was standing at the window. “Katerina!” He did not sound happy. “Come in here, my dear!”

  “Yes, Papa?” I asked, standing at his doorway. I curtsied to the grand duke. “Your Imperial Highness.”

  “The grand duke has informed me that you took it upon yourself to help a strange man who was clearly insane.”

  I hated the grand duke. “Forgive me, Papa. He was injured and I did not feel I was in danger.”

  “Next time you come across an injured person who needs medical attention, have the carriage driver take him immediately to see Dr. Kruglevski. Until you have graduated from medical school, you are not allowed to practice medicine on any human being, and furthermore—”

  The grand duke cut him short. “Katerina Alexandrovna cleansed and dressed one of my own wounds, when the injured man attacked me.” He pushed his sleeve back for Papa to see what was left of the deep gash Count Chermenensky had given him. The scar would heal nicely, and it gave the grand duke a wicked look to him. I noticed the grand duke’s hair was slightly longer that day than it usually was, as if he hadn’t had time for a trim in over a month. It made it look softer, and I had to fight the urge to run my fingers through it.

  “May I look at the scar?” I asked, trying to distract myself. I unceremoniously grabbed the grand duke’s arm and slowly ran my finger along the groove in his skin. “It’s healing so quickly. How fascinating!”

  The grand duke sucked in his breath, gently grasping my hand and removing it from his arm. “Yes, one of the gifts my mother gave me,” he murmured low enough so only I could hear.

  “Katerina, I am sure you handled the bandages expertly, but you cannot practice medicine on the tsar’s son!” my father said, exasperated. “What if something had gone wrong?”

  The grand duke smiled. “At the time, Your Highness, she was the most competent person available. There was no harm done.”

  Had the grand duke just given me a compliment? I blushed pink with pride. I wanted to look at his scar again.

  Papa rubbed his eyes and sighed. “I thank you, but I will feel much safer when she attends medical school for proper training.”

  “You do realize what a struggle it will be to change the law? My father is a traditionalist and does not see the value of women working outside of the home. A girl of your daughter’s station should be content with raising a family and keeping a household.”

  I fumed. But before I could open my mouth and say something both my family and I would regret, my father rushed across the room and hurried me to the door. “Yes, we are aware, Your Imperial Highness,” he grunted as I moved to strangle the grand duke. Fortunately, for my sake, Papa pushed me into the hallway before I could reach my target. “But times are changing, and I believe women physicians will become common, perhaps after the turn of the century.”

  “Content? Would you be content keeping a household if you were a woman?” I shouted from the hallway.

  “Katiya? What on earth are you going on about?” Maman hurried up the staircase, clutching her needlework.

  I sighed as I turned toward her. It didn’t matter. The grand duke was right, at least about some of it. Tsar Alexander the Third was extremely conservative; he would never allow women to return to medical school in Russia.

  “I shall have to live elsewhere when I grow up. Perhaps Berlin or Vienna,” I told my mother. I shuddered, wondering what family of vampires roamed those beautiful cities. “Or maybe I will move somewhere exotic and tend to the poor.” The previous tsar, Alexander the Second, had allowed several young women to obtain medical degrees in exchange for pledging to take care of the indigent in Siberia.

  “Mon Dieu, Katiya, the things you say,” Maman said with a sigh. “I wish you would just make up with Prince Danilo and let him build you all the hospitals and orphanages you want.”

  “Maman,” I said, exasperated by having had the same argument with her hundreds of times. “I will never marry someone who does not accept me for who I am!”

  I turned to stalk off to my bedroom, and almost ran into the grand duke, who had been standing there listening. I was not sure who blushed more, me or His Imperial Highness. Curtsying hastily, I brushed past him and hurried to my room.

  Was I being stubborn and foolish? By dreaming of doing something outlandish and forbidden with my life? I did not want to be a necromancer. I did not want to be killed by vampires. And I most certainly did not want to be stuck in a loveless marriage with nothing to do all day but change dresses and take tea with other bored women. It made defying the tsar seem as pleasant as a walk through a grove of lilacs.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  It was getting close to dark, and my parents were planning to attend a dinner party at Miechen’s that evening. I was supposed to go with them, but pleaded a headache and begged to stay home. Maman told Anya and Lyudmila to have a sandwich and tea sent up to my room.

  I asked Anya to let me sleep through the night undisturbed so my head would feel better in the morning.

  As soon as everyone left, I dressed quickly in one of my plainest brown dresses. I wrapped my head with a black woolen scarf, grabbed my warmest, fur-lined black cloak, and quietly slipped out of the house. It was a short walk to Vorontsov Palace. I wanted to know what was happening at the Order. I spoke the Egyptian magic words, veiling myself in my own shadow. Once again, I felt the darkness closing in around me, but I knew to expect it this time. I took a few deep breaths and hurried down the street.

