Rasputina and the Witch's Tsar

Chapter Forty-Two

"Maria! Maria!" I am staring out at the river, the ice crackling and spitting like flame, when a woman walks towards me. Her dove-gray scarf flutters in the wind, covering a high collar and a neck strung with pearls.

She sits down on the bench beside me, leaning in for a kiss on the cheek. She smells strongly of lavender. "My dear, it's been so long." She frowns as she removes her gloves to take my hands in hers. "Oh, lovely, you're freezing."

I bow my head, staring down at our intertwined hands. "The cold does not bother me much, Princess Irina."

She grins at me, her tongue peeking out from beneath her front teeth. "Nonsense, darling. Have you been out here long?" Uncertainly, she follows my gaze out to the ice, hissing on the river like a bunch of feral cats. "I doubt the river will change any just by you staring at it."

"On the contrary." I sniff, staring out at the ice, wondering how it'd feel to fall through. "Everything around us changes at every single second. Life. Death. It's all one and the same."

She pulls away, not surprising really. Everyone does when they see my state of disarray. The hollowness in my eyes. The hunger in the pit of my stomach that cannot be filled. "My dear Ms. Rasputina. That's absolutely morbid. You used to be so wonderful at parties. I don't believe I've seen you attend even one society dinner."

I chuckle at that, a throaty rasp. "Have you not heard the news, princess? I'm a drunk."

She pauses, unsure how to continue after the major social faux pas I just committed. To my surprise, she throws her head back and laughs. The scarf loosens, revealing more of the pretty pearls strung about her neck. "Nothing a good, stiff drink won't cure you of."

"It's serious, I'm afraid." I sigh, burying my face in my ice-cold hands. "The assassin should've finished me off. I'm no use to anybody like this. I've driven everyone away from me."

She leans in close, and to my surprise, her lips brush my ear. "Not everyone." She takes my hands in hers again, folding her fingers over mine. "How about it, Maria? Why don't you come by the Moika Palace? We'll throw a party in your honor. I'll reintroduce you to all the higher-ups. All the pretty, rich people in silks and satin. I'll make fresh tea if you won't drink liquor."

I turn to look at her, to stare at the odd laughter in her eyes, but she takes my chin firmly between her fingers and forces me to stare back out at the river. I stare at the ice as she whispers, "go on, let's see that prized magic all of St. Petersburg murmurs about."

It comes in a rush then as I watch the river, unchanging as it is. I demand the water to rush like my blood pounding in my ears. I demand the ice to crack and change. I demand the gentle hissing to increase until the very earth opens up to swallow me whole.

In another second, the river breaks the ice. A giant crack splinters the river. Princess Irina releases me. "There," her cheeks are tinged bright red. "That's the old Rasputina that all of St. Petersburg feared." She gets to her feet, and I follow, still in a daze.

"I trust I can see you at midnight?" She grins at me, but I hardly notice.

The old power rushes through me. How I missed it. Feeling invincible.

And Princess Irina, one of the few to still remember me. How I was. So very, very powerful. No assassin would dare...

"Of course, princess." I bow, stiff from cold. "Midnight at the Moika Palace, indeed."