The tsar glanced briefly toward his son, then returned to his conversation without a flicker of emotion, as if determined to make Nicholas wait, or beg. Minnie noticed the standoff but made no move to intervene.
When Nicholas’s patience had worn thin, he stepped forward and bowed his head. “Father, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to speak with you about something.”
“Then speak.”
Nicholas glanced sidelong at the other guests. “Could we have a moment in private?”
“You had plenty of moments in private, the whole time we were journeying here,” the tsar said drily. The onlookers chuckled.
When his son made no move to step aside, Sasha let out a resigned breath.
“Oh, all right, if we must.”
He turned without another word, leaving the tsarina to give their excuses to his companions. Nicholas cast Alix a pleading look, then hurried along after the tsar, leaving Alix and his mother to follow.
Their disjointed party made its way into a corridor, past guards standing at attention, until they reached a half-empty sitting room. Its gas lamps flickered as they opened the door, making shadows dance along the frescoed walls. The sight struck Alix as oddly sinister.
She wished she could reach for Nicholas’s hand but decidedagainst it. No one had yet addressed her, or otherwise acknowledged her presence, though they were all obviously aware that she had joined their party.
“Father. Mother.” Nicholas turned to each of his parents. “I wanted you to know that Alix and I are engaged.”
There was a moment of hollow, echoing silence. Alix kept her eyes downcast, as a proper young woman should in this situation, though she itched to look up and see the tsar’s expression.
“Oh, Nicholas.” Minnie spoke in a forlorn breath, which was somehow more alarming than if she’d been angry.
It would seem that the tsar was angry enough for both ofthem.
“You are most certainlynotengaged,” he told Nicholas through clenched teeth. “When you are, your mother and I will inform you of that fact. You are in no way free to make such declarations for yourself, especially not about some backwater German girl.”
At that, Alix couldn’t help but look up sharply. All three sets of eyes were trained on her. Sasha grunted, dismissing her, then shifted his attention back to Nicholas.
“You are not some commoner who can marry at a whim. You are the future Tsar of All the Russias, and your marriage is an affair of state!”
“And Alix will be a wonderful partner when I take the throne someday,” Nicholas said evenly. “I’m sorry if you had someone else in mind, Father, but it no longer matters. I have asked Alix to marry me, and she said yes.”
Sasha stared at his son in acrid disbelief. “Ididn’t say yes. And my permission is the one you need.”
Alix knew the tsar and tsarina would find her impudent, perhaps even ill-bred, for speaking up. But she couldn’t stand here and let them discuss her future without comment.
She sank into an excruciatingly low curtsy. “If I may ask, Your Imperial Highness, why do you object?”
“Ah! Look, Minnie, the mouse can speak!”
Alix rose, her cheeks hot; the tsar must have seen her resentment, because he chuckled. “You hadn’t heard that nickname, had you? It’s what everyone in St.Petersburg has been calling you since you came to see Ella last year: the Hessian mouse. Speaking of your sister, she—”
The tsarina laid a hand on his forearm, and to Alix’s surprise, the tsar fell silent.
“Alix,” she said gently, “you are a lovely young woman, but you are not right for Nicholas.”
“We need someone higher-ranking than the daughter of a German nobody.” The tsar pretended to glance back over his shoulder toward the wedding. “Is your father even in attendance today, or was he not invited?”
Alix decided to ignore that question. Best not to get into the issue of her father, who had become reclusive—and, she had to admit, a bit eccentric—since her mother’s death.
“Higher-ranking?” she repeated. “I am a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.”
“Yes, and how many are there of those? Thirty?”
Twenty-two,Alix thought in frustration, but she knew better than to correct him.
