As much as Anna chafed over the hazards of inviting the rambunctious clan, she was even more concerned about the risk of allowing her ward to attend. Had she been able to ban Synnovea from the festivities without arousing the curiosity of the guests, who either knew the girl personally or were aware of her through an association with her late father, Anna would’ve done so without hesitation, just to avoid the havoc that her ward could cause. Many who were acquainted with Synnovea would have considered her an unlikely source for trouble, but Anna was contemptuous of such logic. She could foresee her aspirations being sundered before her very eyes and her rival unwittingly becoming the victor in this evening’s affair. Not only could Synnovea’s beauty attract the ardent attentions of Aleksei but the unwavering admiration of the ancient Vladimir as well.
Extremely reluctant to allow the girl any leeway in either area, Anna made a point of seeking Synnovea out in her chambers before the guests began arriving. Her intent was to prescribe the proper decorum that would be required of the girl throughout the evening, but upon barging into Synnovea’s chambers without knocking, Anna was momentarily taken aback by the vision that greeted her. In that brief moment all of her apprehensions congealed into a cold lump of dread. Arrayed in winter white, Synnovea looked as dazzling as any fabled snow queen of Russian lore.
If it were at all possible, Anna’s resentment of the girl increased tenfold as she stalked across the room to confront her. “If I see you cavorting like some mindless little twit among my guests or hear one whisper of complaint about your actions, I swear you won’t be allowed to leave this house until you’ve realized the full import of your folly in provoking me. Though you may have enjoyed your freedom under your father’s lax authority, I’ll expect you to conduct yourself with acceptable humility and be as demure as any proper Russian maid. Do I make myself clear?”
Synnovea took exception to the woman’s intimidation. “As always, Anna, you take special pains to make me cognizant of your demands.”
A spark of irritation ignited the gray eyes. “Do I detect some sarcasm in your reply?”
A stiff smile curved Synnovea’s lips. “My mode of behavior is normally rather reserved, so it seems rather pointless for you to advise me how a lady should conduct herself. I have managed to attend such functions without causing my family or other acquaintances undue embarrassment.”
“I’m not referring to your comportment while attending French or English courts, but what it must be here in my house!” Anna retorted. “I won’t tolerate any of your sly cavorting while you’re with my guests!”
“If you’re so afraid I’ll humiliate you, Anna, why don’t you just lock the door and be done with it?” Synnovea struggled to curb her own fermenting indignation as the princess glared back at her. “I’ll be quite content staying here in my chambers.”
Anna straightened her thin form imperiously. “Unfortunately, I found it needful to invite several of your acquaintances who’ve gained recognition as attendants to my cousin. Your presence would be missed.” Anna sniffed in imposing arrogance. “I understand you’re a close friend of Princess Zelda Pavlovna. Since her husband was unable to separate himself from the duties assigned to him by the field marshal, she’ll be attending tonight’s social with her parents. I’m sure you know them better than I do.”
At the heartening prospect of being able to converse with her young friend, Synnovea relaxed and graciously accepted the woman’s directives. “Be at ease, Anna. I shall comply with your desires.”
“I’m glad you’ve decided to be reasonable,” the princess retorted haughtily.
Synnovea was tempted to tell the woman that it was her conduct in serious need of refining, but knowing only too well that her accusations would involve them in another altercation, she refrained from voicing her opinion.
Anna heaved a tedious sigh. “Against my better judgment, I’ve extended an invitation to Countess Natasha.” She ignored her ward’s sudden smile of delight and deliberately avoided any mention of her reasons, which mainly centered on her hope that Natasha would be able to occupy the major portion of the girl’s attention and thereby reduce the chances of her associating with other guests and creating disaster in sensitive areas. “I see that you’re pleased, and well you should be. The two of you generally seem to be of one mind.”
Synnovea knew the princess meant her comment as a slur, but that certainly wasn’t the way she chose to accept it. Smiling, she dipped into a curtsy. “You do me great honor, Anna.”
An unladylike snort clearly defined the princess’s contempt as that one stalked to the door. There she paused to look back at Synnovea. The rich, pearl-encrusted sarafan and kokoshniki were beautiful beyond anything Anna had ever seen, and though she had expended the contents of an enormous purse on her own gold-and-yellow creation, she was struck by her failure to even come close to matching the other’s radiance. Yet, as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t order Synnovea to change her attire. Such a directive would reveal the full extent of her jealousy. The best she could do was delay the girl and hope she wouldn’t be noticed overmuch when she finally joined the soiree.
“You needn’t hurry down, Synnovea. The guests are just now beginning to arrive, and it will be some moments before they’re all here. Natasha said she wouldn’t be coming until later anyway.”
Anna took her departure before further comment could be made. She dreaded Natasha’s arrival and wondered if she’d be able to find it in herself to set aside her hatred long enough to offer some semblance of a gracious greeting to the woman.
