The Gathering Storm kt-1

by Robin Bridges

  “Katerina,” the grand duke said, his voice tired. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve. “You are not to blame.”

  “Your Imperial Highness,” Rudolf said nervously. “We have the results back from the toxicology report on Princess Cantacuzene. It was not hemlock, as we first believed, but frankincense.”

  “Where the devil would someone get that?”

  I pulled the small brown bottle out of my purse and opened it. “Badmaev,” I said. “The Tibetan doctor.” I held the bottle up for the grand duke to see, the heavy scent of frankincense filling the air. “But I don’t understand. Dr. Badmaev said this counteracts hemlock poisoning from veshtizas. Would it harm a vampire that was not a veshtiza? I thought the princess was another kind of vampire.”

  “Obviously, its effects were not permanent on her,” the grand duke said as he took the antidote from me. “Perhaps it is poison to all vampires. Or perhaps she is a different kind of veshtiza. Doctor, can you close off this room until General Tcherevine’s men arrive?”

  “Of course, Your Imperial Highness,” Rudolf said.

  The grand duke turned back to me. “Duchess, you will be safest if you come with me. We need to discover who poisoned the princess in the first place, and why.”

  “It was negligence on my part that caused the doctor’s death. He was looking so tired that I convinced him to lie down for a rest in the morgue. I should have known that Princess Cantacuzene would—”

  “Would what? Return from the dead?”

  I sighed and stared out the window. “She was a blood drinker. Who would have wanted to poison her?”

  “Can you think of anyone powerful enough to match Princess Ruxandra as her rival?”

  I shook my head. “The only enemies she ever spoke of were the Montenegrins. She believed Princess Militza wanted to take over the St. Petersburg bloodline.”

  “What did the princess do when she awoke?”

  I had to think for a moment. Everything had happened so fast. “I was holding her hand, and she opened her eyes and said, ‘They have taken the talisman.’ ”

  The grand duke looked puzzled. “Has she ever mentioned a talisman before?”

  “Not to me.”

  We had approached the clinic and herbal shop of Dr. Pyotr Badmaev. The grand duke looked at the sign on the door, which said all patients were welcome regardless of method of payment.

  “Are you ready?” he asked me. “Or do you need a minute?”

  I took a deep breath. “I am fine. But thank you for asking.” He was such an agreeable young man when he tried hard.

  He smiled, his faerie blue eyes lighting up. “You can be rather agreeable too, Duchess, at times.”

  I blushed. I had forgotten about his gift. I thought something very rude about him, and he just laughed out loud. “You should stay here in the carriage. I shall return as soon as the doctor tells me who bought the frankincense.”

  I nodded. Then I suddenly remembered. “Your Imperial Highness, she said something else when she awoke.”

  “Princess Cantacuzene?”

  “Yes, she said to protect the Dekebristi.”

  “The Dekebristi?” The grand duke’s face went pale. “Katerina, are you sure?”

  I nodded. “I know everyone says the Dekebristi are gone, but what if they aren’t? What if the vampires brought them back?”

  He sighed and rubbed his temples. “It means that we know who she was raising the undead army for. Stay here. I will speak with the Tibetan doctor and then we must hurry back to the palace. I must speak with my father immediately.”

  His face was grim, but he touched my cheek with the back of his hand, only for a moment, before leaving the carriage. My heart began to palpitate. My legs felt weak and shaky. The grand duke caused the strangest effects on my body.

  That was the last thing I thought before the grand duke stepped inside the clinic and everything went black.

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  I woke up in someone’s warm, strong arms with my head pounding. The grand duke? I had the tiniest happy feeling inside. Then I looked up and was immediately disappointed. And frightened.

  It was the crown prince Danilo. I had not known he was back in St. Petersburg. “What am I going to do with you, Katerina Alexandrovna?” he said, a menacing smile on his face. “I leave you alone briefly and you are off gallivanting in another man’s carriage.”

