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even more troubling one of why he had been killed there. And since this one young radical had gone
undetected for so long, what others might likewise have penetrated the gates, might be, even now,
within striking distance of the imperial family? The family which included Ella. If she were to find
the answer to these questions, Victoria knew she would have to travel to Russia with reinforcements.
St. Petersburg – Nevsky Prospekt
1:47 PM
Nevsky Prospekt was by far the longest, widest, and busiest street in St. Petersburg and the
word that citizens most often used to describe it was ”fashionable.” This was an arguable point,
especially for anyone accustomed to the more consistently elegant shopping districts of London and
Paris, but it was undeniable that Nevsky Prospekt served as a perfect microcosm of the city. Wealth
and poverty squared off like duelists in the broad white street. Outside a butcher shop, blood seeped
onto the sidewalk, forming wide puddles which the customers of the jeweler next door must wade
through in their quest for diamonds and pearls. Furs in one window, guns in the next, then a shop of
honey and one of soap. Western fashions and eastern cures for unspeakable ailments, a patisserie and
dentist back to back, so that the diners could hear the muffled wails that accompanied extraction as
they savored their tarts and rolls. Ladies extending a silk-gloved hand to be helped from a carriage,
men extending a grimy palm in a plea for spare coins.
But Vlad Ulyanov saw none of this as he stomped down the boulevard, his hands thrust in his
pockets, his head tucked down as if he were heading into a windstorm whose power only he could
feel.
Yulian was dead. His body was being held in the Winter Palace this very minute but none of
them dared approach to request it. Not yet. The presumption must be maintained that Yulian had
arrived in the capital friendless and unknown. That his family was now traveling from the remote
village of Simbirks, a journey of two days under the best of circumstances and more likely three. So
Yulian would lie alone in his frozen chamber until enough time had passed that Gregor and the others
could finally venture through the gates of the palace, their workingman’s caps in hand, bowing and
scraping and weeping that they had come from a great distance to claim the body of their little