“My husband’s sons,” Veronika said. “Your Imperial Highness has decided their disposition?” She didn’t sound very concerned, but she was going through the moves.
Alexei looked over at his wife’s aide. I wondered where his own aide was.
It was like Captain McMurtry had read my mind.
He said, “It’s hard to imagine, but the tsar’s own aide was colluding with Bogdan and Dagmar Savarov to make our emperor look frail and weak and to promote Grand Duke Alexander as his replacement.”
“That’s shocking,” Veronika said, exactly as if she were hearing it for the first time.
“Now that Alexander is out of the picture, we have discovered documents that confirm he was lying when he swore to the tsar that he had no part in that plan,” McMurtry continued. He might almost have been speaking from a piece of paper. I wondered if he’d written this out ahead of time. “Those traitors who were in Alexander’s camp have been exposed, and they will stand trial. As for Bogdan, he had presented the tsar with assurances of his faithfulness, which makes his involvement all the more culpable.”
I’d started thinking about something else, so I wasn’t sure I was following all this. That was a lot of words. If Alexander was supposed to have been assassinated by Bogdan—and Bogdan had been arrested for that—how come the tsar was now sure that Bogdan (and his brother Dagmar) had been on Alexander’s side all the time? I wanted to ask some questions, but everyone was looking so pleased I decided I better keep my mouth shut.
I could see past the tsar’s head out the front window, where cars were clogging Hickory Street. There were soldiers in the front yard. Good. But as I watched, I noticed some of them were drifting off in the direction of the intersection to the east, and I heard some noise coming from there. No one else seemed to notice this, but McMurtry had a little frown on his face, and I caught his eye. I jerked my head. He went to the window.
“Your Imperial Highness, I must step out for a moment. Something is happening in the street. Please stay away from the windows, sir.”
Caroline’s eyes widened. For the first time, she looked directly at her husband. Alexei took her hand and said, “I’m sure everything is fine, my dearest.”
Caroline tried to look calm, but as someone who’d recently been attacked, that wasn’t easy for her. “At least the baby is safe,” she said.
That remained to be seen. If the palace troops were loyal, and if the palace servants were loyal, both iffy, then Crown Prince Nicholas was safe. The Romanovs were going from the frying pan into the fire.
“Eli,” I said, very quietly. He looked at me. “Where are your sisters?”
“They’ve gone to the corner grocery with Peter,” Eli said. “They should be back by now.”
“Excuse me, your highnesses,” I said, remembering to bow before I ran up the stairs to retrieve my guns. I was back down the stairs before McMurtry returned.
“No vest,” Eli said to me. I wondered where Eli’s vest had ended up. I hoped not with anyone who knew how to use its contents.
The phone rang. Veronika hurried into the hall to answer it. She held it out to Eli.
“Yes,” he said, and waited. His shoulders relaxed a little. “Felix,” he told me.
Eli’s face was wooden as he listened a bit. “Felix, thanks for the news. We have royal visitors. And my sisters are at the corner grocery with Peter. Yes, the one three blocks away. I have no idea if it’s safer there or here.” Eli listened again. “Good to know,” he said finally, and put the telephone in its cradle.
“Your Imperial Highness,” Eli began, and stopped, took a deep breath. “The followers of Grand Duke Alexander, led by his son Vasily, are attempting a coup. They know they won’t be spared if they aren’t successful.”
Alexei’s blue eyes were fixed on Eli. “Vasily is a base fellow,” he said. “He will fight like a cornered rat.”
I left them to their discussion. I went to the hall telephone.
I called the Rasputin School. I knew the voice that answered. “Tom O’Day,” I said. “I’m Felicia’s sister, Lizbeth Rose. Did you know that Alexander is dead and his son Vasily is attacking the emperor?”
“That’s treason,” O’Day said, after a pause.
“Then you come defend your tsar. We are at Eli’s home on Hickory Street. The tsar and tsarina are here. They are in danger. Are you loyal?”