  “What did you do to me?” I tried to sit up and look around but the crown prince held me fast. The only thing I could see was that I was now in a different carriage. Even the horses’ hooves sounded different on the street. Were we still in St. Petersburg? “You must let me go.”

  “Must I, my love?” He stroked my hair. He laughed when I flinched. “We are leaving for Cetinje tonight, for my birthday celebration. Your mother has already been notified and has been invited to join us. She believes you are leaving on the train with my sisters. Your father has already given me your passport papers.”

  “You cannot do this.” I tried to struggle, but it was no use. The pain in the back of my head throbbed. I wondered if the grand duke could hear my thoughts. Your Imperial Highness? George? I was desperately trying to stay conscious. But the pain in my head was so intense my eyes closed again.

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  When I awoke, I was in a private compartment on a train. “The Sleeping Beauty!” Elena snickered from the sleeping berth above me.

  My head still pounded. I shut my eyes again, praying this would all go away. “Where are we?” I whispered.

  “Two hours from my homeland,” Elena said.

  The swaying of the train did nothing to help my head. “I have to go back,” I said.

  “There will be no going back, Katerina,” she said softly. “You belong in Cetinje, at Danilo’s side. He needs a powerful bride and you are the most powerful, and richest, necromancer in St. Petersburg.”

  I realized my hands were tied. The ropes were cutting into my wrists. I’d never felt less powerful in my life. I began to panic. “Please, Elena. I have no wish to marry your brother.”

  Elena laughed.

  I was growing more frightened by the minute, but I decided on another approach. “Who poisoned Cantacuzene?

  Was it Militza?”

  “You think you are a clever girl, Katerina.” Elena crawled out of the sleeping bunk and smiled. “Just wait until you meet my mother.”

  I smelled fresh air as we stepped down off the train. Prince Danilo held a protective arm around my waist, leading me to the royal family’s carriage. Several villagers waved and clapped, held back by guards with bayonets. “They have come to see their future crown princess,” Danilo whispered in my ear. “Give them a royal smile.”

  I forced a weak smile. I heard them shouting in a strange dialect I could not understand.

  He helped me into the carriage, where Elena, Militza, and Stana sat across from us. “How far to Cetinje?” I asked. The countryside was beautiful as we rode past fields of wild-flowers, but I did not care.

  “We will be there by nightfall,” Danilo said.

  “Thank the saints,” Elena muttered, crossing herself.

  Militza laughed and stared at me with her dark eyes.

  I closed my own eyes, forcing myself to remain calm. Even in a carriage full of vampires, I knew they needed me for their ritual and I was not in mortal danger for the time being. I wondered what my parents had thought when they’d heard I had left. And the grand duke. What had happened to him at the herb shop?

  Your Imperial Highness? I tried again to reach him.

  Perhaps his faerie powers could not reach this far across the continent.

  Danilo picked up my hand, slowly tracing the length of my fingers with his own. I fought the bile in my throat. “I can sense her power already,” he said with relish.

  “That is your imagination,” Militza whispered. “You cannot be sensitive to such things.”

  “Not yet, anyway,” Elena said. />
  “It is strange,” Danilo said. “But there is something almost electrical when I touch her.”

  I pulled my hand away. I did not want him touching me. Ever.

  “You imagine things,” Militza said. “Do not say such nonsense in front of Mother.”

  Danilo laughed, settling back in his seat more comfortably. “Do not worry about me and Mother. You are the one who disobeyed her instructions.”

  “Do not speak of such things right now,” Militza hissed. I slowed my breathing, pretending to drift off to sleep.

  Danilo was pouting. “You should have waited for me, and then we would have destroyed Cantacuzene completely before she could say anything. We have no way of knowing what secrets she told before the tsar’s son finished her off for us.”

  “There was no way I could have known she was so different from us,” Militza said, her voice a whisper. “She should not have been able to wake up from the frankincense.” She sighed. “If you had come with me that night, instead of staying in your suite with the bar wench, we would not be having this conversation right now. We could have cut off her head after I poisoned her.”

