"It is over, Silver," Mikhail said gently, "There is nothing you can do. It is not Igor who causes Nicholas to dream, it is only the memory. As the memory fades, so will the dreams."
"But I want to help him now."
"I know, but you cannot erase that part of the past."
"I'm not so sure." She frowned. "How far away is this Kuban?"
"Too far." Mikhail's eyes began to twinkle. "And it would not ease Nicholas's pain for you to ride across all of Russia to try to punish Igor." His smile faded. "Nicholas had much affection for Igor at one time. He has a loving heart and finds it difficult to turn his back on family ties."
"Even when the old bastard buried him alive?"
"Even then."
Silver was silent a moment. "Then I suppose I can't do the same to his grandfather," she said reluctantly.
A faint smile tugged at the corners of Mikhail's lips. "It would not be wise, I know it is difficult to accept."
"But I want to help him, Mikhail," she said in an urgent whisper.
"Then forget about the past darkness and make the present brighter for him."
The wistful expression vanished from her face. "That's your way, not mine. But I'll try it until I discover another way." She smiled gaily, rose to her feet, and tossed her napkin on the tabic. "And now let's find Etaine and go for a ride in the troika."
"She was going to the stable when she left me. She is worried about the mare that is about to foal. I think she—"
"Your pardon, Your Highness." Rogoff appeared suddenly in the doorway and for once his face reflected something besides its usual stony formality. "It's Mistress Monteith. She appears to have taken ill. Sergei sent word from the carriage house that—"
"I'll?" Silver felt a swift surge of panic. Etaine had been doing so well. There had been no attacks and the child had appeared to be blooming with health and contentment. "Why didn't he bring her back here?"
Rogoff hesitated. "He didn't think it best. The child seems very ill. She can't breathe."
"Dear Lord." Silver ran from the breakfast room and dashed down the hall. Mikhail reached the front door before her, threw it open, and was down the steps and halfway across the courtyard leading to the carriage house with Silver following at a dead run.
Sergei had placed Etaine in the large troika on a bed of furs and was gazing down at her, his face a mask of misery and helplessness. Mikhail fired a quick question at him in Russian and the coachman answered with equal brevity. Silver reached the sleigh just as Mikhail stepped into it and gathered Etaine into his arms.
"No!" Etaine pushed him desperately away. Her breath was coming harshly, her eyes wild in her flushed face. "I can't—" She twisted on the furs, her slight chest laboring as she tried to force breath into her lungs. "Silver!"
"I'm here." Fear sleeted through Silver as she stepped closer to the sleigh. She had never seen Etaine in these sitraits. Even the worst attack Silver had witnessed had never been this severe. "It will be all right, Etaine."
"No." Etaine's mouth was wide open as she tried to breathe."Not... this ... time. Help—" She turned on her side and curled into a ball, her fingers clutching the fur. "Help!"
"Shall I carry her back to the house," Mikhail asked anxiously.
"I don't know," Silver whispered. "It's not like before. She's—" She stopped. She didn't want to put the thought into words, the thought that Etaine might be dying. "I don't know if the steam will help this time."
"I will go for the doctor," Mikhail said.
Silver shook her head. Etaine was panting, fighting for breath, struggling desperately. How long could her heart endure that struggle? "It would take too long for you to fetch him." But she didn't feel confident to handle Etaine's care herself, she thought in anguish. Why didn't she know more?
Well, it was not helping Etaine for her to stand there and bewail her own ignorance. "Tell Sergei to hitch the horses to the sleigh. We're going to take her to the doctor. It will be faster. Where are the offices of that doctor who took care of me after Nicholas dismissed Dr. Rellings?"
"Dr. Balvar? Twenty-three Nevsky Prospekt," Mikhail answered. He spoke quickly to the driver in Russian and Sergei scurried away toward the stables. "I will go with you."
"No." Silver settled herself in the sleigh and covered both herself and Etaine with the fur robes. "I want to travel fast and your weight would slow the troika. You follow us."
Mikhail nodded, his gaze on Etaine's face. "Do not worry, little one," he told her gently. "I will break the doctor's bones if he does not make you better."