“I’m loyal,” O’Day said without hesitation.
“Then you come defend your tsar.”
“I’ll bring everyone who has power.”
“Lilias Abramova should come,” I said, remembering her promise. I described the situation to the grigori so he wouldn’t be walking into more danger than he had to.
I returned to the front parlor. The royal couple was looking anxiously in my direction. They’d heard a bit of what I’d said. “Grigoris are coming,” I said. “The school is behind you.”
There was some shouting and screaming from behind the house.
Eli, stationed by the front window, said, “Mother, please go see what’s happening out there. Don’t show yourself.”
Veronika hurried out of the room.
There was an explosion. It was strong enough to make the ground shake for a second. I could see smoke billowing across the clear blue sky. My guns were in my hands.
Sounded like it was coming from the east, where we’d seen the tsar’s escort turning. I stood by the window, mostly hidden by the curtains, and looked out. I heard gunfire. Not far away. Not far enough.
“Crap,” I said. When the tsar gave me a funny look, I figured he didn’t hear that very often.
“Sir, you and the tsarina should go upstairs,” Eli said. “As well as your aunt.” He nodded at Xenia.
“My wife and Aunt Xenia should be safe upstairs. I will stay and defend this house,” Alexei said, sounding quite calm. “You were loyal to me. I will be loyal to you.”
Veronika went down on one knee to give Alexei a pistol. It was beautiful, but it was no time to inspect it. “This was my husband’s,” she said. “Now you can turn it to good use.”
“Lizbeth,” Eli said in a gentle voice.
I glared at him. I knew what was coming.
“Please. Guard the tsarina,” he said.
“I stand by you,” I said, feeling my lips pull back from my teeth.
“Lizbeth.”
“Eli. I just got you back.”
I met his eyes, my whole face hard as iron.
“Lizbeth, please take my mother, the tsarina, and Xenia Alexandrovna. Upstairs.”
He’d thrown his mom into the pot.
I gave up.
I jerked my head to the stairs. “Ladies, please go up.” I could not be bothered to waste time with titles. Veronika sort of corralled the tsarina and the tsar’s aunt with a sweeping hostess gesture, and without haste they went to the staircase.
“You better not die,” I told Eli.
He smiled at me. “You know me better,” he said. “I’m going to look in my room for my old vest. I think I left it here.” He practically ran up the stairs to one of the bedrooms.
I said the worst words I could think of as I herded the three women up the stairs. But I said them in my head.
Xenia climbed the stairs heavily, her hand gripping the banister. Caroline kept looking back at her husband. I wondered what she was thinking. How brave Alexei was being? What would happen to her if he died? Was their son safe? Veronika looked determined.
Felicia’s voice called out from the kitchen door, “Don’t shoot! Felix is here!”
“Felicia! Up here with me!”
In a moment my sister was bounding up the stairs. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I got the women to keep safe,” I said, making it clear how I felt about that. “You better help.”
Felicia nodded, her dark head with its neat braids bobbing up and down. “I will stand with you.”
For a moment, I put one arm around her. “Thanks, sister,” I said. �
�I’ll bet you’re loaded with surprises. Boom first, magic after, okay?”
“I understand.” Felicia pulled her pocket open to show me it was full of pebbles. Explosive spells, made by a beginning grigori. I had to bite the inside of my mouth. We might as well be waving smoking sticks of dynamite.
“How come you didn’t go to the store with the others?”
“Eh, I had a feeling I was needed more here,” Felicia said.
“Felix didn’t bring Peter and the girls?”
“He came in the back door pretty upset, but he didn’t tell me why.”
Eli ran up the stairs to the third floor. He was wearing a vest, yellow with age, but its pockets were bulgy. Good.
“What’s he going to do?” Veronika said.
“I think he’s going to defend the house from the roof. There’s a way to get on it?”
“He could climb out the attic window,” Veronika said doubtfully.
I nodded. That’s what he would do, then.
