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she had gone to the ballroom? It seemed she was failing to notice any number of things of late, as if
her famously clever mind had deserted her just when she needed it most. But from the angle the
camera had taken, it was obvious that the knife in the dead girl’s hand was most unusual, a weapon
which was in fact designed to draw notice to itself, to attract the attention of someone sitting even in
the highest tiers of the theater.
“It is his, is it not?” Ella asked, her tone indicating she well knew the answer.
Tatiana looked down into Ella’s face. The photograph in her hand was trembling. “Anyone in
the theater could have gained access to that knife.”
It was true. The props used in the theatricals were not locked away. Konstantin had even
remarked upon it their last time together, that he couldn’t find his gypsy costume, that it was likely lost
somewhere in the laundry. If the costume had been taken, then the knife certainly might have gone
missing too. And while most of the knives and swords and pistols used in the entertainments were
fakes, the long curved dagger of Konstantin’s gypsy costume was the real thing. At the climactic
moment of one especially vigorous scene, he was expected to climb a rigging of an improvised ship
and use it to release a flag. Everyone involved with the performances for the Tchaikovsky ball knew
this – knew that the curved knife carried by the gypsy king was both dangerous and commissioned to
Konstantin Antonovich.
“Marriage is very difficult, is it not?” Ella suddenly said, fiddling carelessly with the edge of
her glove.
Tatiana only could look at her mutely.
“When one is a girl, just on the brink, you hear the older women talk of the necessity of
compromise, but of course at that time you have no way of understanding what they mean,” Ella
continued with a low, soft voice. “And by the time one understands the true nature of these
compromises, it is too late. You are trapped and must seek solace wherever you can, even in the most
improbable places. I believe it was Alexandre Dumas who said that the chains of wedlock are so
heavy that it takes two to carry them, and sometime three.”
Was this meant as a joke? As a threat? Tatiana forced a weak smile. Ella did not smile back,
but rather pulled off her glove and considered the pale gold ring on her left hand. “You care for him.
That much is obvious.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”