The Unfailing Light

"Katerina! Katerina Alexandrovna!" Elena was shaking me awake.

I had fallen asleep sitting up in my cot, leaning up against the wall. I tried to rub the soreness out of my neck.

"You will be late for breakfast." Elena dug through my trunk and threw my white school apron at me. "What happened with you and Alix last night?"

I glanced over at Alix's empty cot. She must have been in a hurry to leave our room that morning. I sighed, trying to lose the tightness in my chest. There had been no hint of a joke or teasing in her threat the previous night. I would have to be wary of her from now on.

"Katerina?" Elena still stood at my bed, looking at me questioningly.

"Alix heard a noise outside, but we saw nothing. It must have been an animal." Elena did not need to know about Madame Metcherskey. How would I be able to keep Alix from telling anyone? How could I convince her that she didn't see what she thought she saw?

I took a deep breath. "I think she must have had a nightmare. Alix kept tossing and turning, muttering about unholy things. That is why I was sitting up. I was afraid she would harm herself with her thrashing about."

"Really?" Elena looked extremely interested.

"Maybe the ghost was stirring up trouble again. Did you have strange dreams last night as well?"

Elena shook her head. "I slept peacefully." She finished putting her hair up and tied on her apron.

"Then I don't know what caused her distress." I shrugged, and hurried to finish getting dressed. Lying to Elena came so easily, it barely pricked my conscience anymore. What kind of person was I becoming?

I dashed downstairs with Elena to the dining room. Sucre was placing baskets of hot biscuits on the table. He seemed oblivious of the several students gazing up at him with starry looks in their eyes.

With the most polite nod, he handed me a biscuit. "Duchess, you seem to find yourself in more and more trouble every time I see you."

"Merci, Monsieur." I placed the biscuit on my plate as I sat down at the end of the table.

"First it was a ghost, and now you are plagued with the undead as well?" He shook his head, smiling viciously.

I glanced around in alarm and realized that no one else would hear the faerie speak unless he wished them to. Everyone was enjoying the enchanted breakfast in ignorant bliss. I pushed the biscuit to the side of my plate, and reached for my tea. "How did you know?"

"Duchess, your creature made enough noise to wake the true dead last night. All of the Dark Court knows there is a newly risen ghoul walking the streets of St. Petersburg."

"What about the empress and the Light Court?"

He nodded. "It is only a matter of time. Yes, your empress will know soon enough."

"It's not my fault," I said, cringing even as I said the words. "I don't know how it happened." The empress was not fond of me already. And now this? She would tell the tsar, and I would be sent to Siberia for certain this time. I looked up at the fae cook, who smelled of cinnamon and honey. "Monsieur Sucre, tell me the truth. To which court do you belong?"

The cook's eyes flashed from light blue to cobalt. "I serve whichever court serves me best," he said softly. "And at this time, it serves me best to belong to Her Imperial Majesty."

"You are not only here to protect us from the ghost, are you?" My eyes narrowed. "You were sent here for another purpose."

"Be careful, Duchess. It would be safer for you if you were not so inquisitive."

I swallowed my tea, and tried to calm my suspicions. I had other things to worry about that were more pressing. "What did you do with the poor kitchen girl?"

"I told you not to worry about that." He placed an extra biscuit on Augusta's plate, which she took happily. "But yes, she was killed by the ghost. And yes, I have sent her body back to the village where she came from. Her family will think she died from influenza."

I sighed, wishing we'd been able to stop the ghost before something like this had happened. "Why was she so angry? And why would she have gone after Olga?"

"Shouldn't you be more concerned with your own creature?" Sucre asked.

"Are you going to tell the empress about Madame Metcherskey?"

"Of course not, Duchess. She will find out long before I have a chance to speak with her."

I wanted to cry. "I don't suppose you have any idea what I should do with her."

"Sending her to the Tibetan was probably not a wise choice. She will draw much attention to him."

The thought frightened me. "Will he be in danger?"

"It's too late to worry about that. And now there is a student here that knows what you are. What will you do about her?"

I almost choked on my tea. I glared at Monsieur Sucre. "Is there any secret at Smolny you do not know?"

He chuckled as he turned to head back into the kitchen. "I would not want to be in your shoes right now, Duchess."

I glanced down our long dining table. As I had suspected, no one had noticed my conversation with Sucre. Not even the headmistress, who seemed to be extremely fascinated with whatever Sister Anna was saying to her. But I spotted Alix, staring straight at me.

She had seen me speak with Sucre. She could see through his glamour just as well as I could. The Hessian princess had her eyes fixed on me with a mixture of revulsion and sadness. There was nothing I could do but smile sweetly back. As I finished my breakfast, I prayed she had not been serious when she had threatened to kill me.