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“We shall all come to the same table,” the Queen said faintly. “And then we shall see what will<br />
happen.” Alix nodded and disappeared back into her dressing room, with Emma following close<br />
behind, her face already grim with anticipation about the degree of effort it would take to wrest that<br />
ponderous gown over Alix’s head. Only the Queen, Ella, and Trevor were left in the lounge and the<br />
Queen turned to her granddaughter.<br />
“You cannot pretend that this is anything other than what it is,” she said. “The Danish Tsarina<br />
sends us down the German staircase, when you know as well as anyone how the Danes view the<br />
Germans. She sends this grand gown, with each jewel a boulder around your sister’s neck. Your<br />
family through marriage has chosen to mock your family of birth.”<br />
Ella flinched. “Granny, please do not put me in this position.”<br />
“You situation is cruel, I realize, but I was not the one who placed you there,” Victoria said,<br />
looking down into her lap where her small plump hands were twisting a handkerchief with sharp,<br />
measured moves. “Someday soon you will be forced to make your choice.”<br />
The Winter Palace – St. George’s Hall<br />
9:17 PM<br />
They may have entered by means of a minor staircase, but their introduction into the festivities<br />
of the imperial dinner was still dazzling. Trevor doubted that anyone other than himself and Emma,<br />
who had witnessed the awkward discussion in Ella’s apartment, was aware that the British visitors<br />
were being in any way marginalized. For in the presence of such splendor, who could find the subtle<br />
lines of demarcation? Who could remember that rubies are inferior to sapphires, that the music of<br />
Mozart soars higher that of Chopin, or that white caviar is a more valuable tidbit to place upon a<br />
cracker than black?<br />
They had descended the German staircase – which seemed perfectly broad and grand to<br />
Trevor’s eyes - then processed through a series of gigantic galleries, each as humbling as a cathedral,<br />
treading on carpets thick enough to make the feet trip and passing beneath a series of brilliant<br />
chandeliers, before finally arriving at the banquet hall. As a person entered, he or she was escorted
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