Mother of Chaos Read online

  In a single motion Ruxandra moved behind the prince, took the knife he’d worn strapped to his lower back, and pressed it to his neck. The prince gave a yelp and she pressed down just enough to bring a line of blood up, each drop a bead on a string. She inhaled.

  How is it such a disgusting creature has such delicious blood?

  Belosselsky broke out laughing. “Magnificent. Gagarin?”

  The older man sighed and pulled a small purse from his pocket. “I should know not to bet against you.”

  He extracted five gold coins and dropped them into Belosselsky’s waiting hand.

  Belosselsky pocketed the coins. “So, Kade, how much will you cost?”

  “That depends on the task.”

  “For you to assassinate the empress, of course. And do ask your friend to release Delfino, would you? He looks ready to cry.”

  Chapter 13

  Kade nodded to Ruxandra, and she released Delfino, handing back his knife hilt first.

  “You caught me by surprise,” Delfino grumbled as he reached for the blade. “One does not expect—”

  “I apologize, Prince. Next time I’ll give you warning, then shove it between your ribs.” He glared at her but didn’t say anything else as he took the weapon.

  “Enough, Ruxandra. Guests should not threaten each other,” Belosselsky said. “What is your price, Kade?”

  Kade shifted in his seat, his right hand landing on the grip of his sword. “What makes you think you could afford to pay it?”

  Belosselsky looked like an irritated cat, unsure whether to pounce or turn away. “Do not play games, Kade. I know how Peter compensated you for your work. I will match it. And I will have access to the treasury once she is dead.”

  “You assume. Politics . . . Well, it’s a treacherous business, isn’t it?”

  Belosselsky’s lips hardened into a line of white. He sipped his wine, and when he lowered the glass, his face was calm once more. “I have made arrangements.”

  “Tell me of them.”

  “Suffice it to say that there are many loyal to me. If something were to befall the empress, someone strong would have to take the reins until we chose the next emperor.”

  “You?” Kade’s tone made it clear he doubted it.

  “I brought Anna to power,” Belosselsky said. “Mine was the voice that convinced the other nobles to accept her.”

  “And look how that worked out,” Gagarin said. He finished his wine in a single gulp. “This is getting us nowhere, Belosselsky. If he won’t agree, cut his throat and have done with it.”

  “It was not my fault the council underestimated her.” Belosselsky snapped out the words like a wolf snapping its jaws.

  “I agree with Gagarin,” Delfino said. “Kill them.” He looked excited, his lips glistening with saliva.

  In Hungarian, Ruxandra said, “This goes badly.”

  Kade smiled and replied in the same language. “It goes fine. Belosselsky loves to show off his power, Delfino likes to bluster. Neither is a threat.”

  “What of the others?”

  “Is there a reason you’re speaking in that abominable tongue?” Delfino asked.

  “Ruxandra had a private comment regarding you.” Kade gave him a short bow. “Princess Khilkoff speaks Hungarian, if you must know what we said.”

  Princess Khilkoff flushed and glared at Kade. Belosselsky looked at her, one eyebrow raised. She shook her head.

  “Nothing of importance,” she said. “And nothing we don’t know.”

  Damn Kade for not telling me. Ruxandra felt more than ready to leave. I am tired of these fools.

  “We still require an answer,” Dolgorukov said.

  “You will not receive it tonight,” Kade said.

  “If you do not help, others will,” Gagarin said. “If you are against us, we will remember.”

  Kade smiled at the princess. “The secret police watch you, Princess.”

  Princess Khilkoff’s eyes narrowed. “I know. They murdered my father, and their sights are on me.”

  “Then you stand to gain the most from betraying this company. It would set you free.”

  The princess shot a glance at Delfino, a stricken expression crossing her face. She glared at Kade. “How dare you.”

  “Dolgorukov,” Kade said, ignoring the princess. “What do you stand to gain?”

  “Not your concern.”

  “You are fools.” Kade’s voice cracked like a whip through the room. “You conspire and squabble, but take no precautions. Do you not think the empress knows what you plan here?”

