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“Tsesarevich,” Rayley repeated. “It means the oldest son of the ruler, the boy next in line for the throne. Like our Prince of Wales.” Trevor puffed out his cheeks and sighed. “The affection is almost undoubtedly mutual to have caused Her Majesty this much consternation. Of course she didn’t summarize the totality of the family drama for my benefit, she just told me to pack my bags. And I bowed and backed from the room.” There was a knock on the doorframe even though the door stood open. The two men looked up to see Davy leaning in. “Another summons to the Palace, Sir,” he said. “Again?” Trevor frowned. “I was just there yesterday.” “Perhaps this foolish trip has been cancelled,” Rayley said. “Don’t think so, Sir,” Davy said, so quickly that Rayley realized Trevor must have confided in Davy before he’d said anything to him. “Because this time the request is for both of you.” London - Windsor Palace 10:33 AM The Queen looked dourly down upon the two documents on her desk. The first was Ella’s letter, the one begging her to send Alix to Russia and offering enthusiastic but vague assurances that all within St. Petersburg was well. You may have heard that the people in the streets grumble, the letter insisted, but the serfs are like children. When any member of the royal family appears in public a cheer goes up so loud that seems it would rattle the carriage off its wheels. They love us just that much, you see. The Queen didn’t believe such mawkish prattle for a minute and the only real question was whether or not Ella did. Her brother-in-law’s formidable personality may have swayed the girl somewhat, but the Queen still had trouble believing any grandchild of hers could truly be so foolish.
Tsar Alexander III ruled his citizens with the proverbial iron fist, bringing it down upon them at intervals which seemed to be dictated more by his personal moods than the demand of circumstances. And no people – even an impoverished and illiterate one – would bear this sort of casual disregard forever. And then, on top of Ella’s overwrought and ridiculous letter, lay a terse telegram which had arrived this morning, and the contents of which had nudged the Queen from merely concerned to openly alarmed. When she had sent Ella a British lady in waiting, she had chosen a very specific woman, one ideally suited for her task: persistent but discreet, experienced in the ways of the word, yet British to the very bone. Cynthia Kirby‘s sole function within the Winter Palace was to observe and report. The Queen did not think in terms of intelligence or surveillance. She certainly would not have used the ugly word “spy” to describe the tasks which the respectably widowed Mrs. Kirby had been sent to perform. After all, this was her own flesh and blood she was speaking of, the beautiful and much-loved Ella. But if Ella had ceased to tell her grandmother the truth about circumstances in St. Petersburg, someone had to, and this latest telegram had only confirmed what Victoria had long suspected. That her granddaughter was sitting atop a very ornate powder keg. Royal carriages were on the verge of being rattled, it seemed, but not by the cheers of the people. And finally, on the other side of the desk lay a much larger stack of papers, her notes for the meeting with the Prime Minister. The Queen did not personally care for Gladstone, whom she considered a pompous prig, prone to lectures so far-reaching that they were even sometimes insinuated toward her royal person. But you do not have to like a man in order to use him, and in her absence, whether it was the three weeks she hoped for or the six weeks she feared, Gladstone’s already sizable base of power would broaden, so they must consult on any number of issues before she set sail. It was exhausting to even contemplate. Most pilgrims must only pack their bags to travel, but when one is the Queen of England, one must pack up an entire country. The Queen pondered the slow tick of the clock on the desk. Gladstone at eleven, the two detectives