When Spring Died

Chapter Seven

The letter Yuri brought to Sasha had already been opened, the blue wax seal on the front snapped in two. It was presented to Sasha with such out-of-breath urgency as Yuri looked ready to pass out.

"Your Highness. This is of the utmost importance. I--"

Sasha clicked his tongue, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs on his desk. "Yuri, Yuri, Yuri, to you, everything is of the utmost importance. Yet we will be alive, we won't die. There is no use in running yourself half-mad into an early grave." He took the offered letter. "Was this really so urgent that you had to read it first? How many times must I tell you not--"

"I didn't read it first," Yuri said snappishly, wiping the thin sheen of sweat from his brow. "And if you're quite finished with spouting nonsense at me that you've no doubt pulled from some ancient book of proverbs, then it might interest you to know that it was Countess Sofia Orlov who took it upon herself to read that letter's contents before you."

"What...?" Sasha froze and dropped his legs from the desk. If his aunt had the means to seize his letters, then that would make contacting anyone in secret impossible.

"Yes, and she's arrested and imprisoned the courier who brought it."

"What??" He stood so quickly that he nearly upturned his chair.

Yuri swallowed. "Also that letter...is from the queen."

"Queen? What queen?" Sasha rounded the desk to stand in front of Yuri. "We don't have a queen."

"The Frantsiyan queen. Ivette Soleil."

It startled Sasha, startled him because he would never have dreamed that in his lifetime, a royal from the Spring Courts would write to him. It startled him because his aunt, who fostered no love for anyone outside the country, had read it first. That was more dangerous than her reading a letter from one of his supporters in the court.

"And you're certain it's from the queen?"

"Of course I am. That's her seal."

Yuri pointed to the wax on the letter. Sasha glanced over it. Sure enough, it depicted the crest of a sun with eight rays. In the Frantsiyan language beneath the seal written in a thin scrawl was the apothegm of the queen's own house: "Le soleil brille pour tout le monde."

The sun shines on everyone.

Sasha started to laugh, partly because he found it funny, and partly because when he did not know what to do, laughing was the only solution. Besides, he knew full well that the sun didn't shine on everyone. How inconsiderate of Queen Ivette to gloat over possessing the sun. Frantsiyans had clear skies all the time, didn't they? How lucky they were to have the sun and the moon argue over who it was that should reign in the heavens. They must be having more fun than anyone else in the world.

"This isn't a laughing matter, Your Highness."

"You're right, Yuri, I'm sorry. I was simply overcome by a particularly cruel piece of irony."

He pulled the letter out of the envelope and began to pace as he read aloud. "'To his Esteemed Imperial Majesty, Tsar Sasha Mikhail Morozov'." He chuckled. "Hear that, Yuri? Queen Ivette said I was esteemed."

"Well, she's wrong on two accounts then. You're not yet tsar, and you are in no way esteemed. What else did she say?"

"You're simply jealous that I am esteemed and you are not." He went on. "'The unified houses of the Spring Courts of Frantsiya believe that an historic opportunity exists to promote the advancements of peace, wealth, and goodwill amongst the nations of Frantsiya, Ryssland, and Norvége.' Oh, and she made me feel special indeed for saying I was esteemed. It's quite a blow to learn I am not esteemed enough to be the only one she writes to. Do you think she called that Norvégien king, Frederik, esteemed too?"