  “Anna is insane,” Gagarin said.

  “But not stupid.” Kade stood and hung the sword on his belt. “Her men follow the princess. They follow me. They have a spy in your midst. So, until you gain a modicum of sense, I have no response to make.”

  Kade bowed and walked out, leaving the princes and princess glaring at one another. Ruxandra followed, not bothering to curtsy. Once they rounded the corner, she stepped in front of him.

  “What were you doing in there?” Ruxandra demanded. “Are you going to do it?”

  “I may,” Kade said, switching to vampire frequencies. “But not soon. Anna’s protection keeps the magicians alive.”

  “Protection?” Ruxandra shook her head, using the same tones. “She imprisoned them, Kade. She is forcing them to . . .”

  No, she isn’t. She locked them up and made them do exactly what they wanted to do.

  “Precisely,” Kade said. “They are under threat, but not in immediate danger. What happens when Anna dies? I like these people, Ruxandra. I would not have them harmed.”

  Ruxandra glared. Kade stared back, unperturbed.

  “What will Belosselsky do if he gains power?” he asked. “Especially if he needs to bring others to his side, such as the Metropolitan and the church? And wouldn’t the peasants embrace him if he showed Anna was corrupt and supporting witchcraft? No, things must remain unchanged for now. If they change, I will consider it then.”

  “I won’t let them summon the angel, Kade.”

  “I know.”

  “What if I have to kill them?”

  Kade shrugged. “There are still three months. We shall find another alternative.”

  Ruxandra’s eyes narrowed. “I dislike how much you enjoy this.”

  Kade looked away, smiling like a schoolboy caught doing something naughty. “The intrigue of the court has always held a fascination for me. Especially when the stakes are so high. Now, shall we return to the house?”

  “You go ahead,” Ruxandra said. “I want to think.”

  Kade took her hand and kissed it. “I shall see you there.”

  Ruxandra watched him leave and sighed. “He is a handsome, charming man who drives me mad. Why is that, Alexi?”

  Alexi appeared under the eaves of a nearby house. “How long have you known?”

  “From the moment I stepped outside.”

  “Did Kade?”

  “He didn’t say.” She looked after him. “He never does. That’s the problem. How much of our conversation did you hear?”

  “Up until you asked if he would do it. What did they want? Given the person whose home you were in, I can guess,” Alexi said.

  “Why not ask your agent there?”

  “I don’t have one.” He held out his arm. “Shall we walk?”

  Ruxandra reached out for his emotions as she put her arm through his. All she sensed was curiosity and wariness. Nothing indicated he was lying. But then, he might be an excellent liar.

  Too much intrigue. It’s like Venice without the stylish clothes and music.

  “Kade has played the game for a long time,” Alexi said. “He is superb.”

  “Game?” Ruxandra shook her head. “How is this a game? He’s playing with people’s lives.”

  “We all do: the empress, Kade, Belosselsky, even the magicians below the church. Each thinks how to outmaneuver the others.”

  They turned down the street that led to Kade
’s house.

  “What of you?” Ruxandra asked. “What game are you playing?”

  “The same. Except I am a pawn, moving under the orders of my queen.”

  Ruxandra tilted her head. “I thought you a knight at least.”

  “You flatter me.”

  “Those men outside the church,” Ruxandra asked. “Who were they?”

  “They did not say. They did, however, seem deeply concerned about religious matters, as they both went immediately to another church some miles distant.”

  “The Metropolitan’s men, then?”

  “The Metropolitan would certainly never lower himself to spy on Her Majesty’s doings,” Alexi said, his voice bland. “And I am sure, were he asked, he would no doubt blame the overzealousness of his priests in their desire to keep his flock free from unnatural influences.”

  “Of course.”

  Alexi released her arm. “Let us stop here. I do not want Kade’s servants noticing me. Did you know the fall equinox is in a week?”

  “I did not,” Ruxandra said, curious about the change of topic. “Is that important?”

