“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!”