The Unfailing Light (31 page)

“But you’ve been serving as Koldun all this time. Does your brother trust you?”

“Both Light and Dark Courts serve the tsar, Katerina,” the Koldun said. “Despite my wife’s ambitions.”

“Of course, there is always the slightest chance something could happen to the tsar and his family,” I said, thinking of the train accident at Kharkov. “And you would inherit the throne.”

“Anything is possible,” the grand duke said. “But now I think my wife’s fondest wish will never come true. This is the ending that I deserve.”

“No one deserves to stay here, Your Imperial Highness. Not even you.”

The Koldun’s eyes were sad. “There is nothing you can do, Katerina Alexandrovna. I am dead. I will remain here until it is time to meet my final judgment.”

“Did the grand duchess know what you were attempting to do this evening?”

“Of course not.
L’Ordre du Lis Noir
is the inner secret circle of the Order of St. John. The actions of the innermost circle are known only to the Coven of Thirteen.”

“Your Imperial Highness, you should know that the Montenegrin crown prince was also part of Sucre’s plot. He stole the Talisman of Isis from your staff and was trying to raise Konstantin from the dead.”

The Koldun turned even paler than he already was. “But they did not succeed?”

I shook my head. “They still need a necromancer. I chose to come here rather than help them bring the lich tsar there. I guess you will have to get used to my company.”

The Koldun did not laugh. “But you do not belong here, my dear. This is the land of the dead.”

“And where else should a necromancer live?” I tried to sound light and frivolous, as if I did not care that I’d thrown my life away.

“St. Petersburg. In the land of the living. Especially a pretty young thing like you.” His laugh dissolved into a coughing fit.

If he’d meant to make me blush he’d succeeded. “Are you injured, Your Imperial Highness?” I had not noticed any bleeding or signs of trauma. How exactly had the spirits sent him here?

His coughing settled down. “I am dying from the inside out, Duchess. Look at my cold light.”

I looked at him closely, and saw he was correct. The cold light was dimming around his heart; it streamed outward, pouring out of his body, where it became brighter. There was nothing I could do. I felt more helpless than I had at Christmas when I saw the dying soldier in the hospital. I closed my eyes to blink back the tears. “Does it hurt?”

The Koldun’s smile did not reach his eyes.

I couldn’t stop the tears then. I couldn’t stand knowing that he was suffering and I was unable to help him.

“Please don’t cry, my dear. I have lived a good life.”

“Think of your wife. And your children.” His sons, whom I’d danced with every Christmas at the Children’s Ball: Kyril, Boris, and Andrei. His little daughter, Helena. They needed their father.

“There is nothing you can do, Duchess. You are very gifted, especially for one so young. But to bring a person back from this realm, and not as a ghoul, would take a very powerful magic. I do not dare to hope you could pull such a thing off.”

“Would it hurt to try?” But I already knew the risks. I could irrevocably damage his soul. And mine as well. “Do you know what I would have to do?”

He closed his eyes, looking more and more weary. “I would not even know where to look to find such a ritual. It
is blasphemous. The most unholy of unspeakable acts.” He coughed again. “Do not attempt it for my sake. It will damn you more swiftly than anything else.”

“And was there nothing the Dark Court queen could do to protect you?” I asked. “Didn’t she have spells woven around you as the empress of the Light Court does for the Tsar?”

The Koldun shrugged with a faint, helpless smile.

Then he coughed again, sounding even more pitiful. I looked around me at the darkness, trying to decide what to do. I wondered what would happen if I dragged him to the throne and sent him back that way. I couldn’t go with him, because the wizards might still be waiting for me. For all I knew, they had been counting on me coming here and sending the Koldun back all along. I felt horribly and wretchedly used. By everyone.

I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to hear the lich tsar’s daughter sneak up on me.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
 

S
uddenly I was hit with a force that knocked the breath out of me. “Necromancer! What have you done to me?”

I tried to stand back up, and wished the darkness would stop spinning. “Sophia Konstantinova? Is that you?” I ducked as soon as I saw her rushing toward me again.

“You took me away from my home! Now Johanna will find me!”

“No!” I winced as I felt another sharp blow to my back. I tried to curl up into a ball. “Sophia, Johanna cannot find you here. And Smolny was not your home.”

“Of course it was! Where else did I have people that cared about me? You even took Madame Metcherskey away from me!”

Ouch. “I’m so sorry, Sophia.”

“Take me back to Smolny!”

“No.” I curled up even tighter. She had to quit hitting me sooner or later.

“Take me back!”

Ouch. “I cannot.”

She stopped hitting me. “Then I will tell my father you are here!”

“Do you know where he is?” I raised my head cautiously. She was already moving away from me. Much too quickly.

She giggled. “Of course! Come and see him! He is dying to see you.”

I glanced back at the Koldun, who was resting quietly with only the occasional moan. “Perhaps I should stay with the grand duke. He is not feeling well, Sophia.”

Sophia Konstantinova giggled again, farther away this time. “Of course he’s not feeling well. He’s dying.”

I looked down at Grand Duke Vladimir. He was much paler than before, and his breathing had changed. He was barely breathing at all. He looked up at me, cold sweat breaking out on his skin. “I will have to send you back soon,” I told him. “Or it will be too late.”

His eyes darkened and he grabbed my wrist. “I don’t want to be a ghoul, Duchess.”

“Think of your wife. And your children.”

“I am thinking of them! I cannot return to them in this state.”