I couldn’t do anything about the risk of this now. Time to make the second floor harder to breach.
“Let’s block the stairs,” I said, and Felicia and I threw chairs down. When Caroline and Veronika understood what we were doing, they joined in with vigor, while Xenia pointed out movable chairs. I glimpsed the tsar in the hall below, carrying the pistol that had belonged to Eli’s dad. He looked like he knew what he was doing.
Captain McMurtry made a big entrance on his return. He flung open the front door and fell through it. Six men came in after him and pulled him to his feet to get him out of the way. They slammed the door behind them and locked it. As soon as the men (three very well dressed, three ordinary people) saw Alexei was present, they knelt.
“These are my neighbors,” Veronika said, looking down the stairs into the hall and sounding surprised. “The captain has recruited help.”
“Good idea,” I said, hoping that all these men were really on the tsar’s side, and hadn’t just sneaked in under the cloak of loyalty.
Just as the thought crossed my mind, one of the men pulled a knife from under his coat and raised it, his body beginning to lunge toward Alexei.
I put a bullet through his head.
There was a long silence. All the men on the ground floor were staring from me to the man whose head had a big hole in it. The knife lay by his hand.
The tsar spoke first. “I’m obliged to you, Lizbeth Rose,” he said, inclining his head as he turned to look up at me.
“Think nothing of it, sir,” I told the tsar. I was keeping my eyes on the rest of the newcomers, in case some of them were likewise inclined. They didn’t budge. And they didn’t offer to shoot me back, though they all had firearms of one kind or another.
Behind me, Veronika said, “Ford is hurt.” Her voice was as tense as a bowstring. While we were all looking at one another, Captain McMurtry was bleeding in the front hall. I took a moment to make sure his hands were moving. One of them was, anyway.
“If Eli has time, he’ll work on him,” I said. “Eli’s pretty good at healing.” It worried me that Eli had been out of sight for so long. Since he’d run back to talk to Felix, he hadn’t returned.
“He is?” Veronika said.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “He’s been a big help to me.”
“Because… you get hurt a lot?” Caroline asked.
“Bound to happen when people are shooting back at you.” I kept my eyes on the men. The well-dressed one who’d brought in the traitor was blubbering and crying on his knees. The dead man had been his valet, he was saying. I didn’t know what that was.
“Dead guy helped the weeping willow get dressed every day,” Felicia said in Spanish. I didn’t know if she’d read my mind or if she’d caught me looking puzzled. “Took care of his clothes.”
“Really?” I could hardly believe anyone could make a living doing such a thing. Who needed help putting on his clothes? Only babies or the very old, and there were few of those in Texoma.
“Yep.” Felicia nodded. “So, we dying here today?” She sounded bright and brave, but her hands were shaking.
“Nope. Not in the Holy Russian Empire.”
“You thought if you shot Alexander this would all be done?”
“I did.”
“I thought so, too,” Felicia said very quietly. “But yesterday one of his cousins told me the oldest son, Vasily, was real good at maneuvering his father into doing things Alexander hadn’t intended.”
“So it would have been better if I’d gotten Vasily.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
I shrugged. “Didn’t know.”
This was always the hard part, waiting on the action to start. I wondered how many men were on this Vasily’s side, how well they were armed. How loyal the tsar’s men were.
I heard gunfire growing closer.
I wondered where Peter, Lucy, and Alice were. Their trip to the corner store… worst timing ever.
I wondered where Eli was and what he was doing.
I’d told my sister we weren’t dying here. Maybe I’d been lying.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Captain McMurtry had quit swearing, so I guessed he was unconscious or dead. I checked my guns again. Missing two bullets, same as last time. I had some extra ammo in my bag upstairs, and I sent Felicia up for it. Replaced the bullets. Wished again for my Winchester. Listened to the tsarina, Xenia, and Veronika praying together.
“Felicia, you think there’s anything suspicious about the girls and Peter deciding to get out of the house on the very day the house is attacked?” She hadn’t spoken in several minutes, but I knew she was behind me.