  “Very much so. The empress holds her autumn ball on the equinox. All of Russia’s nobility will attend, and you.”

  “Me?” Ruxandra’s eyebrows rose high on her forehead.

  “And Kade.” Alexi smiled. “The empress commands your presence. To add a touch of . . . danger to the festivities.”

  “And if we refuse to go?”

  “I would not advise it. Vampires do not rank high in her estimation. She would be offended and might lash out at those Kade holds dear.” Alexi reached inside his jacket and pulled out a thick envelope. “Here is the invitation for you both. A dressmaker will visit you in the morning after dawn. You need proper clothing for the event.”

  “I thought you’d given me clothes for court.”

  “Yes, but this is a party. You must look your most radiant and outshine the other women there. The empress wants to see their reaction to a strange beauty at her court.”

  “Why?”

  “It is a tool for cutting through disguise. Who is threatened? Who merely envious or lustful? She unbalances her foes, as anyone in her position must.”

  Alexi bowed and walked away. A moment later he vanished from her sight.

  The dressmaker arrived the next morning and took measurements. Three days later she fitted Ruxandra into a stunning dress of deep-blue silk with silver embroidery running the length of it and an underdress and crinolines of pure white. The bodice was cut low in the French style and came with a corset that pushed her breasts up so everyone would notice them. Hoops at the waist made the skirts flare out. To her relief they were not exaggerated like the ones in France. Those made the woman wearing them look like a doll stuck in the middle of an ornately decorated cake.

  The dress smelled faintly of Anna’s perfume.

  Ruxandra examined the gown closely. She found the darts and tucks in the fabric where the seamstress had taken it in. It was masterfully done, especially having been done in such a short time. Even so, Ruxandra knew the dress had belonged to the empress.

  I wonder whether she did it to show that she owns me or for the fun of knowing I’m wearing her castoffs?

  Maybe I’ll get to ask her.

  That night Kade didn’t come home. Ruxandra waited up a few hours, but the man did not return. She went to bed, mystified, and when she asked him about it the next day, he would say only that he’d been concerned with business that needed attending to.

  She decided not to show him the dress until the evening of the party.

  She spent the remaining days at the library, struggling through the Cyrillic texts and skimming the Latin and Greek, searching for more signs of disaster. She found none. Michael found several promising-looking texts on banishing evil but wasn’t sure of the translations. And as she studied, she made friends.

  The magicians were good company. Even their complaining amused her: it had been so long—since the convent, she realized—since she’d been among a group of people who knew what she was and who didn’t want to control or destroy her.

  They all had questions about what it was like to be a vampire, and their interest, unafraid and nonjudgmental, freed something in Ruxandra. She talked about the fascination of watching societies change, about the fierce satisfaction of hunting predators, about the loneliness. Michael was the kindest, steering the conversation away when it became painful with some quotation from Russian poetry; he had an endless store of it. He would also pat her on the shoulder at such moments, his soft hands as weightless as falling leaves. She had forgotten what it felt like to be touched so gently.

  Derek was the most relentless, asking detailed historical questions that she often couldn’t answer, living as she had outside of society. Yet she was grateful for the reminder that life was not all vampires, predators, dark angels, and politics. She began bringing him treats: large cakes stuffed with fruits and nuts, honey bread, whole smoked fish with sour cream, wheels of cheese, roasted chickens and ducks. It fascinated her to watch him eat: slowly, methodically demolishing a spread that would serve six as the others teased and picked and warned him that one day he would not be able to lift his vast bulk from the chair.

  “Which do you love more, food or books?” Eduard asked him one day.

  “I cannot get enough of either,” said Derek. “The world exists to nourish us, does it not?”

  “The world does not care,” said Ruxandra.

  “That is where you are wrong. There is a deep goodness in life—you may call it God—reflected in the seasons, the sun, the harvest, the wonders of knowledge, and each other. That is what I celebrate.”

  Michael’s gentle touch on her shoulder let Ruxandra know that even as she felt her difference again keenly, she was not alone with it.