Etaine didn't appear to hear. Her eyes were closed and tears trickled down her cheeks.
Sergei and four grooms had returned and were hitching the horses to the sleigh. "Hurry," Silver said sharply. "Can't you be quicker about that?" She turned toward Etaine but was afraid to touch her, afraid to interfere and perhaps shift the balance of the battle Etaine was waging. "How did it happen? She was doing so well. I thought she was recovering."
"Sergei said she seemed well when she first came to the stables to see the mare. Then suddenly she was like this." Mikhail gestured to Etaine. "When we tried to carry her back to the palace she did not want him touching her, so he brought her here."
"I fetched your cloak, Your Highness." Rogoff was standing by the sleigh, her black sable cloak in his hands. "I understood you're going to have to take the little girl to St. Petersburg and I thought you would need it." His gaze went to Etaine and his expression grew anxious. "May I say I hope Mistress Etaine will be better soon?"
If Silver hadn't been so frightened, she would have been surprised. Rogoff had never displayed emotion or loss of dignity in all the months she had been on Crystal Island, yet now he appeared sincerely concerned. Perhaps she shouldn't be amazed, she thought wearily. All the servants were fond of Etaine. Who wouldn't love her? "Thank you, Rogoff, I'm sure she'll be fine once we get her to the doctor."
"If I may make a request? I did a great deal of ice racing on the Neva in my youth. I might be able to save you a little time. Not that Sergei isn't an accomplished driver ..."
The horses had been secured to the troika and Silver was impatient to be off. "Drive. We need to save every moment we can." As Rogoff scrambled with alacrity into the driver's seat, Silver turned to Mikhail. "Follow us closely, but stop off at the lawyer's office and see if you can find Nicholas and Valentin and bring them to Dr. Balvar's."
Sweet heaven, she wished Nicholas were at her side now.
Rogoff snapped the whip and the troika began to move out of the carriage house. Silver drew a little closer to Etaine, her worried gaze on the child's face. She murmured half beneath her breath, "Bring Nicholas, Mikhail."
***
Mikhail caught Nicholas and Valentin just as they were stepping into a sleigh on the street outside Dzosky's offices.
"Nicholas!" Mikhail's voice thundered over the myriad sounds of the bustling street as he drew in the horses of the troika. "Here!"
Nicholas turned, swift concern darkening his face. "Silver?"
"Etaine," Mikhail shouted. "She is very ill. She could not breathe."
Nicholas muttered a low curse. "Have you sent for the doctor?"
"Silver said Etaine was too bad. There was not time, so she took the child to him. She said for you to meet them at his office on Nevsky Prospekt." Mikhail jerked his head toward the passenger seats of the troika. "Come, we must hurry. That is a fifteen-minute drive from here."
By incurring the wrath of sleigh and carriage drivers and pedestrians too, Mikhail arrived at the offices at 23 Nevsky Prospekt in less than ten minutes.
Nicholas and Valentin bolted up the steps and threw the doors of the office open while Mikhail tied the horses at the hitching rail bordering the street. He burst into the office a moment later to see Valentin and Nicholas standing in conversation with the be-spectacled physician. "How is she?"
Dr. Balvar turned to Mikhail. "I was just explaining to His Highness that I have no knowledge of what
he's talking about. No child was brought to me by Princess Savron."
Nicholas whirled toward Mikhail. "When did she leave the island?"
"A good fifteen minutes before I did," Mikhail said. "And I had to stop to find you. She should have arrived here almost an hour ago."
"Perhaps some mischance on the Neva," the doctor suggested. "I'm sure she'll be here shortly."
They waited for fifteen minutes, but Silver and Etaine did not arrive.
When another fifteen minutes had passed, Mikhail left the office to return and retrace the route Rogoff would have taken from the island.
An hour later Mikhail returned to a frantic Nicholas.
"You didn't find them," Nicholas said.
"It's as if the Neva had swallowed them," Mikhail said. "But there were no accidents on the Neva this morning, and the ice holds firm."
"It's not the Neva that's swallowed them." Nicholas's hands closed into fists at his sides.