Most girls her age would have exclaimed or been astounded. Not Felicia. “I’m not sure who would be the guilty one,” she said. “Not all three of them. Peter really loves and admires Eli. I don’t know Lucy and Alice. Felix talks about Lucy with respect. Alice is just a girl. I think when the tsar walked in, Veronika didn’t have anything to offer him as refreshments, and she sent the kids to the store since there’s no maid.”
That “just a girl” was kind of funny, since Alice was about the same age as Felicia.
“You trust Felix?” I said, just to be talking.
“He’s a great grigori, very dangerous. Trust? I don’t know. He’s clever.”
“I’ve seen him in action. You’re right about him being dangerous.”
“I’m envious.”
“Honey, you’ll see Felix kill people if you know him any longer than this. They may not stay dead.” I thought of the dead man I’d re-killed at the park. Ugh.
“I hope I have that much power,” Felicia muttered.
When she grew up? I was scared to ask why. But then she told me.
“I want to stand on my own, so I don’t ever have to do something I don’t want to do,” she said.
“I’m scared to ask.”
“Not sex stuff,” she said directly. “But our father made me the bait in some of his money-making schemes.”
“Don’t tell me now. Tell me tomorrow.”
“What should I do, if you die?”
“Go back to the school. Eli will take care of you.”
“What if he dies?”
Now she sounded every bit as young as I’d thought her.
“Felix will take an interest, and Peter. And the tsarina promised to watch out for you. Don’t ask me what you’ll do if they die, too. That’s as far as I can go.”
“I will watch out for you, Felicia,” the tsarina said. I hadn’t known she’d been listening.
“There you go, sister,” I said, not turning my eyes. “The tsarina will be your sponsor.”
“Thank you,” Felicia said meekly. But her voice was empty. Felicia and I both knew the person most likely to die this day was Caroline.
I closed my eyes, listening. The fighting was getting closer. No way of knowing if this was just a local melee, or citywide. No way of knowing if help was coming or not. They’d string me up, I figured, for Grand D
uke Alexander. Not an easy death.
Oh, well. Eli was free. Again, I wondered why he wasn’t at the door. The tsar was there. Then I heard footsteps overhead on the little-used third floor. Sounded like Eli. I smiled as I figured out what he was going to do.
“Felicia, get up there,” I said.
“What?”
“Up on the third floor with Eli. You got things he needs. I guess he got on the roof from a window. He’s defending from there.”
Felicia had made a noise of protest, but when she understood me, she scrambled to her feet and ran to the staircase. I could hear her throwing open windows to find out how to climb up. Felicia would do it.
The noise of the fight was so close now I knew it was at the end of the Savarovs’ driveway.
Deep steady breaths, now.
Yelling, and sounds of many feet on the gravel driveway. I set my attention on the front door, barricaded with the china cabinet from the dining room. Soon they would be on the other side of the door. Maybe they would set it afire.
I could hear Veronika taking ragged breaths behind me. “Steady, woman,” said Xenia Alexandrovna, in the calmest voice I’d ever heard. “They are dogs. My brother deserved to die, and so does his son.”
Then came the boom of an explosion.
I jumped as much as anyone else. “That was one of Felicia’s bombs,” I said, though I didn’t know if the women behind me could hear me.
It was right noisy.
The men inside the house, ready to defend it, were as surprised as the men who’d been running to the front door to break it in. There were yells of surprise inside. And screaming, but that was from outside.
Despite another explosion, a panel of the front door splintered about four minutes later. The neighbors all stood back, which was wise. The tsar had taken up a brave stance, and once again I felt a bit of surprise that he seemed to know what he was doing. I let Alexei shoot the first man.
After that, I started in.
If the numbers weren’t high, we could defend the house… if they kept targeting the front door. But sooner or later, we all would run out of ammunition, or they’d smash all the windows, or they’d come through the back door, or they’d set the house on fire. Only fools would keep trying the front door.
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