  What she was alone with was her fears of the angel. The magicians listened, but she could see that the uncanny, the unknown, the great power and mystery of the one who’d made her still had hold of their imaginations.

  It is the empress who matters. I must find something to convince her.

  The night before the party, Ruxandra hunted. She took an old woman who was abusing her adult daughter, more with words than blows, but Ruxandra hated her arrogance and cruelty. It was not until she was bathing and washing her hair that she realized the old woman had reminded her of Anna.

  I must stop this. All of it. But how?

  On the afternoon before the party, Ruxandra spent an hour working with pins, doing her hair in the latest style from Italy. Her red locks rose high on her head and cascaded across her shoulder like a waterfall of fire. After one last inspection in the mirror, she went to the stairs and paused there to show Kade the full effect.

  He does clean up rather handsomely.

  Kade wore a red knee-length coat with wide skirting over a black waistcoat and trousers. Gold thread embossed his cuffs and collar and trimmed the edges of his coat. His stockings and shirt gleamed white, and his black shoes shone with polish.

  “For someone who claimed he cares not for fashion,” Ruxandra said, “you have an impressive wardrobe.”

  Kade looked up, and his eyes widened. He bowed low. “You must have a secret admirer, because I know you did not pack that dress.”

  “Anna, via Alexi. It used to be hers.” Ruxandra glided down the stairs—a trick she’d learned in Venice—and stopped before him.

  “I shall thank them both for ensuring that I have the most beautiful of women on my arm this evening.” Kade bent over her hand and kissed it.

  “Flatterer.”

  Kade’s mouth fell open in an expression of hurt so obviously feigned that Ruxandra laughed.

  “I assure you,” he began, but Ruxandra quieted him with a wave of her fan—also a gift, fashioned in blue and silver to match her dress.

  “Assure me of nothing,” she said. “We both know what you want.”

  He stepped closer. “You have yet to succumb.”

&n
bsp; Ruxandra folded the fan and planted the tip of it in his chest. “Not now. The empress awaits.”

  Kade led her to a carriage—hired to keep their shoes from ruin—and they rode in comfort to the Palace of Facets. This night the place glowed. Soldiers stood every ten feet around it, each holding a lantern. More lanterns—one for each step—shone on the long staircase. Nobility were lined up at the bottom, invitations in hand. Ruxandra spotted the Princess Khilkoff on the arm of Delfino, who radiated self-satisfaction. Dressed in gray silk, his chins gently resting on his collar, he resembled an oyster poached in cream, as she whispered to Kade.

  “You’ve been spending too much time with Derek,” he responded.

  Princess Khilkoff wore a dark-green dress cut in the same fashion as Ruxandra’s and—as if to further the oyster motif—a plenitude of pearls. The smile plastered on her face wasn’t fooling anyone. Belosselsky and Gagarin stood farther back in line, each with a bejeweled young woman on his arm. Kade and Ruxandra joined the queue.

  Belosselsky spotted them. He left the young woman to hold their places in line and walked over. From his smile and slow pace, he appeared to have not a care in the world.

  “Good evening, Prince Belosselsky,” Kade said. “Good to see you here.”

  “Oh, it is a command performance,” Prince Belosselsky said. “One dare not miss the empress’s ball. And to be fair, she does put on an excellent ball.”

  “I will look forward to it.”

  “And you look ravishing, Princess Ruxandra.” Belosselsky made a show of looking her up and down. “You wear that much better than the empress did this spring. And have you heard? Dolgorukov had an accident.”

  Ruxandra’s eyebrows rose with surprise. “I had not. Is he badly hurt?”

  “Dead, in fact.” Belosselsky smiled at Kade. “Crushed, three days ago. He was walking past a wall where they were doing work. A pile of stone fell on top of him.”

  “That’s terrible,” Ruxandra said, even as she remembered the family they had killed in Maribor. She looked to Kade. His face was as calm and unruffled as a deep pond on a windless day.