The Unfailing Light

The next week there was to be a late-summer ball at the imperial palace of Livadia. It was held every August for Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna's birthday. The ancient woman was a great-aunt of the tsar, and Dark and Light Court members were not invited; they were simply obligated to attend. Everyone, from the youngest maidens to the elderly matrons, wore dazzling white dresses and their most brilliant diamonds.

I had not seen George again, and I assumed glumly that he'd decided it would be better to leave without saying goodbye. I was not looking forward to the ball.

Dariya tried to cheer me, instructing Anya to fix my hair in a new style that night. My dull wheat-colored hair had a golden cast to it in the candlelight at the ball. Maman looked pleased. "All of the young men will be eager to dance with you!" She kissed me on the forehead.

Papa was still in St. Petersburg, so we were escorted by my uncle Evgene Maximilianovich. Aunt Zina fussed with the rose in his lapel during the entire carriage ride to the palace. "Those petals are faded around the edges! It looks so shabby! You must replace it with one of the empress's roses as soon as you can make your way to the gardens."

"Yes, dear," Uncle Evgene said meekly.

Dariya clutched my hand tightly as she stared out the window, eager to catch a glimpse of the rest of the aristocracy arriving at the palace. I tried to ignore the conversation between my aunt and uncle. I would not be so foolish as to meddle with dead flowers tonight.

"There's the princess of Greece!" my cousin whispered. "And I think her brother is with her. Do you think his parents are still planning to marry him to the Swedish princess? I know the families are related."

Most of Europe's royalty was related. We shared one large, twisted and tangled family tree. I could claim ties with most likely all of the people dancing inside the palace. I was related to witches and fae and, quite possibly, even a few wolf-folk. There was at least one other necromancer, if my cousin was to be believed. Dariya's mother, who died several years ago, had shared my talent.

However, I knew of no blood drinkers in my family, thank God.

The Montenegrins were the first guests we ran into after we were announced in the Livadia ballroom. Princess Elena and her older sister, now Duchess Anastasia of Leuchtenberg, were whispering together when they spotted us. "Katerina Alexandrovna, what a wonderful surprise!" Anastasia said. She was my aunt now, after her marriage to Maman's youngest brother, but I refused to dutifully kiss her on the cheek.

"Stay away from me," I said as quietly as I could.

"No hug for a dear friend?" Elena said, reaching forward to embrace me. She made my skin crawl. I did not raise my arms to embrace her back, but instead waited for her to let go of me. "Danilo sends his love," she whispered in my ear.

"I have nothing to say to you, Elena. Or your brother." I just wanted the crown prince to leave me in peace. It would be nice if his sisters would do the same.

"Take a turn with us in the gardens?" Aunt Anastasia asked, her cold hand gripping my arm painfully. She would not be refused. I glanced around, torn between calling for help and not wishing to cause a scene.

Maman and Aunt Zina and Dariya had already been swept up into the dancing on the marble terrace. Aunt Zina was merrily waltzing with the tsar's youngest brother, the flirtatious Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich. Handsome young Prince Kotchoubey had claimed Dariya's hand. Uncle Evgene had quickly disappeared, either to steal one of the empress's roses or, much more likely, to join the other men in the card room.

Brightly lit luminarias dotted the grounds, and a string quartet played Tchaikovsky's latest waltz from the rose-covered gazebo. The sea breeze cooled the garden and carried the heavy scents of jasmine and roses across the night.

Anastasia and her sister steered me away from the dancing crowds, into the mazes of rosebushes. Hundreds of blossoms in every color bloomed with a vengeance. The perfume hung in the air, too sweet for me to breathe.

Far off in the darkness, we could hear the raspy call of an owl.

Elena grabbed her sister's arm, looking slightly panicked. Then she smiled at me sheepishly. "Did you know there are some blood drinkers that can turn into owls? They only drink the blood of other vampires."

"Indeed?" I asked, the hair on the back of my neck standing up. I wondered if they knew about Madame Elektra. I wondered why Miechen had not told me the green-eyed elderly woman could change shapes.

"You know that is only a rumor," Anastasia said. "Most likely."

"And where is Militza?" I asked, wondering why she hadn't been present to ambush me as well.

"She is still on her honeymoon with Grand Duke Peter Nikolayevich," Elena said. "They're visiting Egypt to see the pyramids."

"How wonderful," I said, truly thankful that she was not with us. Of all the daughters of the Montenegrin king, Militza, now a grand duchess and leader of the St. Petersburg vampires, frightened me the most. "And your parents are well?" I could be polite with the Montenegrins as long as they did not try to drink my blood in the empress's garden.

Anastasia stopped to inhale the scent of a dark-red damask rose. "The queen is well. She awaits the birth of her next child in the fall. Our father is ecstatic."

Of course. I'd noticed Queen Milena was pregnant when I was abducted to the Montenegrin palace earlier that year. The queen would be giving birth to one more blood drinker. I could not be any less happy for her.