from Scotland Yard at noon. For she now knew that merely taking Trevor Welles would not be enough. Mrs. Kirby’s telegram had informed her that two dead bodies had been discovered in the Winter Palace that very morning. Not in the streets of St. Petersburg, where one could only assume that corpses were piled in every gutter, but within the palace itself. And the mindless brutes surrounding the tsar had called their deaths a double suicide. Victoria knew better. The tsar had his people and she had hers. The dead boy was not merely a dancer, but also the brother of Gregor Krupin. How someone with his family connections had ever been allowed within the walls of the Winter Palace at all was a troubling question, followed by the
Page 2 and 3: City of Silence City of Mystery, Bo
Page 4 and 5: Prologue June 13, 1889 The Winter P
Page 6 and 7: windows, and as the light grows, sh
Page 8 and 9: Chapter One London - The Lawns of W
Page 10 and 11: Ella and Alix had been among the se
Page 12 and 13: careful to steer his wife socially
Page 14 and 15: Chapter Two London - Geraldine Bain
Page 16 and 17: energetic and practical and free th
Page 18 and 19: Might it be a poor man?” “Rich
Page 20 and 21: approval, and he had finally learne
Page 22 and 23: who certainly know his face. Might
Page 24 and 25: sympathetically. I would imagine ra
Page 26 and 27: proper wording.“ “Indeed,” sa
Page 28 and 29: with the boys she would have to get
Page 30 and 31: Davy quickly nodded. Emma bit her l
Page 32 and 33: Filip did not answer her at once. P
Page 34 and 35: the members of the private guard. B
Page 36 and 37: “Don’t worry,” one of them ca
Page 38 and 39: “I believe your husband is a memb
Page 40 and 41: “I intend to take a photograph,
Page 42 and 43: Chapter Four London - Scotland Yard
Page 46 and 47: even more troubling one of why he h
Page 48 and 49: ever happened in Vlad’s life. He
Page 50 and 51: on that day as he had watched Yulia
Page 52 and 53: would never know, but he suspected
Page 54 and 55: the end of these long evenings, he
Page 56 and 57: But the reality was that the dance
Page 58 and 59: Besides, Konstantin liked the costu
Page 60 and 61: the Winter Palace. Tatiana never ch
Page 62 and 63: “Why would you think they were mu
Page 64 and 65: cramped berths where the sailors sl
Page 66 and 67: At precisely nine o’clock the doo
Page 68 and 69: “Yes Ma’am,” Davy croaked.
Page 70 and 71: Petersburg or all the changes the y
Page 72 and 73: “As is often the case,” the Que
Page 74 and 75: “What’s odd about it?” Trevor
Page 76 and 77: nothing more than a British widow,
Page 78 and 79: Chapter Seven St. Petersburg, the W
Page 80 and 81: masculine pleasures. “It is a lon
Page 82 and 83: And in that remark, so benign on th
Page 84 and 85: goose in the vee dropped from the s
Page 86 and 87: “Do you waltz?” Trevor asked Em
Page 88 and 89: showed on her face. She wasn’t lo
Page 90 and 91: Chapter Eight June 18, 1889 The Win
Page 92 and 93: greet your traveling contingent.”
Page 94 and 95:
“Good heavens, haven’t they tol
Page 96 and 97:
equesting something more bracing th
Page 98 and 99:
Chapter Nine The Streets of St. Pet
Page 100 and 101:
manner of my grandfather, and not m
Page 102 and 103:
notion of a university professor or
Page 104 and 105:
to end the process, dangerous and b
Page 106 and 107:
she had gone to the ballroom? It se
Page 108 and 109:
“No,” Tatiana said. “For you
Page 110 and 111:
Emma stepped toward Konstantin, won
Page 112 and 113:
“I am sorry,” she said. “Why
Page 114 and 115:
“Not accustomed to smoking these
Page 116 and 117:
other direction. “What are you do
Page 118 and 119:
“Or just a desire for more privac
Page 120 and 121:
“It wasn’t like that when I was
Page 122 and 123:
supposed they must take what they c
Page 124 and 125:
“And from there,” said Tom, who
Page 126 and 127:
“We must examine the balcony abov
Page 128 and 129:
At the appointed hour there had bee
Page 130 and 131:
“It is famous? As far away as Lon
Page 132 and 133:
Filip smiled, his eyes glittering w
Page 134 and 135:
until you will see what I mean.”