Valentin's eyes narrowed. "Monteith?"
"Monteith," Nicholas bit out. "It makes sense. Etaine was too well guarded at the palace, so he had to get her off Crystal Island."
"But, Nicholas, Etaine was truly ill," Mikhail said in bewilderment. "How could he—"
"How the hell do I know?" Nicholas asked savagely. "But there's no other explanation, is there?"
Mikhail slowly shook his head. "No."
"Then you think Monteith has Etaine?" Valentin asked.
"Yes, he has Etaine." Nicholas felt cold terror twist his stomach as he remembered the details of the report on Monteith he'd perused only yesterday. "And Silver!"
"Then what do we do?" Valentin asked. "We don't even know where Monteith's taken them."
"We know," Nicholas said grimly. "Peskov. Monteith has a history of using the manor houses of the nobility for his sacrifices. He'll have Etaine and Silver taken to Peskov's estate."
Valentin's eyes brightened with satisfaction. "Then we gather a troop of men and charge in and get them back."
"Or get them killed," Mikhail said slowly. "That is not the way."
Valentin frowned. "Then what is the way, dammit."
"The Cossack way. We go, we see, we kill where we can. Then when we are sure of our prize and Etaine and Silver are safe ..." He smiled with cold savagery. "We kill the rest of them."
"An interesting strategy," Valentin murmured. "Bloodthirsty but definitely interesting. Though I don't believe I ever heard it recommended when I served in the army. You approve, Nicholas?"
"I approve." Nicholas's smile held the same savagery as Mikhail's as he turned abruptly away. "God, yes, I approve. Let's go."
"Come now, Silver, surely the blow wasn't that severe. Open your eyes and talk to me. I've been waiting for this opportunity for a long time."
Monteith's voice, Silver realized, struggling to fight her way through waves of pain and darkness, was cooing at her ear. She opened her eyes and then quickly closed them again as a bolt of jagged agony knifed through her temple.
"I admit I'm disappointed in you." Monteith's tone was mocking. "I was hoping you'd kill Rogoff. It would have given me such a magnificent reason for oratory at the ceremony tonight."
Rogoff? What did the servant have to do with— "Etaine!" Silver's lids flew open and she ignored the pain as her gaze focused on Monteith's face. "Etaine. Is she—"
"Recovering nicely." Monteith smiled. "She'll be in fine condition in a few hours. However, Rogoff isn't so lucky. You managed to do considerable damage with that little dagger of yours before he managed to knock you unconscious with the butt of his whip. He was quite weak from loss of blood by the time he delivered you both here to Peskov's manor house. I'll have to reward him handsomely for his trouble."
"I tried to kill the bastard."
"You certainly made a good attempt. Poor Rogoff had no conception of what he faced in you."
"You bribed him to bring Etaine to you instead of to the doctor's office." Silver pushed herself up to a sitting position on the handsome brocade cushioned couch. She glared at Monteith. "I wish I'd cut his throat."
"I didn't have to bribe him. Rogoff belongs to me," Monteith said as he stood up. "If I choose, I shall reward him, but there's no necessity."
"I want to see Etaine. I don't believe what you say about her condition. She was too ill to—"
"Don't worry," he interrupted with a touch of impatience. "I have every intention of taking you to Etaine shortly. I want you to be together for the next few hours. Strength feeds upon strength, and I want Etaine to be very strong tonight." He strolled over to a long window across the room and looked out, the line of his spine perfectly straight, his carriage impeccable beneath his elegant gray coat. "But I wanted this time alone with you first. I've been anticipating our final confrontation for a long time. And don't be foolish enough to believe that it won't be final. I urge you not even to contemplate escape. I have my followers in every hallway of the house, men who belong to me in a way that gives me total sway over them. They have orders not to harm you or Etaine, but you'll not be permitted to get away."
"Belong!" Silver echoed scornfully. "You think you can own people? No one would give scum such as you any allegiance."
He chuckled. "Ah, how I love that fire of yours, Silver. I've never met a woman who pleases me as you do. What satisfaction it would give me to own you." He turned to face her. "But I always knew it would do no good to try. You would never step across the line."
