It was the same wolf. She knew it. The old white wolf from the woods. It was as if he was calling out his name.
But, Sophie realized as her pulse raced, it sounded like a warning, too. Yes, he was coming to rescue the princess. He was coming to save a Volkonsky!
“What was that?” Marianne grabbed Delphine’s arm.
“Volky!”the princess whispered. “A wolf has escaped!”
“Escaped?” she heard Delphine repeat. “From where?”
Ivan ran to the door. “Dmitri!” he yelled. And then something more, in urgent, despairing Russian.
“You promised me wolves, Anna!” the general cried, taking the pistol from his hip. “By God, I’ll have them!” His face was alight with the sort of joy seen on the faces of saints and martyrs. He pushed past Ivan, and they heard his footsteps running down the corridor toward the broad marble staircase.
Another howl tore through the palace as the princess ran after him.
“Princess! Wait!” Ivan called.
And then, from the general at the bottom of the stairs, the insane yell of the hunter:“Loup! Loup!”
Ivan stood immobile in the doorway.
“What has she done?” he said, shaking his head. “What has she done?”
“What do you mean, Ivan?” Sophie felt the palace splinter around her.
He hesitated, as if unsure what to say, then seemed to make a decision. “When the princess returned to the palace,” he said slowly, “the wolves frightened her. Dmitri said they were used to the freedom of the forest. She went crazy. Said she’d throw his family out into the snow if he didn’t lock them up. There’s a courtyard on the far side of the palace where they’re kept and Dmitri feeds them. She wasn’t brave enough to have them killed — she said the Volkonskys would haunt her if she killed a wolf.”
“But you said there were no wolves. You said that was all history!” Sophie put her arm out to the door to steady herself. “Itoldthe princess I’d seen a wolf at the lake! You went to look and said there was nothing!” She looked up at Ivan’s troubled face.
“I saw the tracks,” Ivan said. “I knew then that there was still a wolf in the forest. But I couldn’t tell her. It’s Dmitri’s job to keep them here, in the palace. To feed them. Keep them quiet. If there was a wolf loose, the princess would have blamed him. She wanted an excuse to get rid of him. I had to protect him.”
Sophie remembered how sharply the princess had spoken to Dmitri when they had returned to the palace from the lake. The three of them had stood under the portico, deep in discussion. Of course! What had Masha said Dmitri did?“Groom Viflyanka, feed the …”she had stopped before she said the word, but she knew. Everyone knew.
All these thoughts came to her in a heartbeat.
Ivan snapped out of his reverie. As if waking up from a dream, he only now seemed to be aware of the danger of their situation.
“Princess!” he cried as he ran down the stairs.
And before she could think about the danger she was about to put herself in, Sophie ran down the stairs after him.
“Sophie!” It was Delphine’s voice, wound tight with panic. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t leave us!” Marianne wailed.
But Sophie couldn’t cower in a room. They were going to hunt the wolf! And yet the creature was here in the palace because of the princess. He knew she was in danger from the general and he had come to save her. She couldn’t let the general hurt him.
“Lock the door!” she called over her shoulder. She could see the blonde head of the princess and the black head of the general as they ran down the white balustraded staircase that threaded down below her. There was no sign of Ivan or the wolf. She felt nothing other than the breath hurting her lungs as she lunged down the stairs, two at a time. Why couldn’t she move more quickly?
“Please let me get there,” Sophie said aloud. “Please don’t let them harm him.”
But the voices were becoming fainter and drifted into nothing. The palace was quiet now.
There were wolves in the palace. She had heard them. White Volkonsky wolves, just like the pack that had avenged the death of Prince Vladimir. But how could the princess be frightened of them? They were the guardians of the palace.
Sophie stopped. She had been running without thinking about where she was going: down long corridors, through dilapidated rooms, following the echoing voices. They had led her on, but now they had stopped and she was lost. She was at the head of some stairs she didn’t recognize. Statues in niches guarded every few steps, but some had been smashed and had fallen forward like dead men. She looked back the way she had come. No. It was hopeless. She could run for hours through empty rooms. Without any voices to follow, how could she even know where to start?
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a white mist at the far end of the corridor.
