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and rolled his flat dark eyes toward the heavens.
From behind the panel Nicky and Alix relaxed a little. Neither of them knew who was in the
chapel, but it was clear enough that these people had not come searching for them but rather seeking
some sanctuary of their own. Alix pushed back her scarf and in the shadows Nicky saw, twinkling
below the lace, the diamond flower pinned to her dress. Despite all of her protests, she was wearing
this gift. He reached out, touched it with a fingertip and she smiled.
“Why are you so solemn?” Konstantin asked.
“Shh,” said Tatiana. “I am trying to pray.”
“The angels above you are broken.”
“So they are,” she said, looking up at the chipped plaster faces. “Now be silent, or lightning
shall strike you for being such an infidel.”
Tatiana closed her eyes, exhaled, and tried to concentrate. She asked for forgiveness first, as
she always did, and then for clarity. Don’t let me forget this day, she prayed. Push it into my
memory. Everything here. His face, his smile, the dust, the raindrops on his jacket, the ashes from the
candles.
His hands were back, around her again. More demanding this time, pulling her from the altar
with more determination.
“Come,” he said. “There will be time to pray when I am gone.”
She let him steer her away from the altar and lead her across the wooden floor. Good, she
thought. Let him take me. Let me go. He is so innocent and so hopeful, and may I remember that as
well. Tatiana found herself suddenly weak with emotion, uncertain if she could exist another minute
without blurting out the dark truth. That this was the last time he would touch her, the last time she
would hear his voice. That she was not coming to Paris and he must enter his new world alone.
The chapel only had two doors and he led her toward the back one, tucked into an even dimmer
and dustier corner, far away from the angels and the candles. Away from the altar which concealed
the hidden forms of Alix and Nicky. Nicky had now removed the brooch from Alix’s dress and was
using the point of the largest diamond to etch their initials into the window. He was sawing the letter
A into the glass with a concentrated fervor and she was thinking that if they married, she would wish
for them to marry here - in this chapel, which was so simple, so sincere and so sweet. But of course
that would never be allowed. When the tsesarevich of Russia married, it would be in the grandest