Silver struggled to banish the dizziness threatening to return her to darkness. "What line?"
"Why, the line that separates us. The line that keeps us from joining." His eyes were glittering in the pale classic beauty of his face. "And what a joining that would be, my dear. You could match me, compliment me. Together we would be superb."
"I want to go to Etaine now."
The enthusiasm of his expression faded. "Don't be impatient. I told you she was recovering. What I have done I can undo."
"What you have done?"
"But of course." He looked at her in surprise. "You don't think Rogoff simply seized on a lucky opportunity to bring you to me? It was all planned. Naturally, I could leave nothing to chance, as I had to make arrangements for the ceremony."
Ceremony. He had mentioned something before about a ceremony, Silver remembered dimly. She wished the pounding in her temples would stop so that she could think more clearly. "You couldn't have planned Etaine's illness. She was so terribly—" She broke off as she saw his smile. Sick horror rippled through her. "You did it?"
He nodded. "I discovered several years ago that Etaine was affected by the pollen powders of certain weeds. They seemed either to bring on her attacks or increase their severity. When I noticed she appeared to be growing out of her affliction, I used them from time to time to bring on an attack. Rogoff merely had to sprinkle a little of the powder on the hay in the mare's stall. Actually, it was more than a little this time. I wanted to make sure the attack was severe enough to panic you into rushing her to a doctor instead of tending her yourself."
She gazed at him with disbelief. "You deliberately brought on those attacks? How could anyone be so cruel?"
"It was necessary."
"Causing Etaine to suffer was necessary? All those years of needless pain and fear?"
"Not needless. It all had a purpose."
"What purpose?"
"Why, to increase her strength of character and develop her courage. To hone away all her rough edges and make her shine like a rare jewel. To make her worthy."
"Etaine is worthy. She was always good and loving and—"
"But that wasn't enough," Monteith said gently. "Though all those qualities increased her value in the ceremony, she had to be quite perfect. You helped me there, Silver. Your example made Etaine independent, your strength made her own strength flower. Why do you think I permitted you to visit her when the circus was camped in St. Louis? I feigned disapproval so that Etaine would have something to fight against, but I never stopped you from seein
g her. And I even let you take her away and keep her for a while here in St. Petersburg. In fact, I deliberately kept you here to make sure Etaine would reap the benefit of your presence." His gaze was caressing as it moved over her face. "I always knew you were just as valuable as the cats in her preparation for the ceremony."
"What ceremony?"
"The sacrifice." He smiled as he heard Silver's quick intake of breath. "The sacrifice that she s been preparing for all these years."
"You're going to put her in the cage with the lions again?"
"Oh, no, the lions won't be used. They'd make matters very difficult when the essence is drawn. It will be the usual ceremonial dagger."
"Why? Why would you do this thing?"
"Because of who I am," Monteith said. "You still don't understand, do you? Etaine's death will be no small matter. It will be the culmination of all that I've accomplished."
"You're mad." Even as she spoke Silver knew the charge was untrue. Monteith's gaze was coldly and completely sane. "How could a child's murder accomplish anything but eternal damnation?"
He laughed with genuine amusement. "But, Silver, don't you realize? That is the purpose."
She gazed at him uncomprehendingly.
"Hell is where I wish to rule," he explained softly. "But to do so I must show I'm willing to sacrifice the child of my own blood, if not of my spirit. When I was a boy my father, the good vicar, used to quote something from the Bible to me. 'For God gave his only begotten Son.' I knew even then that I must do the same to please my master. He gave me much power when he realized my devotion, but I knew I would not receive his final acceptance until I had given him the same gift his archenemy had sacrificed." He shook his head regretfully. "It was a pity that bitch, Mary, didn't give me a boy, but I realized soon after Etaine was born that she would do very nicely. She shone with an uncorrupted goodness that was quite splendid."
"Which you want to destroy," Silver whispered.
"To sacrifice," he corrected her. "Why do you think I made no attempt to corrupt Etaine? To sacrifice evil to evil is a much lesser gift than to sacrifice purity to evil. Tonight with all due ceremony I will take Etaine's life and I'll be given mine."