I looked down at the Koldun, my thoughts torn. Grand Duchess Miechen would never forgive me for not doing everything I could to save her husband. But would she want the grand duke back if it meant he would be a walking corpse? It would be a shame for the children to lose their father. But they did not need to see him like this.

“NECROMANCER!” The swirling gray mists of the cold light parted. I knew Konstantin was drawing near.

Had Sophia discovered a way to release him from his bonds?

The ground below my feet vibrated. The Koldun moaned as his body shifted. “Guard … the … throne …,” the dying man whispered. “Do not let him sit down.…”

I should have destroyed the throne when I first came across it in the Massandra caves. And if I could have done so now, I would have. “Your Imperial Highness, do you know a spell that could destroy the throne?”

His eyes opened immediately. “Impossible! You must leave now and the throne will disappear from this place.”

“But the wizards will be waiting for me.”

“Would you rather face the Black Magi or the lich tsar and his daughter?”

The Koldun had a very logical point.

I held my hand out to him. “Your family needs you, Your Imperial Highness. The Graylands are not for you. You cannot become a ghoul if you do not die. Come back with me and we will take you to my father’s hospital. Dr. Ostrev is a brilliant physician. And we will consult the Tibetan doctor, Badmaev, as well. He seems to have an uncanny knowledge of supernatural ailments.”

Recognition flashed in the grand duke’s eyes. “Dr. Badmaev took excellent care of Miechen when she lost the twins.”

The roar of the lich tsar grew louder, along with the shrill laughter of a young girl. The air was becoming unbearably cold.

“Come with me,” I said. Slowly, I helped him to stand. We had to get to the throne of Byzantium before the lich tsar reached us.

But Sophia reached us first. She grabbed my arms, tearing at my sleeves. “Katerina Alexandrovna! You must not leave me!”

I fought her off and helped the Koldun to the throne, where he slumped into its seat. “Hurry,” he said, his voice weak. “But do not let her come with us.”

I turned around. “Sophia, you must stay here, this is where you belong now. With your father.”

“And you must stay with me!” She was very strong. As hard as I tried to stay near the throne, she pulled me away.

“No. I do not belong here. Let me go.”

“Katerina Alexandrovna!” The Koldun cried out and fainted. I had to hurry if I was going to save his life.

Sophia would not loosen her hold on me. Her icy fingers dug into my shoulders, and I shoved against her as hard as I could. “Konstantin Pavlovich is coming, Duchess,” she said. “He will come and make you stay with me. You must do as he says. He is the tsar.”

“He is not my tsar. Nor will he ever be.” I finally had enough leverage to push her away. She stumbled back, and I ran for the throne.

“The path to the light travels straight through the darkness,” I shouted, and grabbed hold of the Koldun’s cold hand as the shadows began to swirl around the throne. There was barely room for me to sit down, and I was improperly close to the Koldun, but at that moment, propriety was not my concern.

Sophia’s screams lingered in my head as the throne took us away from the Graylands. I breathed a sigh of relief as the mists cleared and I once again found myself in the Great Hall of Vorontsov Palace. The room was full of the tsar’s imperial guard.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
 

I
jumped up, checking the Koldun’s wrist for a pulse. There was still one present, barely. “Someone help us please!” I cried. “We need a doctor immediately!”

“Katiya?
Mon Dieu
, we thought we’d lost you!” It was my brother, pushing through the crowd of soldiers.

Close behind him was George Alexandrovich. He stopped when he saw the Koldun. “Duchess, what have you done?”

I couldn’t meet his eyes. “The Koldun needs a doctor, right away. Can you send for the Tibetan?”

He left without another word. Petya called for his men to find a cot for the Koldun. They helped make Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich comfortable as we waited for Dr. Badmaev. “Good God, Katiya,” my brother said. “Why would you do such a dangerous thing?”

“What else should I have done? Where are the crown prince and Sucre?”

“They have been arrested and taken to the Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, along with Papus. The tsar will see them in the morning. Do not worry. They are held at the fortress by strong magic. They cannot hurt anyone anymore.” Petya embraced me tightly. It was as if he did not want to let me go. “I never thought I would see you again, brat,” he whispered.

I smiled and sniffed back a few tears. “You couldn’t be so lucky.”

“Katerina Alexandrovna?” Princess Alix pushed her way through the imperial guards and would have pushed Petya away if he hadn’t smartly stepped aside. She threw her arms around me. She whispered in my ear, “Thank you, for everything you did tonight. I will never forget that you risked your own life for mine.”

The tsarevitch was standing behind her, and bowed smartly. “Nor will I, Duchess,” he said softly. Alix stepped back and allowed him to take her arm. “I am escorting the princess of Hesse back to Smolny. Will you be joining us?”

I shook my head. “I want to look after the Koldun until Dr. Badmaev arrives. But thank you kindly, Your Imperial Highness.”

“I will talk with you tomorrow, then,” Alix said, squeezing my hand once more. “God bless you, Katerina Alexandrovna.”

“Thank you,” I said, not knowing what else I could say. I did not know if God looked favorably upon any of my actions that night. I had upset the natural balance, and defied death, by bringing the Koldun back.

Dr. Badmaev finally arrived sometime after Alix and the tsarevitch had left. I might have fallen asleep briefly, because Petya shook me gently to get out of the doctor’s way. I stood up and moved away from the sleeping Koldun.

The Tibetan doctor smiled at me. “You have done a very brave thing, Duchess. Why don’t you return to Smolny and get a good night’s rest?”