Synnovea stayed closeted upstairs for another hour, having clearly perceived that her tardiness was what Anna desired. When she finally departed her room, she approached the stairs, intending to make her descent but halted abruptly when Aleksei stepped out of the shadows near the bottom and smiled smugly up at her. It was apparent he had been waiting for her to appear. He bounded up the flight, leaving her no recourse but to retreat. He sauntered forward, his red lips parting in a slow, sensual smile that brazenly hinted of his warming lust as his smoldering gaze glided upward from the bejeweled toes of her satin slippers to the pearl-adorned crest of her headdress.
“I’ve been meaning to talk with you, Synnovea,” he murmured, gently testing his still-tender nose with a lean knuckle, as if to remind her of her folly in doing him harm. “Though some men might have been offended by your determination to preserve your virtue, my dear, I must allow that your nature is perhaps different from that of most women. In the situation you’re in here, you have suitable cause to be concerned. Suppose we were to be found out and you were then subjected to the contempt of your friends and the hatred of Anna. Terrifying prospects, I must agree. Still, the pain of discovery seems far more remote than the consequences you’ll definitely suffer if you continue to deny me…”
Synnovea was resolved to hear no more threats. She had already heard enough from Anna to set her temper on edge. In angry reticence, she brushed past him, but her flight was halted when he caught her arm and yanked her around to face him. Though her heart quickened with trepidation, she lifted her gaze with all the dignity that she could muster and, with a brittle gaze, met his silently taunting smile. Her cool poise seemed to incense him, and with an angry jerk that nearly snapped her head from her shoulders, he sent her reeling to the far wall, where she crashed with a mind-jarring jolt. Momentarily stunned by the force of her collision, Synnovea staggered unsteadily, holding a hand to her head as she tried to halt her spinning world. Aleksei followed and, with a smirk, caught her almost gently by the throat, only to shove her back brutally against the wall.
“You needn’t hurry away, my lovely swan,” he mocked and lowered his face toward hers until she could feel his hot breath searing her cheek. “You won’t be missed downstairs for some moments yet. You see, Anna is completely engrossed in making Ivan known to her guests, which leaves us freedom to enjoy ourselves.”
Synnovea clawed at the long fingers that gradually tightened a
round the bejeweled band of her collar, seriously restricting her ability to breathe. In rising alarm, she tried to free herself. Her efforts only encouraged him to tighten his grip. The hall darkened progressively around them, and she heard his soft, ridiculing laughter as if it came from a great distance away.
“You see, Synnovea? I’ve reserved this little demonstration to show you just how futile it is for you to continue to deny me. Until you yield to my demands, my beauty, I shall be forced to instruct you in the hazards that you’ll invite by resisting me.”
Of a sudden, Aleksei loosened his grip and stepped back, allowing Synnovea to crumple in weak-kneed relief against the wall. Gulping for air, she clutched a shaking hand to her bruised throat and found no strength to draw away as her tormentor braced a hand against the wall behind her head and leaned near.
“I would’ve been gentle with you in the woodcutter’s cottage, Synnovea, but I’ve grown impatient and yearn to settle the matter quickly.” Lifting her upright by the arms, he captured her wrists and pinned them to the wall on either side of her head as he slowly perused her face. “You glow with the radiance of a silver moon, Synnovea, but you remain as aloof as a virgin queen…a snow maiden who has seized my heart. That’s what they call you, isn’t it? I’ve heard them say as much. The Countess Synnovea Zenkovna, the snow queen. The ice maiden! Are you as cold as they say you are, Synnovea? Or will you melt in my arms and become the firebird I’ve roamed this whole world to find?”
“I warn you, Aleksei!” she rasped through her constricted throat. She closed her eyes as her head swam dizzily, and it was a long moment before she again reclaimed some clarity of sense and purpose. Then, with a fiery glare, she vowed, “You’ll have to kill me right here and now, for I’ll never yield to you. If you intend to persist with your foul deeds, be mindful of this. With my last breath, I’ll scream and bring this house down upon your head. I swear I will!”
“Oh, Synnovea, when will you learn?” Aleksei chided, shaking his head sorrowfully. “You have no other recourse but to give in to my demands.” Once again he found it needful to demonstrate his greater strength. Slipping a hand behind her neck, he clasped it cruelly, forcing her to rise to the tips of her toes. His dark eyes pierced her pain-filled orbs. “Continue to deny me, my sweet, and I swear I will see you betrothed to the first doddering ancient who is old enough to vindicate me. Perhaps thus bound in wedlock, you’ll be willing to welcome the manly thrusts of a more competent suitor.” He lent emphasis to his words by slamming her back forcefully against the wall and crushing his hips against hers.
“Get away from me!” she choked as her hands came up to push feebly against his unyielding chest. “Just leave me alone and let me be!”
“I’ll leave you alone!” he snarled, throwing off her hands and snatching her to him. His mouth came down to seize hers with unbridled greed as his arms crushed her in a cruel vise.
Swept with a seething rage, Synnovea reached back an arm to search for the heavy sconce that she knew was hanging on the wall behind her. In the flickering descent of sputtering candles, she brought the weighty piece down with a vengeance upon the man’s thick skull.