"Your aunt was telling us that you visited the Massandra caves last week," Anastasia said. "Did you enjoy them?"

I did not wish to discuss the caves with the Montenegrins. "What do you want from me? Why have you brought me out here?"

Anastasia shuddered delicately, pulling her lace shawl over her shoulder. "Every time I've been to the Massandra estate, I have a terrible feeling, as if something very bad has happened there." She looked at me very intently. "Did you feel anything strange, Katerina?"

"Of course not," I lied. I wondered how many people knew of the throne room inside the caves. Did the Montenegrin princess know about the strange cold-light realm?

"Are you as anxious as I am to be returning to Smolny?" Elena asked. "I have missed everyone so."

I shook my head and smiled. "I will not be returning this fall." I was so thankful I would be safe from Elena's mischief. I was filled with relief that I would no longer have to sleep in the same room with her. "I will be attending medical school in Zurich."

Anastasia rolled her eyes and stopped to sit down on a marble bench. "Why on earth would you want to do such a thing?"

Elena looked at me with reproach. "That is terrible news. You and your cousin will both be gone, then." She sighed and glanced at a moth that was fluttering around one of the luminarias. "Oh well, I shall still have the Bavarian princesses to talk to."

"Please give them my regards," I said. They would continue to be vulnerable to Elena and her veshtiza poison. But surely the empress had some way to protect the students since she was allowing Elena to return to Smolny. I could not find it in my heart to forgive the Montenegrins for kidnapping me and using me in their brother's blood ritual. Or for poisoning my cousin.

I was almost certain there was nothing they could do to me here, at the empress's palace, but still I felt anxious and did not want to be alone with them any longer than necessary. I wished I could escape from the princesses and return to the ball. Not that there was anyone there that I wished to dance with. Where could George Alexandrovich be? What was so important that he was allowed to miss his great-aunt's birthday party?

Anastasia sighed. "If only Marija were still alive, my darling. She would have still been at Smolny with you."

Elena grabbed my hands and squeezed. Very tightly. "You remember our sister Marija, do you not?"

The Montenegrin princess had died several years ago, when Elena and I were only twelve. "Of course," I said, pulling my hands away. "She was beautiful, and very shy." The very opposite in temperament to the rest of her sisters. But she'd been a veshtiza as well. Had she ever stolen blood from me? I repressed a shudder.

"Heavens, we must return to the dancing!" Anastasia said, as she stood back up. "Elena was hoping the tsarevitch would be here this evening."

"Is he?" I asked halfheartedly. My mood lightened somewhat when the princesses turned around on the garden path and we headed back to the palace.

"I heard Princess Kotchoubey say the tsarevitch and his brother would be joining us later. The empress is looking splendid tonight, don't you think?"

Was George still here in the Crimea? My spirits lifted a little. I wanted to race to the ballroom and search for him.

"If you will please excuse me, I just remembered I have promised a polonaise to one of my brother's friends. I'd better hurry along." I nodded and almost skipped off, before they could detain me any longer.

There was, of course, no sign of the tsarevitch or his brother. But I did see the empress, in a beautiful snow-white gown embroidered with so many diamonds she shimmered. She was wearing her favorite tiara, the one made for Katerina the Great. Grand Duchess Xenia was at her side, wearing a sweet white dress and a pearl-encrusted kokoshnik on her head. The grand duchess smiled when she saw me. The empress did not.

I knew it was impossible to hope that she might one day change her mind about me. And I really couldn't blame her. I wouldn't want my child to marry a necromancer either.

I did end up dancing with two young gentlemen, especially after my mother remarked that I was behaving like a wallflower. But neither the grand duke nor his brother showed up at the palace that night.

The ball ended with a grand display of fireworks out over the water. They lit the sky as bright as day with sunbursts of rainbow-colored lights. All of the guests clapped enthusiastically.

Dariya came out on the terrace with me to watch the fireworks. She leaned over the railing, out of breath from dancing so much. "It's a pity you can't make a wish on them, like falling stars."

I turned to look at her. "What would you wish for?"

Her face lit up with the explosion of another burst of fire in the sky. She was looking across the lawn at the young Prince Kotchoubey. He was dancing with one of the empress's ladies-in-waiting, but glanced over at us and gave Dariya a shy smile. She sighed. "That this night would never have to end."

The fireworks were dazzling, but the air was soon smoky and smelled of sulfur. I stared at the last dying bursts of light in the sky with an odd, vaguely ominous feeling in my stomach. I squeezed my eyes shut, making a wish of my own, trying to ward off any evil.

We returned home long after midnight, with Aunt Zina complaining of her bleeding feet. I couldn't see why, as a married woman, she had needed to dance with all of those men, especially the tsar's brother, but I kept my thoughts to myself. Uncle Evgene did not seem to mind.

Dariya looked happy, but tired as well. Even Maman appeared to have had a good time. I was the only person who seemed glad the birthday ball was over.