  I was freezing by the time I reached the palace, but I tried not to let my teeth chatter too loudly. In shadow, I easily slipped past the guards, who were very much awake and heavily armed this time. Several members of the Order had gathered in the Great Hall before the portrait of Tsar Pavel. I could hear anxiety and fear in their voices. There were whisperings about an old curse on the Order. The youngest pages were not present. They had been sent to bed.

  General Tcherevine led the assembled men, reminding them that they had pledged their lives to serve the tsar as well as Mother Russia. That they had made this pledge before God. He did not discuss what had prompted the gathering. I moved through the crowd cloaked in shadow, trying to pick up some conversation from the nervous soldiers.

  “Did you see him?”

  “Count Orlov did. Said it was Demidov, all right. He looked a little pale, but he knew it was him.”

  “And he attacked him?”

  “Yes. Said he tried to bite him.”

  I felt a little weak but leaned up against a wall to breathe. Prince Demidov had returned fro
m the dead now too? Was that what had happened to all the stolen bodies? They had all been members of the Order. Was someone making revenants out of them? It would have taken a powerful necromancer to perform such black magic. The only other necromancer I knew of was the vampire princess from the House of Bessaraba. What in the holy name of God was Princess Cantacuzene doing?

  It was several hours before midnight, but I wondered if the ghost of the tsar would speak to the men. I hoped they knew what they were going after.

  There was a stir of murmurings as a small band of men pushed through the crowd and reached the front of the room. “Make way for His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Alexandrovich,” someone said.

  The grand duke looked tired but grimly determined. He wasn’t addressing the crowd but stood off to the side of the general, listening to what the older, wiry-haired man had to say. I stayed far away. I did not want the grand duke’s faerie eyes to see me under my sheult spell.

  General Tcherevine nodded and then spoke to his regiments: “Unfortunately, I have just received confirmation on the attack on Count Orlov,” he began. “The doctors are working on him as quickly as possible but say he has lost an enormous amount of blood. It does not look well for him. His family is being notified as we speak.”

  “How are we to fight this monster?” someone asked.

  “Fire will kill it,” the grand duke said. “As will decapitation. Or preferably both.”

  Why had Demidov attacked a former comrade in arms? Bitten him, no less. Count Chermenensky was not running around St. Petersburg biting people, was he? No one had seen him in several weeks, but I feared the worst. I had to sneak closer and hear what the grand duke was saying.

  “Search the woods behind Smolny, as well as the Tauride Palace,” the grand duke was telling the other men. “As soon as this monster is caught, his body must be brought to the Koldun.”

  “He has to have been called forth by a powerful necromancer,” General Tcherevine said. “Who is the prince’s master?”

  “Or mistress,” the grand duke said grimly. He suspected Princess Cantacuzene, just as I did.

  The crowd stirred as a messenger arrived. They had cornered the undead Prince Demidov in a small abandoned building along the river. Close to the Field of Mars. I swallowed hard, thinking how near my home this monster was.

  “Commander Oldenburg has his men in position, sir,” the messenger said.

  “Very good.” The general nodded. “We shall join him immediately. Men!”

  Petya. He was in the building with that monster. If anything happened to my brother, it would devastate my mother. And my father. I huddled against the wall, trying not to sob out loud.

  The grand duke brushed past me on his way out with the members of the Order. I held my breath, but he stopped, as if he could sense my presence. He frowned, shook his head, and continued on.

  I stayed hidden until the last man left the Great Hall. Then I was alone with the giant portrait of Tsar Pavel. His eyes seemed to find me, even though I was cloaked in the shadows. I wondered if I should speak to him again and ask more questions about the bogatyr. The ghost had said that becoming the bogatyr was not pleasant. But who else would be able to fight an army of undead soldiers running amok in St. Petersburg?

  An army of undead. That was a chilling thought. Princess Cantacuzene was creating such an army out of the tsar’s own elite knight-commanders. Just like the Dekebristi in 1825. I couldn’t fathom why she needed this army. Or whom she was planning to attack.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  I slipped back outside and hurried toward home. I followed the general direction of the soldiers, thankful that I did not hear any sounds of fighting. A carriage came up behind me as I walked along Nevsky Prospekt. I thought it was more soldiers until strong arms grabbed me and pulled me inside. A hand covered my mouth before I could scream for help.

  “Be very careful, my love. I wouldn’t want you getting hurt,” Prince Danilo said, his voice grazing my ear as his gloved fingers held my head against his. I could feel myself wanting to melt into his arms. Even with the obsidian ring on a ribbon around my neck, his spell was washing over me again. Spell. Why had I not kept the sheult spell around me? I struggled to get my arms free, but he had me pinned with his arms.

