The Morning Star Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t dare to hope. Perhaps he was ready to allow me to go to medical school in Zurich. But now that my studies were going so well with Dr. Badmaev, did I still want to leave St. Petersburg?
    Petya stepped out of the carriage as it rolled to a stop at the palace entrance. He turned and offered his hand to me. I was shaking much more than I’d realized. “I won’t leave you unless I’m ordered to,” he said, his face stern and serious like any soldier’s.
    I loved my brother, even if he did always think the worst of me. “I’ll be fine,” I told him.
    To my embarrassment, we were taken to the tsar’s library. Only hours ago I’d been kissing the tsar’s son in this very room. I blushed and glanced around quickly, searching for George, but the library was empty except for the tsar. He was seated behind his handsome Hepplewhite desk. “Leave us, Commander Oldenburg.”
    There was nothing Petya could do but click his heels and bow. With one last worried glance at me, he turned and left, closing the door behind him. I was alone with Tsar Alexander. As he stood up, the lamp on the desk cast long, menacing shadows behind him. “Katerina Alexandrovna,” he said, coming around the desk and sitting on the corner. “My son and I have had a long discussion about you.”
    I said nothing. I was too frightened to speak. My entire future was in this man’s hands.
    Even if he had not been such a large man, the tsar would have been intimidating. But there was a reason he was called Sasha the Bear. He loomed over me like a Kodiak. And this was without transforming into the bogatyr, the ancient warrior hero of Russia. I hoped he had not summoned me here because he needed me to perform the ritual. If such had been the case, we would have been joined in the library by several Orthodox clergy and wizards of the Inner Circle, not to mention the empress herself.
    “George tells me the two of you wish to marry.”
    “Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” It came out barely above a whisper.
    The tsar’s face finally relaxed into a smile. “My dear, nothing would make me happier. I’ve seen the way my son behaves around you. You’ve brought a light into his dark soul.”
    I stared at him with relief and shock. Me? Bringing George light? “I-I’d believed it was the other way around, Your Imperial Majesty,” I stammered. Not that I wished to argue with the tsar.
    “Nonsense. George has always been the serious one, tormented by his own demons,” the tsar said. “I’m happy that he has found someone who will not let him wallow in the darkness. I’ve watched you grow up, Katerina, as the daughter of one of my favorite cousins. The shadows of the Dark Court haunt you, but you’ve always longed to stay out of their grasp. You can keep my son safe from those shadows.”
    “But my family,” I could not help myself from saying. “Maman is attached to the Dark Court, as striga.”
    Tsar Alexander shook his head. “You are a princess of imperial blood, Katerina Alexandrovna, and I know you will make afine grand duchess. However, there is one sacrifice you must be willing to make. A daughter-in-law of the tsar cannot practice medicine. So I’m afraid medical school is out of the question.”
    The happiness that had dared to bubble up inside me suddenly vanished. “I cannot become a doctor?” What sort of cruel joke was the tsar playing on me?
    The tsar folded his arms. “You will have plenty to occupy your time raising a young family.”
    “And my responsibilities as your necromancer?” I asked.
    His smile was grim. “We pray to God your services won’t be needed any longer.”
    “But it’s only a matter of time before Konstantin Pavlovich returns. Unless the Koldun has discovered a way to prevent it?”
    The tsar frowned, and for a second I believed I had angered him. “I have faith that the Inner Circle will prevent the lich from returning, Katerina. That burden falls upon the current Koldun and will one day fall upon my