  I felt sick. I had never believed, deep down, that the crown prince was actually in love with me. Hearing this hurt my pride more than anything. I rolled away from the prince with my eyes still closed, and tried to snuggle down in the corner of the carriage.

  “Sister, you say the most wicked things with that tongue of yours.” The crown prince’s voice was cold. “Take care, lest something happen to it.”

  “Don’t you dare threaten me,” Militza countered.

  “Hush! Both of you!” Stana said. A hand brushed my forehead, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. I tried very hard not to shudder. It was the same way my mother used to brush my hair out of my face when I was little. But it did not comfort me at all.

  “I still say we should have killed this one and have done with it,” Militza said.

  “No,” Stana said. “Our parents have been looking for a necromancer like her for a very long time. For your sake, as well as for Danilo’s.”

  “I suppose she will be useful to me,” Militza said, sighing.

  All these years, I’d tried my best to keep my curse hidden, thinking it made me a terrible person. But Princess Militza had just showed me what true evil could be.

  I must have truly fallen asleep after that, for the next thing I knew, Elena was shaking me roughly. “Wake up, Katerina Alexandrovna. Welcome to the Black Mountain.”

  I did not want to open my eyes. The castle where King Nikola and Queen Milena lived was enormous: Gothic and intimidating, with huge gargoyles perched over the front entrance. They looked as if they could leap down and rip apart anyone who tried to enter—or leave—the castle without permission.

  “Come with me, my love,” Prince Danilo said, dragging me from the carriage. “The coachmen will bring your bags in. We must introduce you to our parents. They are anxious to meet you.”

  “But I am exhausted from the trip. Perhaps I might be allowed to freshen up first?”

  Militza frowned. “To keep the king and queen waiting would be disrespectful.”

  “Will my mother be joining me soon?” I asked.

  No one answered my question.

  Our footsteps echoed on the parquet flooring in the palace entrance. There was no grand staircase, as in the palaces of St. Petersburg, but there was a grand foyer, with ornately plastered ceilings. Several servants stood waiting to greet us. A regal-looking couple stood behind the servants. My heart began to hammer.

  “My children! My children have returned to me!” the large man said, his arms open to embrace his daughters. His voice was warm and booming.

  “Papa!” Elena flew into his arms first and planted a kiss on his cheek. She then turned to kiss her mother, the dark beauty standing next to him.

  “Papa, we have a very special guest,” Danilo said. “May I present Her Highness Duchess Katerina Alexandrovna of Oldenburg? Katerina, my father, King Nikola; and my mother, Queen Milena.”

  He did not need to give me a sharp squeeze on the arm. I still would have curtsied politely before his parents. I knew the proper etiquette for greeting a ruling sovereign—even if he was a vampire.

  King Nikola was an imposing man, still handsome in his older years, his hair streaked with strands of gray. His dark eyes bore down on me. “What a beauty! Welcome to Cetinje, Katerina of Oldenburg.” Before I knew what was happening, he’d embraced me in a crushing hug. He reminded me of the tsar. He did not seem like an evil blood drinker at first glance.

  “Thank you, Your Majesty,” I squeaked.

  When he released me, I looked at his wife, Queen Milena. Something about her frightened me. She was a beautiful older woman, with long dark curls and hypnotic black eyes. I felt as if I already knew her. I curtsied again.

  She held out her hands to me. “Welcome, my child. We have been waiting for you for a long time.”

  I could not say I was glad to be there. I felt a surge of panic in my chest. I had to get out of there. I had to get away from this woman. Her fingers were cold as she embraced me.

  “Come, let us dress for dinner,” Elena said. “There is a feast tonight in your honor, Katerina.” She pulled me away from both her mother and Danilo, leading me deeper into the palace.

  The palace was much larger than Betskoi House, but of course nowhere near as large as the Winter Palace or Anichkov. My room was next to Elena’s, which she shared with her younger sister Anna, who would be attending Smolny in the fall. Elena’s eldest sister, Princess Zorka, and her husband, the Crown Prince of Serbia, lived in a fashionable house across the street from the palace.

