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As it happened, I got permission to leave the institute that Friday The erand duchess Elizabeth was entertaining her Hessian fa party for her sister Princess Alix Marand duchess had noticedof the Water

Elena was most vexed "The tsarevitch will be there!" she wailed

"Pro like &039;The princess Elena is the liding across the ice&039; "

I rolled ," I said as I dressed in my war I wore s like rand duchess had not spoken with htlike this At least Madabetter She&039;d been able to sit up and take a little broth the previous day I hoped she would be able to return to Snon, so as to keep it out of hness," she whispered, referring to Elena "You don&039;t want to be her next victiuilt, but what could I do? I had no proof I could not go to the headhter of atteht Elena could well decide to poison rins could cause far more harm to my family than I could to any of theain

Perhaps she was not so rand duchess and her sister were in the sleigh waiting for me The foothness, Your Highness," I said, trying to curtsy before I sat down

"Alix, this is Katerina Alexandrovna of Oldenburg Katerina, my sister, Princess Alix of Hesse"

Alix looked just like her older sister, with hair slightly lighter than the grand duchess&039;s But her eyes were a clear gray-blue, whereas the grand duchess had one clear blue eye and one with a large brown spot

Princess Alix smiled shyly and took my hand "It is a pleasure to lish My French is not so good"

"Not at all, Your Highness How do you like Russia?" She sain "It is very beautiful Do you like to skate?" She twisted the pearl ring on her finger, then switched to fiddling with the kid gloves in her lap She looked painfully shy

I nodded "I love to skate, but unfortunately I ah atlike relief passed across the princess&039;s face and then was gone Suddenly, I realized why I&039;d been invited on this outing The grand duchess had noticedof the Waters I was here to roup is already at the gardens," Grand Duchess Elizabeth said She reached over and patted her sister&039;s hand coeneral public for the afternoon, with four large Cossacks standing guard at the front gate The grand duchess Xenia Alexandrovna stood with her chaperone and her two older brothers

-the tsarevitch, Nicholas Alexandrovich, and the grand duke George Alexandrovich Hiain I would no doubt have to listen the entire tiic

The grand duke did not look happy to see , he stayed as far away fro quartet, bundled in their furs, sat at the pavilion and played music from Swan Lake while we skated across the frozen pond in the center of the park When I finished buckling onthe chilly air deep into my chest, and wobbled steadily onto the ice

I skated better that afternoon than I usually did, but I was still able to race-until Xenia Alexandrovna decided to show off her fae bloodline She made both me and the German princess look as clumsy as bears on skates

Xenia&039;s eyes twinkled fro icy silver as she tossed her fur muff onto the bench She took off across the ice, her slender arms stretched out as if she could take to the air at any minute

"Nicky!" she called out "Race e in Xenia&039;s eyes, which was e in the tsarevitch&039;s eyes from a steely blue to silver was much more subtle And she missed that as well, because she and Grand Duchess Elizabeth were talking to George Alexandrovich, as still not wearing any skates

With his brother and sister racing around the frozen pond at al Alix and Elizabeth that one of his skates had a broken buckle and that he was lanced directly atto watch the tsarevitch and Xenia The ice sparkled as they roared past me I so of Nicholas and grabbed ain, her eyes were their norined the silver earlier? She tore off with me at speeds I dared not contemplate under ht

I survived I didn&039;t even fall But nobody on the ice that day would have given oodness Elena had not been invited I shuddered to think what kind of mischief she would have caused Especially if she had seen the way Nicholas Alexandrovich looked at Princess Alix

The tsarevitch did not leave the princess&039;s side for the rest of the afternoon The grand duchess Elizabeth watched over thee Alexandrovich watched them as well, with obvious dismay He took a break every now and then only to scowl atback and forth from one end of the pond to the other Our cheeks were red and chapped before long, our breathing heavy fro so hard My ears were so cold they hurt Xenia, of course, beat ift I was not destined to be an artist on ice, ever

We stopped after what seemed like hours and sat down at the pavilion in front of the saht with us Instead of tea, we had stea cups of hot cocoa with freshly baked pastries

"Will you be co to the ball at Anichkov Palace next week?" Xenia asked hness," I said I took a sip of cocoa "I will be attending with my parents"

"Wonderful!" Then she pouted "Maman says I will be able to attend for a little while but will not be allowed to dance" Xenia still had a few years before she would be old enough to be out in society

"But you will have a wonderful tiet to wear your beautiful dress and hear the own" Elizabeth looked at the tsarevitch over her cup of cocoa "Alix looks lovely in lavender, don&039;t you think, Nicholas?"

"Oh, yes," Nicholas said dreamily

Alix blushed and smiled shyly

"Have you ever written a love poem?" Xenia asked me in a whisper

I smiled and shook my head "No I&039;ve never met a boy that inspired any poetry," I whispered back "Have you?"

She nodded, her eyes twinkling "Many times! I adore poehtfully "Do you think Alix ht write a poem for Nicky? They seem to like each other a lot, but Nicky is twenty She is closer to George&039;s age"

I almost choked on my pastry A poem to the tsarevitch, I could understand A poem to his surly brother, I could not Everyone looked up atWhy was I so socially aard?

Grand Duchess Ell a hurried to refilenough to s the cocoa

"Thank you"

Xenia had turned to ask her aunt if she had a favorite poet They were discussing French and English Romantics I looked at Alix and Nicholas, still in their own little world across the table froe Alexandrovich would never do for her I glanced over to see hihtfully at his brother as well I could see the concern in his eyes Xenia still believed in love George was old enough to understand that tsarevitchs were not allowed to rand dukes

The string quartet began to play again, and Alix and Nicholas stood up to return to the ice

One of the ie Alexandrovich and bowed "Your skate has been repaired, Your Ihness" Grand Duchess Elizabeth smiled "excellent! Now you can skate a turn with Katerina Alexandrovna!"

It pained him, I could tell, but he put on his skates and bowed to her, then offered his arhness," he said