  “Let me go!” I said as soon as he lifted his hand from my mouth. I was fighting against his attraction. And I was failing fast.

  “Ah, Katerina,” he whispered into my hair, caressing the back of my neck. “I was so concerned for your safety. There are dangerous things about tonight, and here you are out, walking the streets, when you should be safe at home.”

  “I was on my way home.” His fingers on the back of my neck were making me sleepy.

  “Allow me to escort you, my love,” he purred. “We have been apart for too long.”

  “We are no longer engaged, Your Highness.”

  “You were too hasty, my love. And I was arrogant. Please reconsider.” His lips moved from my hair to my temple, brushing my skin lightly. I shivered. It made him laugh. “See? I knew you missed me as much as I missed you.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “I told you, I want to keep you safe. There are monsters on the loose.”

  “What do you know about them?”

  “Mmm, I know that you have been a very naughty girl, but I can protect you, my love. The tsar’s men will not harm you. Nor will your creatures.”

  “My … I had nothing to do with those … those poor men.”

  “Tsk, tsk. My sisters have been keeping their eyes on you, love. They know what you have been up to.”

  I started to tell him about Princess Cantacuzene, but I hesitated. He was evil, even if his adversary was as well. I didn’t really want to back either side.

  “What would I do with an army of undead soldiers?” I asked finally.

  “A gift for your fiancé, I would hope?” he said with a sly grin. One of his hands slid down my throat and traced down the side of my arm. I shut my eyes and counted to ten in Latin, trying to ignore his seductive touch. With a low laugh, he said, “Forgive me for teasing you. Of course the creatures do not belong to you.”

  “Please let me go,” I said.

  “Katerina, I do not wish to hurt you, my love. But you must stay with me while the soldiers fight the revenants. Many men will die tonight, and I do not want to see you blamed.”

  “Why would the tsar’s men suspect me?”

  “Because you are the one whose handkerchief was found at the hospital where Prince Demidov died.”

  My heart froze with a sudden thought. Could it have been me and not Princess Cantacuzene? How could I know for sure? I still did not know how I’d caused the count to return. But the count definitely considered me his mistress. If I’d raised Prince Demidov as well, wouldn’t he have sought me out?

  “Yes, I was at the hospital when he died, but I did not see him after that. I don’t even know when Prince Demidov was buried.”

  “He was never buried. The body disappeared from the morgue the day after his death.”

  Something cold gripped my stomach. “How do you know this?” I whispered.

  His smile was equally cold. No longer the loving fiancé, he said, “Nothing is hidden from me, Katerina Alexandrovna. Not your visits to the good doctor, not your visits with the princess Cantacuzene, not your cozy visits with the tsar’s son. You must start behaving like a proper fiancée. Or your family will suffer, beginning with your brother. I would hate for him to be the next victim within the Order.”

  I tried to pull away from him, but he did not let go.

  “What do you think your brother would prefer, Katerina? Being turned into a vampire or becoming an undead ghoul? Being a blood drinker is much more fun, I can promise you.”

  “Leave my brother alone.”

  He laughed and gave my arm a vicious squeeze. I knew it would leave a bruise in the morning. “As you wish. But remember this: you belong to me, Katerina. Me, and no one el
se.”

  The prince returned me to Betskoi House. As we pulled up through the front gates, I said, “You really don’t have to see me inside, Your Highness. It isn’t necessary.”

  “Ah, but it is, my love. You must have witnesses that you were with me this evening and not causing the undead soldiers to raid the city. And I must speak with your parents, to reassure them that we have smoothed over our disagreements and the wedding is still on. Come along, my love.” He pulled me roughly out of the carriage, bruising my other arm.

  My parents were bewildered to see me arriving home with the crown prince when they had not even known I had sneaked out. Papa glared at Prince Danilo frostily. “What the devil are you doing with my daughter?”

  “Please accept my apologies, Your Highness,” the prince said. “I sent a message begging for her forgiveness and a chance to talk over our differences. I am happy to say she has consented once again to marry me.”

  “Oh, wonderful, Katiya!” Maman said, her eyes tearing up with joy. “I am so happy for you!” She tried to hug both of us at the same time.

  “Did you now, Katerina?” Papa asked me. I wanted to scream and hide behind him and have him make the crown prince go away forever, but I feared what the Montenegrins would do to my family.

  Avoiding his eyes, I nodded. “Yes, Papa. I am sure.”

  Papa looked from the prince to me and slowly nodded. “All right, then may I offer my congratulations, again?” He shook the crown prince’s hand.

  Danilo smiled. “I thank you, Your Imperial Highness. I promise to take very good care of Katerina. She is most precious to me.” He held my hand to his lips before saying good night.