The Gathering Storm
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I returned to Smolny on Monday. My parents had decided I would finish out the school year before my marriage in the fall. The prince would turn eighteen in June, and I would turn seventeen in October. My father forbade a wedding before my seventeenth birthday and would have postponed it until my thirtieth if not for Maman. I tried to ignore all the attention at school, but everyone congratulated me and asked about the moment the prince had proposed. I had to tell my story over and over, making the kiss seem much more chaste than it had actually felt.
My cousin was furious with me. "How could you be so stupid, Katiya?" She grabbed my hand and placed the obsidian ring in my palm. "I found this on the floor by your cot. If only you'd been wearing it at the ball!" I felt miserable. "I will think of something," I told her. "There has to be a way."
As soon as I could slip off, I visited Princess Cantacuzene. I dreaded telling her about the engagement. She swept into her parlor in a bloodred tea gown. "I believe congratulations are in order, my dear," Princess Cantacuzene said, kissing me on the cheek.
"I know you are disappointed in me, but I have not-"
"Disappointed?" She laughed. "Why, my dear, it's the cleverest idea possible! You will be able to go to Cetinje and murder the prince in your marriage bed! It is perfect!"
It must have been one of her off days. "Your Highness, the marriage isn't to be until October, long after the prince's ascension. Besides, if I murdered him in our bridal bed, wouldn't I be the only suspect in his death?"
"Remember your gift?" The madness was returning in her eyes. "You have the power of life and death. A necromancer can not only raise the dead, but can also destroy the living. Your blasphemous prince is still one of the living until his ascension. You must destroy him before he becomes one of the immortals. Before he can harm the tsar."
"I don't know how." And I didn't ever want to know either. I promised myself I would never kill anyone, no matter how evil the person was. "Your Highness, you spoke to me before of ghouls and revenants. How are they created?"
She frowned. "Have you not been studying the text I gave you?"
"I do not intend to study it!" I stood up, shaking. "Please forgive me, Your Highness, but I only ask because I believe there is a revenant loose in the city." I was surprised to feel my eyes flooding with tears. "I believe I may have created him. I swear before God I do not want to do it again." The princess stared at me with her piercing black eyes. Her hair, piled up on her head in a bun, was streaked with silver, but I could tell it had been Gypsy black when she was younger. She was still a beautiful woman at her advanced age. "Dear Katerina Alexandrovich," she said. "It is quite impossible to raise the undead without consciously working at it. Do not worry your head about such things. Tell me, where did you see this revenant?"
"In the woods near Smolny, at the park at Tauride." I sat back down on the settee, gratefully accepting a cup of tea from my hostess. "Thank you."
"Did he see you? Did he try to say anything to you?" The princess took her tea and sat opposite me in a large overstuffed chintz chair, watching me closely.
"Yes, he called me mistress and said I had called him. He never tried to hurt me, and I wasn't afraid of him." I sipped my tea mournfully. "I just felt so sorry for him."
"That is impossible," the princess said softly. "It simply cannot be." She grabbed my hand, staring at the obsidian ring. I knew I would not take it off again.
There was a strange look in the princess's eyes. Fright, I thought. But no, it was simply astonishment.
"I am so sorry, Your Highness. Please help me understand. I do not want this to happen again."
"No, of course you wouldn't, my child." She set her teacup down on her table and rang the bell for her servant. "Come, Katerina Alexandrovna. We must go and see the grand duchess Maria Pavlovna, immediately." She asked her servant to send for her carriage.
I felt all the blood drain from my face. A cold, clammy sensation clenched my belly. "Miechen? You wish to tell Miechen about my curse?" Princess Cantacuzene smiled, hustling me out the door and into her carriage. "We're going to tell her about your gift and your revenant. My dear, we are going to tell her everything."