Queen of Someday Read Free Page B

on, up the back staircase and down the left wing of a long, ornate hallway. The walls are marble and granite with decorative, golden wreaths and swirling vines along the ceiling. Massive frescos and beautifully woven tapestries hang from the walls, while tables with fresh-cut flowers sit at every door. I’m tempted to remark on the absurdity of it—fresh flowers in the middle of winter. Being raised by a man who saw such things as unnecessary frivolities, it’s an instant reaction. But I’m sure here, at the Grand Imperial Court, they don’t have an old man hunched over a ledger complaining about the cost of tulips, so I bite my tongue. I must remember that here, excess is completely ordinary and I ought not to make a fuss about it.
    “These are your rooms,” he says motioning to the last door at the end of the hall. The steward pushes the massive, oak door open, and the sitting room inside is nearly the size of my entire home back in Settin. There’s a writing desk, piano, and half a dozen chairs and chaises scattered about. A large, round table boasts a silver tray full of meats, cheeses, and breads. There are three doors beyond, two seem to be bedchambers, but I’m not sure about the third. I’m quite sure these rooms alone are the size of our entire home back in Germany. I look to Mother, who frowns, unimpressed.
    “Are the accommodations to your liking?” Sergei asks me directly, as Mother begins touring the room, commenting on the color of the drapes and the size of the fireplace.
    I nod. “They are; thank you.”
    “Then I will leave you to rest. I will send up a maid with some nightclothes, and I will have the seamstress attend you first thing in the morning.”
    Mother turns, “Do tell the empress we’ve arrived. I’m sure she will be most excited to see me.”
    Sergei bows gallantly. His eyes flicker up for only a moment and catch mine. A sly grin spreads across his face as he stands and turns to leave, the white-wigged steward closing the door behind them. No sooner are they gone than Mother opens the third door and nods happily.
    “A washroom. Good. I could use a hot bath after such a strenuous journey.” She turns to look at me. I hold up the hem of my soiled petticoat. She frowns. “You will need to wash too, of course. But I should go first. You will spoil the water with your muck.”
    Opening our door, she orders the steward back, demanding hot water be brought up from the kitchens.
    Sometime later, the water has grown cool as I finally slip out of my clothes and into the tub. Still, it’s warm on my cold skin. The soap smells like honey and goats milk as I wash away the last of the snow and mud from my body and hair. I rest back against the side of the copper washtub and try to imagine in my head what it might be like to see Peter again. He would have grown devastatingly handsome, that much I can be sure of, and he will see me and smile. He will take my hand, we will dance and laugh, and he will insist we go for a walk in the garden. The moonlight will be pale and glowing, he will look into my eyes, and… I let the vision trail off. For a moment, one insane second, it wasn’t Peter, but Sergei’s face in my thoughts. I brush it aside quickly. Sergei is a kind man, handsome, and not much older than I am. A gentleman who went out of his way to keep me safe. But even so, he is not the reason I’m here, and I cannot afford to be distracted by a few kind words and handsome eyes.
    I must win the heart of the future king.
    “Come along, dear. As I expected, we have been summoned to see the empress first thing in the morning. You will need to be rested.”
    With a heavy sigh, I step out of the bath and dry myself before slipping into the soft, green dressing gown the maid brought for me.
    When I walk into the room, Mother is sitting at the writing desk, furiously scribbling notes on parchment.
    “Are you writing Father? To let him know we arrived safely?” I ask.
    She looks up at me and