The Unfailing Light (Katerina #2)

The Unfailing Light (Katerina #2) Page 34

I went to the kitchen to see if the Blue Form girl was feeling better. The kitchen staff was busy scrubbing pots and pans. I found Sucre at the kitchen table studying an almanac.

"Bonsoir, Monsieur Sucre."

"But it is not possible," Sucre muttered to himself. He looked up and saw me. "Ah, it is the Dark Duchess," he said, sighing. "Comment allez-vous, Mademoiselle?"

"I am well, Monsieur Sucre. What are you studying?"

He frowned and pushed the almanac away. "It is nothing. What brings you to the kitchen? Are you wanting something to eat?"

"No, Monsieur. I wanted to see if a young girl had come to see you. She was badly frightened by the ghost."

Sucre's mutterings were in a dialect I could not understand. His eyes seemed to glow a brighter blue than before. "Why doesn't the headmistress lock up that damned room? You children have no business disturbing that ... that thing that lives in there."

"But she doesn't just stay in the library. She's been in my room. And here in the kitchen too."

Sucre looked as if he were about to say something, but was cut short by a loud shriek from the back of the pantry. His face grew dark as he rose from the table to investigate.

I caught a glimpse of the piece of paper tucked into the almanac he'd been reading. The handwriting was barely legible: Wolf's Heart. The almanac was turned to March, with the eighth day circled. I shuddered, not knowing if it was a recipe or some faerie ritual.

I followed Sucre to the pantry and peeked through the crowd, wondering if the ghost had scared someone again.

Two women sank to the floor, crying and crossing themselves.

Next to them, the kitchen girl, the one who'd been injured by the ghost the night of the Smolny Ball, lay dead.

Sucre quickly shooed everyone out of the pantry and closed the door. I could see his glamour straining to seal the door shut, as he worked his faerie magic on the kitchen staff. He pulled a loaf of brown bread out of the oven, the steam rising from its warm surface.

The scent was heavenly, but it could not make me forget what I saw. A cold, pale body. The girl's black eyes glassy and vacant like a doll's.

The others, however, were easily fooled. I watched them dig into the bread hungrily. They were soon smiling and whistling as they returned to work.

I glared at the cook. "What are you going to do about her?"

"I will move her when the others leave."

"What happened exactly? Can a ghost actually kill someone? Now will you try to get rid of her?"

"You would be wise to tell no one what you've seen here, Duchess." Sucre smiled a little, baring his tiny, sharp, pointy teeth. Sucre was too tall, too slender to be completely human. I wondered why no one else had ever noticed this. Even hidden behind a large flour- and sugar-dusted apron. His raven-black hair was long and pulled back in a queue like some wild Romantic poet's.

"But we have to warn the others-"

Sucre's eyes flashed a deep, dark sapphire blue, dark as midnight. "Not a word. I will take care of this without your assistance, Mademoiselle."

Too frightened and too angry to say anything more, I merely nodded and heard his low, soft laughter behind me as I hurried back to my room. How dare he laugh at a time like this? The faerie was heartless.

Aurora was curled up in her bed, studying her German grammar book with extreme studiousness. Elena had pressed herself up against the tiny window and was staring out into the darkness.

"What is it?" I asked, immediately feeling the prickling on the back of my neck again.

Elena shook her head slowly. "We don't know. There was a noise outside like someone crying. Alix thought it was a student."

"And she went to find out? How foolish!" I was filled with dread. Dread that the ghost could appear outside of the school. If that was possible, she was more powerful than I'd imagined.

Elena grinned and turned away from the window. "Alix didn't say anything. We were both looking out the window, and I couldn't see anything, and then all of a sudden she left. She did the strangest thing, though. She pulled the box out from under her bed, unrolled the red ribbon, and took it with her."

I grabbed my woolen cloak. "Are you coming?"

"We don't know who or what is out there," Elena said. "It's far too dangerous." She shrugged and plopped back down on her cot, picking up her book. "Besides, I'm sure Alix will be back soon," she said with a dramatic sigh. "Unfortunately."

I rolled my eyes and left, regretting that their sugar-coated truce hadn't lasted very long. I crept down the stairs as quietly as possible, wondering if Alix had been bold enough to leave the building.

She hadn't. I found her just inside the front door. She looked at me. "There is a great evil outside, Katerina Alexandrovna," she whispered.

"In the courtyard?" I could feel the panic rising up inside. Nothing should have been able to get past the empress's spell. Had the spell failed?

Alix shook her head. "I think it's in the woods just past the courtyard. I don't think you should go out there."

"Can you see it?" My mind was racing. If it wasn't the ghost, could it be that Konstantin had found me? I wished that George could hear me. If the lich tsar was out there, Tsar Alexander needed to be warned. "What did he look like?"

"He?" Alix frowned. "I did not get a good look, but it sounded to me as if the thing was female."

"Thing? Female?" I brushed past her and opened wide the front door.

"Katerina, don't! Stay inside!" Alix whispered, her fingers digging into my arm.