The Morning Star (12 page)

I could not help being a little excited about seeing Egypt. Even though I was terrified for the reason I was there. I’d always wanted to see the pyramids and the treasures of the pharaohs. I had the craziest notion of being able to purchase gifts for my family in case I made it home safely.

Then I realized I had no money. I’d had only a few rubles among my things at Riga, not enough to even buy a vial of perfume for Maman or a papyrus scroll for Papa. I sighed as I dressed in a soft light-green walking gown of linen.

Danilo knocked on my door to take me to breakfast. “We
should have something to eat before leaving the steamer. It will be a busy day for us, Duchess.”

“Is the sword here in Alexandria? Why hasn’t anyone stolen it before now?”

“All in good time,” he said with a firm grasp of my arm. “The Grigori are waiting for us.”

But the Grigori did not eat. They sat with us silently while I choked down a too-hot mug of coffee and nibbled dry toast. The girl in the black habit joined us and appeared to be enjoying some sort of sweet pastry. It smelled like cinnamon and nutmeg and looked much more appetizing than my own toast, but I did not have time to ask her where she’d gotten it. Danilo seemed to be in a hurry and was anxious for us to leave the boat.

Danilo spoke to the two Grigori in their ancient language, which later that morning I learned was Coptic. The Grigori did not seem to have any luggage with them and followed us silently as we disembarked.

It took less time than expected to move through customs. Danilo must have bribed the officials not to ask me too many questions. We joined the Grigori in a hired carriage and drove through crowded dirt streets to the Hotel Khedivial, one of the luxury-class accommodations in the city. The sounds of the city were like nothing I’d ever encountered before. The carriage fought for its space in the road with hacks, other carriages, donkeys, and women carrying earthen jugs on their heads. Half-naked children ran through the crowds, and merchants shouted out their wares. I could hear the squawking of chickens and other animals high above the din.

The hotel was very European but also exotic with its Moroccan
tiled lobby. Danilo kept an iron grip on my arm, and the mysterious sister stayed close at my other side as the elder Grigori saw to us checking in. The porter, a young boy who looked no more than twelve or thirteen, appeared to take care of our luggage. He gave me a cheeky grin as he single-handedly picked up my trunk. I knew with a sad smile where the last of my rubles would be spent.

As we followed him up the stairs, I could hear the music from the hotel’s restaurant. A woman was singing a haunting tune. I could not help realizing that it would be difficult not to fall in love with Egypt.

My room was a luxurious suite decorated with painted tiles and lush enormous palms. Gauzy white linens hung around my bed. “They are to protect you from mosquitoes,” the young porter said. I pulled the last ruble from my pocket and handed it to him. “Will you be able to exchange this?” I asked. I had nothing else to give him for a tip.

“Of course. Madame is most generous!” he said with a polite bow.

He believed I was married. I wanted to correct him but remained silent. I shuddered as I walked to the window and looked out my balcony. I had a beautiful view of the hotel’s courtyard garden below. The scents of jasmine and orange flower rose up and mingled with the lotus blossoms that sat in a crystal bowl on my dresser. It was beautiful, for a prison.

Danilo knocked briefly before walking in. The gray-eyed girl in the black habit was with him. “Katerina, I have been remiss in my introductions,” he said, with one hand elegantly on his chest. “Please forgive me. This is Sister Mala, your chaperone.”

I nodded as she gave me a brief but polite bow. I supposed I
should have been grateful for her presence. She was saving my reputation from ruin. But I don’t think she was happy with her assignment. And I did not believe she was a religious sister at all.

“It’s my pleasure to serve you, Duchess.” Sister Mala’s eyes sparkled with malice.

The lich tsar smiled. “I want no scandal surrounding our wedding, Katerina. But rest assured, we will be married soon. And you will be crowned empress before long.”

“What makes you think you are the rightful tsar?” I asked dangerously. “You gave up your claim when you married Princess Cantacuzene.”

“I did not!” he said, striding toward me so violently I was afraid he was going to strike me again. Instead, he pushed past me and walked to the window. “My younger brother stole my birthright. The descendants of Nicholas Pavlovich will pay for his theft.”

My imperial great-grandfather had been called many things, but never a thief. “You married a vampire, Your Highness,” I said. “Russian law forbids such a marriage for the tsar.”

He turned away from the window and came back to where I stood. “I am the tsar and I am the law of Russia,” he said, his voice deadly calm, “and I will marry whomever I choose.” He raised his cold fingertips to my chin and tilted my face toward him. “And I choose you, my lovely necromancer. I will never love another as I loved Johanna, but I must marry again and have heirs. The true Romanov dynasty must continue.”

“Your Imperial Majesty,” Sister Mala said. Such nerve she had treating the imposter as the true tsar. “We have heard disturbing reports of another group of Grigori in the city. We do
not know who they are working with, but they seek the Morning Star as well.”

The lich tsar let go of me. “We must find out, then,” he said to the girl. “No one must reach the Morning Star before I do.”

I was left alone in the hotel room as Sister Mala swept out after him. More Grigori? How could they be serving another master?

I had not been told to stay in my room, but I heard the heavy, carved wooden door being locked from the outside. I rushed to the balcony but was disappointed to find the elder Grigori who had accompanied us standing guard below. With no way out and still wearing my clothes, I fell asleep on the bed, from boredom as much as exhaustion. I dreamed of moths fluttering outside the netting that surrounded my bed. Hundreds of the small white-winged creatures were trying to get through the netting. I knew if they reached me they would bite me and steal my blood.

It was not long before I was awakened by voices in the hall. The door unlocked and opened. It was the elder Grigori. “You must come with me,” he said softly, pushing back the netting. I gasped, but there were no moths to be seen. It had only been a nightmare. “You are in danger here, Duchess.”