Aleksei staggered back in a stunned daze and clutched a hand to his brow while a red aura blurred his vision. Synnovea gave the lecher no further chance to check her flight. Tearing free, she flung herself down the stairs, nearly stumbling in her haste until she came in sight of Boris, who, becoming mindful of her undignified flight, paused in the lower foyer and half turned to look up at her in surprise.
Though her whole being trembled from Aleksei’s recent assault, Synnovea steeled herself against an overt display. Deliberately slowing her breath, she assumed a guise of serenity in spite of the quaking tremors that beset her. She continued her descent with more leisured grace and smiled serenely at the steward even as she listened intently for the warning descent of thundering footfalls behind her.
Upon gaining the lower level, Synnovea went to the kitchen, where she knew she’d be reasonably safe from Aleksei and far removed from the curious stares of Anna and her guests. There, with her back to Elisaveta, she brushed at the tears that continued to well forth and blew her nose in the handkerchief the woman had kindly supplied. The cook dared no questions but pressed a glass of wine into her shaky grasp. Gratefully Synnovea sipped the brew, needing its soothing qualities to quell her violent quaking.
Finally her trembling disquiet ebbed, and Synnovea lent her attention to repairing her appearance. She found that feat much easier than mending the damage done by the stranglehold Aleksei had placed upon her neck, for she now suffered a burning rawness in her throat and a rasping hoarseness in her speech.
Much later than she had ever supposed, Synnovea made her entrance into the great hall, where Ivan, bedecked in a black silk kaftan, seemed to preen in the admiration heaped upon him by Anna and those who were not above indulging the tsar’s cousin with ingratiating adoration no matter her particular bent. Others who were more reserved and reticent about offering the man praise watched and listened stoically from a distance.
Synnovea paused at the outer circle of guests and, from there, cast her gaze about for Princess Zelda. She espied the young woman standing with her parents near the far end of the room. By the studied formality of the three, it was evident that they weren’t at all enchanted with what they were hearing. Synnovea realized the reason when she, too, gave heed to Ivan’s statements. Prince Bazhenov had served as one of the envoys for the tsar in the negotiations that had taken place between Russia and the realm that Ivan currently spoke out against.
“I tell you, my friends, our country is at an impasse,” he declared with unusual passion. “We’ve lost our access to the Baltic by way of a treaty with Sweden, and even now they’re usurping our trade in Novgorod and other important cities. Mysteriously they’ve been granted fishing rights on White Lake, and I’ll wager we’ll soon be outnumbered by Lutheran extremists here in our own country. If we don’t resist fairly soon, they’ll likely be fathering your grandchildren! Mark my words!”
A confused blend of voices arose from several of the guests, but none dared voice any disapproval of the authority which had allowed the Swedes to infiltrate their country so insidiously. Prince Bazhenov, however, was bold enough to speak out in valiant defense of it.
“With Sweden’s aid, Tsar Mikhail has managed to bring us the first peace we’ve known with Poland after many years of conflict. What would you suggest we do now?” he queried caustically. “Take up arms against Sweden?”
Ivan was cautious about answering, having perceived the loyalty the old prince felt for the tsar. “Above all, we must never alienate anyone against the tsardom, for there beats the heart of our very lifeblood.” He paused briefly for effect as he pressed the tips of his stubby fingers together in a contemplative pose. “Perhaps if we seek the advice of another accomplished strategist who is knowledgeable about such affairs, we can gain some insight as to the diplomacy and tactics we should employ against the Swedes.”
“Besides the Patriarch Filaret, you mean?” Prince Bazhenov jeered.
Ivan spread his hands in sublime innocence. “Are not two heads better than one?”
The elder was immediately suspicious. “Are you suggesting, sir, that you would be a worthy candidate for that position?”
“I am only a loyal subject of the tsar, my lord,” the cleric replied with suitable humbleness. “Still, if I were pressed into service, I think I’d be able to offer satisfactory solutions to ease the plight of our countrymen.”
“No doubt,” Prince Bazhenov retorted tersely. “You seem to have all the answers, but I wonder where your suggestions would lead us as a nation.”
“Who doesn’t wonder what the outcome will be?” Ivan countered. “Even now we’re being led as a nation by one man’s wisdom. Does that give you confidence? Can you offer solid guarantees of the Patriarch Filaret’s goals for this country and our future?”
The prince harrumphed loudly, displ
aying his displeasure over the discussion. Begging Anna’s pardon a moment later, he excused himself and his family from the reception, giving the excuse that he had to attend an early-morning inspection with the tsar and needed his rest.
Trailing behind her parents as they prepared for their departure, Princess Zelda glanced around in search of Synnovea and smiled in sudden pleasure when that one finally emerged from the press of people.
“I thought we’d have time to talk, darling,” Zelda whispered regretfully in her friend’s ear as they hugged each other. “My husband has been telling me things that I was sure you’d be eager to hear. Vassili was wondering if you knew about the rumors making their way around the Kremlin and wanted me to find out. I wish we could talk about this, but as you can see, we must leave. Papa is nearly beside himself. Whoever this Ivan Voronsky is, he hasn’t endeared himself to Papa!”