  Elena said I would be meeting them at dinner. “Her children are adorable. We will play with the babies tomorrow,” she said. “You’ll want to sleep late, though, after tonight’s ritual. It is … exhausting. Especially for the fiancée.”

  “The ritual is tonight?” I asked. “Before my mother arrives?” I could see no way of escaping this.

  “Yes,” she said. “Some things are best kept within our immediate family. The ritual, well, you might say it’s … draining.”

  I swallowed. I turned to the crimson dress hanging up outside the armoire. “Is this my dress?” I asked. “It’s beautiful.” Not quite Paris fashion, it had a short red jacket with heavy embroidery. “Your mother was wearing a belt like this,” I said, touching the metal beadwork at the gown’s waist.

  “Yes, it’s traditional. We will all be in traditional dress this evening.”

  I ran to the window, hoping to see a chance for escape. The window was bolted shut, of course. And I was three stories up, with no balcony or other method of climbing down. I tried to stay calm. I would think of something. I hoped.

  I dressed myself, without the help of any maid. I did not think anyone would mistake me for a Montenegrin, with my wheat-colored hair and pale eyes, but I did not look quite like myself either. And the dress did not flatter one’s waist. I’d noticed that when I had first seen the queen.

  After one last glance in the mirror, I left my room and hurried downstairs.

  Elena was in the hallway holding a little girl, who looked to be only two. “Katerina! This is my youngest sister, Vera! Maman is going to have another boy in the fall.”

  “She is expecting?” No wonder her dresses fit her so. “How do you know it will be a boy?”

  “Maman always knows.”

  Princess Vera climbed out of her sister’s arms and held her arms up to me. I’d not picked up a child since my little brother’s death. Nervously, I lifted her, and she clasped her little hands around my neck.

  “You have made a new friend!” Elena laughed. “Come, we must take Vera back to the nursery before dinner.”

  The nanny had already put the three children of Princess Zorka to bed for the night. Princess Vera went quietly to her nanny’s arms. We tiptoed out of the nursery silently.

  “You will meet Zorka and her husband,
Prince Petar, at dinner.”

  “A Serbian prince?” I asked.

  “In exile, for the time being. But Maman is working on that.” Elena smiled to herself and pushed open the swinging doors to the dining room.

  The vast room was heavy with the scent of roses. There were several large arrangements down the long heavy wood table. The crown prince came over and led me to the table. “Enchanté, my love,” he said, kissing my hand. “You look beautiful in my country’s native costume.”

  I said nothing. He introduced me to his sister Zorka and her husband, Prince Petar Karađorđević. He was an unpleasant-looking man, much older than his wife. Princess Zorka looked a lot like her mother and sisters, dark-eyed and dark-haired, but not quite so deadly. There was a maternal softness to her smile. Perhaps she was not a witch like the others?

  “Hurry! Hurry! To the table!” Queen Milena was rushing everyone to stand at their places for the entrance of King Nikola.

  The king entered, sat at the head of the table, and signaled for everyone else to sit. A servant appeared at the king’s left side and began to pour the wine. It did not take him long to come around the table and fill everyone’s glass. Other servants stood waiting at the doorway, ready to bring in the first course.

  King Nikola raised his wineglass. “Tonight we come together to celebrate the most important night of my firstborn son’s life. Tonight, he becomes a man. Tonight, he becomes more than a man.”

  I glanced around the table. No one, not even Prince Petar, seemed to be taken aback by this announcement. Except me.

  “And tonight we also celebrate the arrival of Danilo’s future bride, Katerina of Oldenburg.” His dark eyes twinkled like cold stars as he looked at me. “Welcome, Katerina. We have indeed been waiting a long time for you.”

  I nodded stiffly and raised my glass with the rest of the dinner party. It was a local wine, a rich, sweet red. As soon as the toasts were over, the servants rushed in to serve the first course: a traditional soup with vegetables in a beef broth. This was followed by fresh trout, caught in the nearby Lake Skavda, a smoked ham, polenta, and local cheeses.