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.