“Nyet!”The voice came from high up, in the chandelier, which quivered above them.
Sophie looked up. Dmitri was sitting there.
Ivan said something to him in Russian.
“Get out!” snapped the princess to Ivan. “You’re of no use to me now. I rescue you from the gutter and this is how you repay me?”
Ivan staggered slightly. “No use?”
The woman laughed. “Don’t imagine for one second you were ever going to be anythingmore!”
Ivan shook his head, his eyes pleading, but when the princess said no more, he stumbled to the door.
“Pull me up!” Sophie cried out. “Dmitri! Do as I say!” He was taking too long.
She saw the princess look up into the chandelier, her hand to her mouth. Sophie knew the general, too, had flicked his gaze upward, but she was too excited to take anything in other than her desire to climb up into the cloud of crystal. Soon she could rescue the princess, get rid of the general. The princess would be so grateful to her, and … yes, they would be friends, wouldn’t they? She would talk to her about the wolves, explain why they must not be locked up …
Dmitri pulled her up.
She scrambled up onto the metal branches. The chandelier tilted and rocked. Swaying, Sophie clutched on to the gilt bars to steady herself. Dmitri sat opposite her. He didn’t look up.
“Help me!” she said. “I need to reach across …”
Dmitri followed her gaze to the rope of gray crystals with the rusty wire. His eyes filled with tears.
As she put her hand out, he grabbed her wrist. A tear splashed from his eye and onto his scar. “Think what you are doing!” he said.
“I know exactly what I’m doing!” she said. “Let go of my hand. You’re hurting me!”
As Sophie wrenched her arm free, the chandelier shook again. The particles of light flew around them. It was all so beautifully clear to her. She unhooked the rusty wire and wrapped the rope of crystals around her wrist, her arm, her neck. Then, putting her foot in the loop, she smiled at Dmitri to let her down. His face was frozen now.
She heard the voices of the general and Anna. They were discussing something. The princess sounded anxious, as if the general might leave at any second.
“If you don’t help, I’ll just jump!” she cried. And she put her leg into the air. This seemed to send a charge through Dmitri’s body.
“Nyet!”he cried. He let out the rope, feeding it through his hands, and Sophie was lowered to the ground, jumping off at the last minute.
“See?” Sophie called up to him. “They were here all along! Right where we first met. The wolf princess was so smart.” She unwound the rope of stones from her arm. They were too large to be diamonds, surely? The necklace was too long. There couldn’t be many stones in the world as beautiful as these.
The princess and the general were standing quite still. The princess’s eyes glittered and she said one word in Russian:“Brillianty!”The word sparkled and threw light around the room.
In a smooth, quick gesture, she plucked the rope out of Sophie’s hands.
There was the sort of silence you hear after you have dropped a beautiful antique glass. You know that something precious is about to be broken, something that, once it is smashed, can never be replaced … and you wonder, in that instant, if somehow, against all odds, you could catch it before it shatters.
The princess stared at Sophie, her eyes cold, almost black. The chandelier shivered and Sophie looked up at Dmitri. He had his head in his hands. The diamonds spilled over the princess’s arm like a rope.
“Long enough to hang a man,” she said.
And then, sweeping Sophie with an expression of icy disdain, she dropped her head back. Closing her extraordinary eyes, she laughed. Everything in the room changed.
“You are very generous. Are you sure you want me to have them?” she said teasingly.
What’s she talking about?Sophie thought.They’re hers.
The princess continued, “Are youquitesure?”
The general, who had been observing everything without speaking, strolled across. The princess swung the diamonds in front of his face, laughing.
