309828-0830-3333

your ladies.”
He smiled and sipped his wine. She did not smile and did not sip hers.
“The imperial guard believes you are connected to the murders in the ballroom.”
“So I understand. But who told you this? The Grand Duchess?” When she did not answer, he
pulled in another great gulp of wine and stared into the distance. “Of course it was the Grand
Duchess. But I am not connected in the least to any of these crimes. You believe this, do you not?”
“I would hardly go to Paris with a murderer, would I? Of course I know you are innocent, and
so does Ella. But if my husband –“
“Do not –“
She looked at him sharply, raising a glove to shade her eyes as he did so. “Listen to me,
Konstantin. If the imperial guard intends to arrest you, they will wait until the ball is over and the
tsar’s entourage has moved to the coast for the summer. And who shall come to your defense then?
What friends shall you find in an empty palace? No, of course you must go today. The ticket is
already dated and stamped.” And when he still hesitated, she added, “Besides, you know the
temperament of the Grand Duchess as well as I do. She cares for us now. We are her distraction of
the hour. But who knows how long her interest will remain fixated on our troubles?”
The fullness of the situation struck him at last. “You have brought me here to say goodbye.”
“Only for a while. I shall be in Paris by the time the first leaves fall, I promise it.”
He sat in silence for a moment, absorbing this extraordinary rash of news. She had finally
agreed to leave her husband, to come with him to France. Apparently half the palace knew him to be
a murder suspect. Time was of such essence that he must leave at once, so he had unknowingly slept
his last night in his bed, eaten his last meal in the palace, taken his last steps within the ballroom.
There would be no chance to say goodbye to all his ladies – those he liked, those he did not. His
parents, for they indeed did still live, would never see him again. Tomorrow he would awaken in a
new land.
But the most extraordinary fact was that his patroness in this complete reinvention of his life
was the Grand Duchess Ella Feodorovna.
“All will be fine,” Tatiana said, now more calmly. “Ella assures me that if she introduces you
to the owner of the Ballet Clausse he will take you on immediately and help you find a place to stay. I