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Queen Milena and her daughters arrived at Peterhof to prepare for the wedding festivities, and Grand Duchess Miechen held a ball in the Montenegrins&039; honor All the members of the Dark Court would be in attendance Dariya told ot ready for the ball in my family&039;s nearby dacha

"Militza has succeeded in do vampires," my cousin whispered "She will take Princess Cantacuzene&039;s place as the head of the House of Bessaraba in Russia As Cantacuzene&039;s niece, she has a legitimate blood claim"

"But her sister Zorka is older," I said "Wouldn&039;t she be the rightful heir?" Dariya shrugged "Militza has persuaded her sister to support her She alone knows the secret hiding place of the undead Dekebristi She believes she can control them with the Talisman of Isis-the same one that was mentioned in your book-and keep them out of Konstantin&039;s hands" It would make Militza almost untouchable

"Besides," Dariya said, "the tsar nos that Cantacuzene broke the treaty of 1825 Miechen thinks Militza will try to renegotiate that treaty with him once she has the undead ar that Miechen can do, other than s of Montenegro," I said I hoped I would get a chance to speak with the dark faerie queen at the ball

"What is the grand duchess thinking?"in her confine in public!"

"Nonsense," I said "Princess Yussopova danced all night long at one of her own balls and gave birth to her son the very next day With no difficulties" I looked up at my cousin in the hed "I suppose it would be a worse scandal if the King and Queen of Montenegro were snubbed by the Dark Court of St Petersburg I do hope you are careful tonight If only there was a spell you could invoke to protect yourself fro that book of yours, but I could not find anything that looks practical" She looked atyour own undead army"

"That is out of the question," I said, s in "

"But you do have the curse, do you not?" Dariya asked soberly "Why else would Cantacuzene give you such a book? And theyou did, was it not?" I did not knohat to say How long had she known? "But I didn&039;t want you to think I was a monster!"

"How could I? My mother had the curse as well"

I looked at her in surprise "How do you know that?" Dariya&039;sbirth to her Had she truly been a necromancer, like me?

"I found my mother&039;s journal when I was six For years, I secretly hoped I would inherit some special talent from her Even the curse It would have kept me connected with her in some small way" Dariya played with the lace in the"I kno stupid it seems," she said sheepishly

"Of course it doesn&039;t But I wouldn&039;t wish this curse on anyone I&039;ve wanted to tell you for so long, but I didn&039;t want you to be afraid of ood person, Katiya," she whispered in my ear "I&039;m not afraid of you" I tried to blink away the tears I prayed I would never let h the hallway "We must leave immediately!"

Hastily, I brushed the tears out of the corners of hed "I suppose I shal have to dance every dance with the crown prince," I said

Dariya sive up hope yet, Katiya We will think of so before you have toof several palaces and chapels

The Grand Palace was known as the Russian Versail es and had an impressive bank of fountains, called the Grand Cascade, that flowed doard the sea Our own fa out across the Gulf of Finland