A branch rustled in the stand of trees, startling me. My heart began to pound. Silly girl, I told myself. It is only the wind. Or perhaps a fox, hunting at night. Another branch snapped, and I fought the surge of panic rising in my chest. I had strolled too far away from the house to run without tripping in my ridiculous ball gown.
Slowly, I backed away from the stand of trees. Another noise, closer to me this time. And then a whimper: “Mis-tresss …”
“Count Chermenensky?” I whispered. What was he doing here outside the grand duke and grand duchess’s palace?
“Mis-tresss …” I heard him stumbling through the thicket of dried and dead branches. “Hide … I have been hiding.…”
“You’ve done well,” I told him. “And you need to stay hidden, for your own safety. Do you need me to get you anything?”
He kept to the shadows of the woods. “Hungry …,” he whimpered. He sniffed the air. Perhaps he could smell the leftovers from the feast, which the cooks would sell to the poor at the end of the ball.
“I can get you something warm to eat. Wait here.”
I started to head back to the house. I hoped I would be able to sneak into the kitchens and come outside again without anyone seeing me.
“Wait … Mis-tresss …”
“I shall return shortly, Your Excellency. Let me bring you something to eat.”
“Hungry …”
“You need to stay in the woods and hide.”
“Hide …”
The kitchens were in a smaller building apart from the main palace. The back door was open, and I could hear the servants cleaning up and preparing to sell the leftovers. I opened my purse, finding a few rubles that Papa had given me. “Do you have any of the duck left?” I asked one of the servant women, a ruddy-faced peasant, who looked at me suspiciously.
“No duck. We have plenty of lamb, though,” she said. I paid a dear price for it, probably more than they would sell it for to the poor, but I didn’t mind. I wasn’t sure if that would fill an undead count’s belly, so I also purchased a baked potato and some pastries. She wrapped the food in a cloth napkin and handed it to me.
“Thank you,” I said, and hurried back to the wooded area, where I hoped the count had stayed hidden. I had no idea if revenants even ate real food. Perhaps there was a chapter in A Necromancer’s Companion on their care and feeding. I hoped a warm meal would at least keep the count from gnawing on his own arm.
“Count Chermenensky?” I whispered, not really wanting to wander into the trees to search for him. “Your Excellency?”
A rustle of the dry branches answered me. “Count Chermenensky!” I whispered. “I have some food for you.”
The rustling grew louder. And then someone lurched out of the trees. It was not Count Chermenensky. With a low growl, he grabbed for me, knocking the napkin of food out of my hand.
“Mis-tresss!” That was the count, and he came running out of the woods at my attacker. I could not see who the other creature was, but he growled and whined like the count. I realized it was another of the undead knights of the Order. One who did not call me mistress.
The two struggled, not fighting over the food as I’d half expected, but fighting over me. If I had been a smart girl, I would have run back into the palace. But terror had me paralyzed. I did not want Count Chermenensky to get hurt by the other creature.
“Stop it!” I cried. “Leave him alone!” There was nothing I could pick up to throw at them or hit the other one with. It was like watching two wild dogs fight, bloody and vicious. I knew it would be dangerous for me to try to separate them. Still, I felt astonishingly useless.
With a snarl, the other knight tore into the count’s shoulder. He howled out, and I knew the poor creature could still feel pain. He ripped at the other knight’s face, tearing a bit of his already rotting skin away. I bit back a scream. I couldn’t look anymore.
Suddenly, I heard a loud crack of gunfire over my head. I dropped down to the snow. The creatures did not stop fighting. “Cease!” a loud voice boomed. It was the grand duke, sounding more like his father than I’d ever noticed before. His revolver was aimed straight at the undead soldiers.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“Protect … Mis-tresss …,” Count Chermenensky muttered, clawing at the other knight once more. His opponent either had not heard the grand duke or hadn’t cared. He was still trying to tear Count Chermenensky apart.
“Katerina, get inside. Now!” the grand duke barked. I stood up, my dress covered in wet snow. I was freezing.
“Do not hurt the count,” I begged. “He was only trying to protect me.”
“Now, Duchess.” His face was hard. He looked years older at that moment. I nodded finally, tears running down my face, and headed toward the palace.
The sound of another shot made me stop and turn around again. “No!” I ran back down to the edge of the woods. A lone creature lay in the snow, whimpering.
“He got away,” the grand duke said grimly. “Your count. What the devil were you doing out here, anyway?”
I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “I heard him in the woods and I was bringing him food.”
The creature on the ground had merely been slowed down by the bullet hole in the side of his head. He was already dead, so the grand duke could not have killed him. The grand duke rolled the knight over.
“Demidov,” he said. “He must have smelled your food too.”
“Demidov?” I grabbed the grand duke’s jacket sleeve. “Dr. Kruglevski’s toxin screen! He’d been poisoned with hemlock.”
“Poisoned? That makes no sense.” The grand duke stared at the revenant’s body. “He seemed perfectly healthy before he died.”
I shook my head. “It’s the same poison that made my cousin and the others at Smolny ill.”
The creature began to stir, and the grand duke pulled me back protectively. “You must leave, Duchess.”
“But the hemlock—”
“I’ll look into it. But you must return to the ball.”
Demidov moaned and started to stand. The grand duke pulled his saber from the scabbard at his side. “Go back to the ball, Katerina. Before your fiancé misses you.”
His words stung, but I knew he was right. I had to play the infatuated young girl. For the grand duke’s safety as much as for my brother’s. I nodded sadly and headed back inside the palace.
“Unless you still need to be rescued,” the grand duke said softly over his shoulder.
I turned around to face him, holding back more tears. I tried to keep my mind blank so he couldn’t read my true thoughts. My true feelings. “I thank you, Your Imperial Highness. But I can take care of myself.”
I returned to the ball, not wanting to watch him complete his grim task. The grand duchess Xenia and Princess Alix were sitting in the drawing room still, nervously waiting for me. Princess Alix jumped up when she saw me. “What happened to you?” she cried. I looked down and noticed the mud on my skirts.
“Merde!” How was I going to explain that? I sighed.
“Forgive me,” the princess said. “My French is very poor and I have learned very little Russian since we have been here. What is ‘merde’?”
The grand duchess giggled and whispered into the princess’s ear. Princess Alix blushed. “I see,” she said. “I thought it looked like mud.”
I shook my head. The princess asked a servant to bring us some rags and a bowl of water. She helped me sponge most of the dirt from my gown. Perhaps in the dim light of the chandeliers, and on the carriage ride home, no one would notice the other smudges. I sighed. “Thank you for helping me,” I told the princess.
“Did you and Georgi talk?” the grand duchess asked eagerly. “Did he kiss you?”
“What? Of course not!” I couldn’t help blushing. “Why would he do such a thing?”