The Ring of the Queen (The Lost Tsar Trilogy Book 1)

by Terri Dixon

It was night time when we reached Tver. I don’t know what I would have done without my watch. I don’t think there was any difference between afternoon and night except maybe it was a little bit darker. It was hard to tell. I don’t think that we ever would have found the town through all of that snow if that monster Hummer hadn’t had a good GPS system. I had no idea which direction was which in the dark and the snow. The moon was gone at that point, and it seemed cloudy out.

  We pulled into the train station, which seemed modern and state of the art. I’d always viewed European train stations as giant old hangar-like buildings where trains congregated as if they were on display. This one had a modern sculpture in the front and a statue of Lenin, which seemed a little out of place in modern Russia. I hadn’t seen anything so blatantly from the Communist Era until then on my trip. Peter said that they kept it for historical value. I believe that history should be preserved, so I liked it.

  There was a small hotel connected to the train station where we checked in for the night. We'd missed the last train of the evening. The man at the desk didn’t seem to recognize me either as the fugitive that the government was looking for or as the spitting image of Catherine the Great. I took the first comfortable breath I’d taken since I’d left Tish’s house. I hoped that I would be able to slip by and make my exit quietly from Russia.

  We got two separate rooms for the night. Peter never seemed to be at a loss for money. I guessed that working for his grandmother paid well. He was always pulling out debit cards and credit cards. He never seemed to think about the amounts. I’d never been able to live that way. I wondered what it was like. Rich was not something that I knew anything about.

  I was shocked when he handed the second key to Steve and kept one for himself. Before I could bring myself to say anything about it, Tania and Steve nearly ran for the elevator. I knew I was right about the two of them.

  “We’ll be back down here in half an hour, so we can find some food,” Tania called as she stepped into the elevator.

  I stood smiling, staring down at the floor. “Well, I guess that means that we share a room,” I said to Peter. I was also wondering about the half an hour comment from Tania. Seemed short.

  “Is that a problem?” Peter said, smiling at me.

  I felt myself blush. How embarrassing. “No,” I said, feeling a stupid grin form on my face.

  “Good,” he smiled back. Then he looked at the desk attendant. “Is the museum still open?” Peter asked the man behind the desk.

  The man barely looked up at us. “Yes. They’re having some of the local schools through this week, so they’re staying open late. You still have about an hour if you like.”

  “Great,” Peter replied. He looked at me and took my hand. “Come on, I have something to show you.”

  I followed him out the door of the hotel into the street.

  We left the train station hotel, and Peter hailed a taxi. We pulled up in front of a building that said “Old world ” all over it. There appeared to be a whole neighborhood of old buildings. They were beautiful and colorful and majestic, like they would have been in the days before Communism. I felt that we must be close to the museum that he’d been talking about. I didn’t know what else you would do with all those beautiful Tsar era buildings.

  Peter motioned to me to follow him up the steps of the yellow one. Inside he paid the entrance fee and we went into the museum. The museum was all about Catherine the Great. I couldn’t believe it. There were paintings of her everywhere. There were pieces of furniture and books and lamps and clothes and jewels and all kinds of things that had belonged to her.

  “This was her house,” Peter said to me, as we stood in the first room. “She had it built here for her use when she traveled between and . Everything here actually belonged to her.” He took both my hands. “This is a huge part of your history. I thought you’d like to see it.”

  I stood in awe. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. “This woman was family to me,” I said, trying to overcome a feeling of emotion that I couldn’t explain. “This incredible woman was an ancestor of mine. How can this be? I don’t understand. I can’t be one of them. I don’t fit in.”

  Peter took my hand and pointed out a painting on the wall. It was of her. “You look just like her honey. Look into those eyes. Those eyes are your past. You are the image of that woman. You are a Tsarina. Whether you fit in or not, it’s your destiny.”

  “I know you want me to stay and take on the entire country, but I can’t,” I replied. “I don’t have what it takes to follow in her footsteps.” I said, gesturing to the painting. “I’m sorry.”

  Peter reached out to me and drew me in close to him. He held me tight. “It’s okay. It’s a lot to throw at you. I understand. The timing isn’t right. Someday you’ll feel differently. Someday you’ll find a reason to return and fight the government here and take your place. That's why I made that ring.”

  “I think you’re wrong about that,” I told him. “I’m an American. I don't know how to be Russian.”

  Then I heard Santa Claus is Coming to Town again. I reached into my pocket and got out my sat phone. I answered the phone. It was Tania. She sounded hysterical.

  “They’re here!” she screamed at me. “The secret police are here! They’re arresting us! Where are you?” The phone shut off.

  “We have to go,” I said to Peter.

  “What was that all about?” he asked me.

  “That was Tania. She and Steve were just arrested.” I saw the look of horror on his face. “That’s all I know. The line went dead on me.”

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked. “You don’t want to get involved in this. Let me handle it. You need to stay hidden or you won’t get home.”

  “It’s me they’re after. They don’t want Tania or Steve. They want me. We all know that.”

  “I thought you didn’t want any part of this? I thought that you said all you wanted was to go back to and get on with your life.”

  “What’s your point?” I asked, getting angrier by the minute.

  “If you go after Tania and Steve, you may end up in the middle of this after all. There most likely will be no turning back. It’s what they want you to do. They want to draw you out where they can squash you like a bug. Why would you subject yourself to that kind of danger? Why is it suddenly worth risking your life for?”

  I stopped by the exit as I was walking out of the building and turned to face Peter. “Why?” I exclaimed. “I’ll tell you why. They can look all over for me. They can steal my passport. They can put my face on TV and call me a criminal. I don’t care. Tania and Steve have nothing to do with this except for the fact that they happened to be around when all of this started and were nice enough to try and help me. Why would I suddenly decide to take them on? I’ll tell you why. Because they are what you said they are. They’re gangsters and thugs. They act like bullies. They’re cowards and I have no respect for them. Now they’ll have to deal with me, because I’m pissed off.” I put my hand out to him, palm up. “Give me the keys to that Hummer. I saw Steve hand them to you at the hotel.” I waited. He just stared at me. “Well?” I asked, half demanding.

  Peter slowly reached into his pocket and handed me the keys. “What do you intend to do?” he asked, nervously.

  “I’m not completely sure,” I snapped. “I hope your grandma really likes me, cause she’s not going to like what I’m about to do to her car.”

 

  The Ring of the Queen