With a swift move, he pulled me up from the bed and toward the French door leading onto the balcony. My balcony was shared with the room next to mine, so we stole quietly into the neighboring room. It was Danilo’s. But Danilo and the mysterious Sister Mala were not there. We heard footsteps in the hallway—and then the sound of my door crashing open.

The Grigori motioned for me to be silent, but it was not necessary. I was too scared to make a noise. We heard hushed voices in my room, and I strained my ears to make out the language. French?

My rescuer pulled me back from the balcony and showed me a hidden door behind the curtains. A secret staircase led down into darkness. “Follow me, Duchess,” he whispered.

He did not seem to need a light to see where we were going. Blind, I placed my hands along the rough stucco walls to guide myself down the stairs. When the Grigori reached the bottom, he opened a door and the stairwell was flooded with light. I skipped down the rest of the stairs to follow him.

We were in an empty passageway lit by several small windows along the upper walls. “This is the basement of the hotel, Duchess,” the Grigori explained. “It is a safe way out.”

The passageway was narrow and winding, but we reached a
door that was locked from the outside. “Now what?” I asked, beginning to panic.

The Grigori did not reply but knocked once, then two more times upon the heavy wood. Nothing happened at first; then we heard the lock give way and the door swung open inward.

Sister Mala was standing outside. “Hurry!” she said. Behind her in the alley, a black carriage waited for us. She pulled me by the arm and pushed me inside. Danilo was already waiting for me. Sister Mala stayed with the Grigori as the carriage took off. I turned around in alarm, but Danilo took my hand.

“They will be fine, love. It is you and I they are after.”

“Who is after us? The grand duke?” My heart began to race. Had I just escaped from George’s rescue? I tried to pull free of Danilo’s grasp and look back, but the crowded city traffic already blocked my view of the hotel.

Danilo shook his head grimly. “The Order of the Black Lily. They seek the Morning Star as well.”

“The French mages?” Papus and Sucre had tried to raise Konstantin from the dead by sacrificing Princess Alix. “I thought they were working with you.”

“Not any longer.” Danilo’s grip tightened around my wrist. “They have Grigori on their side as well, Katerina. If they catch us, it will be unpleasant.”

“And Papus is working with the Romanovs?” Hope surged within my chest. Perhaps I was about to be rescued.

“Papus will side with whoever pays him the most. And I do not think the Romanovs are the wealthiest players on this chessboard.” Danilo stared out the window, frowning as we went speeding through Alexandria.

“If there’s someone else who wants the sword, why are the
French mages after us?” I asked. “Why don’t they just try to find the sword before we do?”

“I’m sure they are pursuing both goals with equal determination. The Grigori are fierce, and every last one of them has been stirred by the possibility of the sword’s return.”

“We can’t run from the French mages forever,” I pointed out.

“No, but we will run toward Cairo, where the fight will be more evenly matched.” He nodded toward the window. “We should be there in a few hours. More of our Grigori are there waiting for us.”

“Our Grigori? How do you keep their loyalty, Danilo?”

His laugh was short, and tired, I thought. “That is not something you should worry your pretty little head over, my dear.”

I leaned back and closed my eyes, thinking my family must be frantic about me by now. If not furious. What if they believed I’d run off on my own? Would George have traveled back to St. Petersburg and said nothing of his elopement plans? My mother must be hysterical. And what would the tsar and the empress think? I did not know if I’d ever be allowed to return to St. Petersburg.

We were passing through the outer streets of Alexandria on the desert road to Cairo. The green waters of the Nile River flowed alongside us, with large dark shapes floating lazily in the water. I shuddered, praying we would not see any crocodiles or snakes up close.

As we neared a dusty crossroads, the carriage stopped with a lurch. I slid forward and would have fallen to the floor if Danilo had not grabbed me.

“Merci,”
I said immediately, out of habit.

Danilo’s face was hard. “Please allow me to do all the talking,
Katerina,” he said. And before I could ask what he meant, the door on my side opened. An Ottoman, swathed in white, stood pointing a rifle at us. I raised my hands slowly and tried not to make any sudden movements.

“If you would not mind, please step out of the carriage.” The Ottoman spoke in perfect, crisp English.

“Let the young girl go,” Danilo said, his hands raised like mine. “She knows nothing.”

The Ottoman smiled and nodded at me, his white teeth gleaming in the hot sun. “She is more important to us than you, Your Majesty. But we require that both of you join us, just the same.”

Such polite manners for an armed man who was kidnapping me. Danilo could take a few lessons from him. Still, I was impressed that the crown prince tried to protect me. My hands still raised cautiously in the air, I stepped out of the carriage, with Danilo following.

Another carriage stood in front of ours, driven by two Grigori. The Ottoman gestured toward the carriage with his rifle. “If you would be so kind.”

I hesitated.

“Do as they ask and you will not be in any danger,” Danilo murmured.
“At least, not yet.”

The crown prince’s voice in my head startled me. I’d not heard his thoughts since we’d arrived in Egypt.
“Danilo?”

“Yes, it is me, but Konstantin is never far. We are becoming one and the same person. With powers beyond my wildest dreams.”

“Can you use these powers to keep us safe?”
I climbed into the carriage, afraid I would find someone inside with a rifle as well. But the carriage was empty.

I sat down with Danilo sitting next to me.

“Only with your help, necromancer. I will need your blood and your shadow spells to defeat our meddlesome friends.”

“Who are these men working for?” I asked.

“They are working for me,” a new but familiar French voice said as the door to the other side of the carriage opened. A man in a gray linen suit and a darker gray bowler hat joined us. The mage Papus sat down across from us with a sinister smile. “As will the rest of the Grigori, when I find the Morning Star.”