After dessert had been served, one of the Bavarian princesses leaned over and whispered, “We heard about the tragedy at the Blessing of the Waters. How sad!”
I nodded. “It was Count Chermenensky, my brother’s friend.” I regretted my unkind words to him when we’d met in the park. I wanted to cry all over again. My poor brother was still grief-stricken.
The girls were horrified to hear this. “We spoke with him in the gardens!” Augusta said. “How terrible!”
Elena shrugged, finishing her lemon tart. Erzsebet gazed longingly at my plate. Glancing at the mistresses’ table and seeing them deep in conversation, I slid my tart onto Erzsebet’s plate.
“Merci, Katerina,” she said happily.
After dinner, we returned to our rooms to get ready for bed. Elena pulled a small silver box out of her trunk. “Happy Christmas, Katerina!” She opened the box as she held it out to me. Inside was a lock of black hair. “Go on, take it!” she said, nudging me.
I stared at the black curl, tied with a leather cord. “What is that?” I had an ominous feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Danilo’s, of course! It’s yours now.”
“It would not be proper to accept such a thing.” I pulled back my covers and climbed into my bed.
She closed the box and set it on her bedside stand. “You are no fun, Katerina. You sound just like your cousin, suspicious of everything.”
“She’s not suspicious of everything,” I protested.
“Just Montenegrin witches,” Dariya said as she entered our room and crawled into her bed. “You’d best leave Katiya alone. And keep that blasted window closed tonight.”
I saw a flash of pure hatred in Elena’s eyes, but it was gone quickly and she smiled sweetly and ignored my cousin. “Katerina, my brother has come to St. Petersburg with us,” she announced. “You will be able to meet him soon.”
“Lovely,” Dariya grumbled. “There are too many of your meddlesome family members in Russia already.”
“I would watch what I said if I were you.” Elena’s voice was still sweet but carried a threat. “We come from a family of old romantics, my brother and I. He wishes for my happiness, as I wish for his. I would hate for anyone to stand in the way of true love. Including you, Dariya Yevgenievna.”
Dariya snorted and rolled over. “And what could you do about it?” she mumbled sleepily. “Turn me into a toad?”
“My father would be very unhappy to hear that some stupid girl at Smolny was accusing his daughter of witchcraft,” Elena said, not missing the chance to remind us she was the daughter of a king.
Then I heard her mumble something in what must have been Montenegrin.
But Dariya was already asleep, her breathing even and easy, with the faintest carefree snore.
Elena yawned dramatically. “Good night, Katerina. May you have wonderful dreams about a handsome, dark-eyed prince. I am certain he is dreaming about you.”
I pretended to be asleep and said nothing. But my heart was pounding. I wondered what sorcery Elena was trying to work with her brother’s lock of hair. I remembered everything the princess Cantacuzene had told me. If I was truly a threat to the blood drinkers of Montenegro, why would Elena and her sisters want me to grow closer to their brother?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dariya could not get out of bed the next morning. She looked pale and her limbs trembled when she tried to sit up. “Katiya, I am so cold!” she said.
The window was still closed. A pale moth flapped against the inside glass frantically.
Elena rolled her eyes as she cracked the window to let the insect fly away. “Must you always complain?” she asked as she quickly finished getting dressed. “Hurry, Katerina! I’m famished!”
“Go to breakfast without me,” I said, sitting on the bed and taking my cousin’s hand. “Can you ask Madame Orbellani to come and see Dariya? She is ill.”
“What a shame,” Elena said. “Of course. I will send her right away.”
When she had left, I looked more closely at my cousin. Dariya’s pupils were large, and her breathing seemed labored.
“What is wrong with me? My stomach—oh, the cramps!” she whispered. “I feel as if I’m dying!”
“Hush, Madame Orbellani is coming,” I said, rubbing her cold hand between my warm ones. Her right arm was floppy, like a rag doll’s. I saw a cold light wrapping around her. It was growing steadily brighter and stronger. I was terrified for her. “The headmistress will send for a doctor.”
My cousin’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she slipped into unconsciousness.
“Dariya!” I shouted, shaking her. Her eyes opened briefly. With a moan, she passed out again. “Dariya!”
“What is this nonsense?” Madame Metcherskey asked severely. “Girls, get down to the dining room at once, or you will be punished.”
“Madame, Dariya is ill!” I stood up so she could see for herself. “You must call the doctor!”
Madame Metcherskey’s eyes narrowed. “Katerina Alexandrovna, go downstairs immediately. I will deal with her. It is not your concern.”
I didn’t think I’d ever hated anyone more than I hated Madame Metcherskey at that moment. Her words stung, but I did not dare argue with her. I swallowed hard and squeezed my cousin’s pale, limp hand. “I promise I will be back, Dariya.”
I ran downstairs and found Madame Orbellani, who sat at the teachers’ table, eating breakfast with Madame Tomilov. “Did Elena tell you about Dariya Yevgenievna?” I asked.
I saw confusion in their eyes. “Dariya?”
I gripped the chair in front of me. Of course Elena had not told them. “She passed out!” I explained. “She’s extremely cold and complaining of stomach pains. Madame Metcherskey would not allow me to stay with her. I fear something terrible will happen to her!”
Madame Tomilov stood up immediately. “Madame Orbellani, send for the doctor. Katerina Alexandrovna, take me to your cousin.”
The headmistress took one look at Dariya, still lying unconscious in her bed, and had her moved to a separate room, quarantined from the rest of us. Dr. Gallitzin arrived and I was shooed into the hall. “She could be contagious,” the doctor said. “Keep all the other students away from her.”
I tried to argue that both Elena and I had breathed the same air as she had all night long, but Madame Tomilov would not listen. She sent me to class after assuring me that Dariya was in good hands.
I grabbed Elena in the hallway on her way to algebra. “What did you do to her?”
Elena’s eyes grew wide and innocent. “Moi?”
“Whatever spells you’re trying to cast on me with your brother’s hair, whatever hateful spell you’re casting on Dariya, you’re going to stop immediately.”
“You say the most bizarre things.” Elena shook her head sadly. “Perhaps you feel unwell too. Do you have a fever?” She reached up to touch my forehead.
I knocked her hand away. The girls in the hallway moved quickly to their next classes, making a deliberate effort to ignore us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the Brown Form’s teachers staring at us nervously. Lowering my voice, I said, “I will not let you hurt Dariya or any of the other students here.”
Elena rolled her eyes. She had noticed the teacher’s attention as well. “Enough of your foolishness, Katerina. You are making me late for class.” She turned and disappeared into her classroom.
I needed to see for myself what Elena was up to. I sneaked back upstairs to our dormitory, the chilly hallway now empty. I searched under Elena’s cot for proof that she was working dark magic against Dariya. I found nothing under her bed, nor under her pillow, nor in her unlocked storage trunk. Nothing but the wrapped lock of her brother’s hair and a single tarot card: the King of Swords. It matched the Queen of Swords that had been sent to me at Christmas. Was it part of a love spell Elena was trying to cast on me? I shuddered, glad that I’d burned the queen card. But there was no evidence here of spells against Dariya.