Page 136 and 137:
killer could have disarmed her afte
Page 138 and 139:
“Alix most certainly shall not wa
Page 140 and 141:
death as a suicide. The crime not o
Page 142 and 143:
“Your sanctuary.” “Yes. My sa
Page 144 and 145:
clearer,” Emma said. “Konstanti
Page 146 and 147:
“All right, let’s wrap this up
Page 148 and 149:
of a crime, whether it lies within
Page 150 and 151:
“There are many explanations for
Page 152 and 153:
Chapter Fourteen The Café of the R
Page 154 and 155:
of having the cover of the performa
Page 156 and 157:
test a woman for this, no way to pr
Page 158 and 159:
might be the eventual undoing of th
Page 160 and 161:
“And did you participate?” “O
Page 162 and 163:
“I just don’t understand what
Page 164 and 165:
“The tsarina,” Alix said, stari
Page 166 and 167:
to the appropriate seat by a Cossac
Page 168 and 169:
Trevor turned in his seat to more c
Page 170 and 171:
imperial family and their guests we
Page 172 and 173:
“Good, for I am bored,” she sai
Page 174 and 175:
Chapter Sixteen The Winter Palace -
Page 176 and 177:
at last paused in front of a rather
Page 178 and 179:
e born for many months.” “If yo
Page 180 and 181:
“Well, you certainly sound Russia
Page 182 and 183:
Another of her jarring changes of s
Page 184 and 185:
of how limited his past education h
Page 186 and 187:
“Why is it good that I shan’t b
Page 188 and 189:
Chapter Seventeen The Winter Palace
Page 190 and 191:
all women wanting to be a princess.
Page 192 and 193:
She never would have met Gerry, the
Page 194 and 195:
“Barely,” said Tom, speaking fo
Page 196 and 197:
to reach for a sweet roll and abrup
Page 198 and 199:
her chair into the circle. “I ass
Page 200 and 201:
committed by the same person, and t
Page 202 and 203:
The Streets of St. Petersburg 6:48
Page 204 and 205:
“Yes,” Davy said, glancing at t
Page 206 and 207:
From there, events had happened exa
Page 208 and 209:
The statement was probably nothing
Page 210 and 211:
Chapter Nineteen The Winter Palace
Page 212 and 213:
not once did it occur to me he was
Page 214 and 215:
“So why did you not make somethin
Page 216 and 217:
Chapter Twenty The Streets of St. P
Page 218 and 219:
your ladies.” He smiled and sippe
Page 220 and 221:
archetypal every couple, two lovers
Page 222 and 223:
to be educated as to their long-ter
Page 224 and 225:
Chapter Twenty-One The Winter Palac
Page 226 and 227:
and rolled his flat dark eyes towar
Page 228 and 229:
Konstantin knew this too, even bett
Page 230 and 231:
close to the dock where workers fro
Page 232 and 233:
arriving for a ball, seventeen for
Page 234 and 235:
Not because they were not good figh
Page 236 and 237:
Chapter Twenty-Two The Winter Palac
Page 238 and 239:
afternoon from the palace police, a
Page 240 and 241:
King.” She laughed and responded
Page 242 and 243:
The Halls of the Gentlemen’s Encl
Page 244 and 245:
Ella’s fifteen trunks and her two
Page 246 and 247:
We could run these halls forever an
Page 248 and 249:
expect - managed to strike the dead
Page 250 and 251:
Tom was lost. He had been fairly su
Page 252 and 253:
Not to panic. Not yet. His cover ha
Page 254 and 255:
the gentlemen’s enclave. What was
Page 256 and 257:
The Grand Ballroom 10:02 PM Tom wat
Page 258 and 259:
Chapter Twenty-Four A Train Outside
Page 260 and 261:
the Imperial family had come down t
Page 262 and 263:
you even after that was over, and t
Page 264 and 265:
Historical Notes I hope that City o
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