Chapter 6

It was bitingly cold outside. I wrapped the wool cloak I had borrowed from the closet around me as tightly as I could. Stupidly, I had also neglected to bring a lamp and as the lights from the house grew dimmer behind me as I walked further and further away I started tripping over things more and more frequently. I was too close to the strange flickering to turn back for a lantern now and simply grinned and bared it as I continued to trip in the snow. 

When I finally made it to the strange light I was somewhat unsurprised to find that it was a lantern being held by Prince Leo Sherbatsky. Of course I had foolishly walked straight into the jaws of the beast, willingly even. I would be lying if I said I wasn't secretly both expecting this and hoping for it at the same time. The rational mind can only reign in the stupid, base parts of one's mind for so long. 

"How cruel of you to not even say hello when visiting my house," as he said this, Leo puffed out his cheeks a little bit and pouted. 

I was a bit unsure of how to handle the situation. Would playing along with his act lead to less confrontation or would exposing him command a level of respect? I weighed the options in my mind before responding to him," I figured you'd be getting ready for your sister's arrival tomorrow. I'm already imposing upon you, I thought that it would be proper to make myself as scarce as possible."

"Nonsense. You're Andrei's sister, of course I want to show the highest levels of hospitality to someone related to my closest friend. But where are my manners, you must be freezing out here in only that flimsy nightgown and thin cloak," as he said this he handed me his coat.

I didn't want to admit it but I was freezing so I gladly took him up on his offer and wore his coat. It was lined with silky fur and was already warm due to his body heat. 

"So why this rendezvous in the woods?"

"A test to see if our lovely crown princess would be dumb enough to wade out here in the dead of night to see what the mysterious light was."

"Some would call it brave."

"No, it's pure stupidity. If I didn't have the noblest intentions I could do some very untoward things to you right now," he said this with a light tone but the look in his eyes made it clear it was a threat.

"Oh? Just you try. If you lay even a single finger on me I will see to it personally that your head is cleanly separated from your neck," I said this with a confidence I didn't know I had. It was just as well, he was clearly playing with me and I was getting tired of it.

Undeterred by my threat he just laughed at me,"there's the old Kitty I know and hate. You said it with such venom too, just like your soon to be sister in law. Andrei was foolish to worry about you. You're different, but you've still got that flippant attitude underneath it all."

"So that's why you lured me out here? To check on my new and improved personality?"

"I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a part of it. I never liked you, you're a bitter soul wearing a pretty face."

This time it was my turn to laugh at him,"takes one to know one. What's a little bullying for stress relief compared to torture? I'll admit, you certainly are attractive enough to rival me in looks and we will certainly both be dragged to hell. But I can rest easy knowing that someone out there will mourn me, I can't say the same for you once everything you've done has been unearthed."

Any tone of playfulness was gone from his voice,"What does trash like you know about me?"

He was right, I didn't know that much about him but taking this route of attack was certainly making him angry so I figured there must be some truth to it.

"Oh was I right then? I was just guessing," I answered him.

I saw him reach into his pocket and pull out a knife that gleamed dangerously in the lantern light. 

'Maybe I took this too far,' I thought.

"The fact I am not ending your pathetic life here and now is simply because it would cause Nikolai a massive headache. However, don't think you can run your mouth like that and come out unpunished."

As he said this forcefully grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him. I watched, unflinching as he took the tip of his blade and pressed it onto my forearm. He took great pleasure in slowly dragging it up my arm, leaving a trail of crimson in its wake. When he was done, he wiped the knife off on the bark of a nearby tree and returned it to its place in his pocket. I watched silently as the two inch cut slowly accumulated drops of blood which merged, became one large drop, and then fell off my arm to stain the pure white snow a deep red. 

The two of us stood in silence for a minute, the only noise to be heard was the sound of our breathing and the sounds of the forest. A bit unsure of what to do or say I simply walked away, following my footprints in the snow and walked to my room. 

I couldn't even make it to my bed before I collapsed on my knees. I felt like sobbing and screaming and throwing up all at once. It had taken all of my mental strength to not cry in front of Leo but now that I was alone I was helpless to stop the tears welling up in my eyes.

After a few minutes of choked crying I readied myself for bed once again. Now with a pillow I was free to cry as loud as I wanted without disturbing anyone. So I did, I wasn't sure how long it took me to fall asleep, but I found myself in the sweet embrace of sleep all the same.

Even in sleep I was unable to find any sort of rest. It was the same sort of dream I had been having since I became Kitty. The same sense of urgency, like I needed to be somewhere. This time I was in the snowy rose garden outside of my window. This one seemed to extend forever into the horizon. I wandered around aimlessly before it once again became a run and finally a gallop. As I got closer to my destination the roses around me became taller and thornier. Eventually I had no choice but to force myself through the briars. I left a small trail of blood behind me as I senselessly roamed the rose garden. Once again I found the body of what I could only assume to be a person. It was still hard to look at. This time it laid face down in a frozen pond. I was again powerless to stop myself from approaching it even though I knew it held some sort of terrible power. As I turned it over, before I could catch a glimpse of its face I woke up.

I was even more of a mess than I normally was upon waking up from one of those nightmares that eluded my grasp. My hair was stuck to my face in some places from snot and I had thoroughly ruined both this bed set and my nightgown by covering them in blood. 

'Serves him right, hope he enjoys paying the cost of a new bed set out of his own pocket,' I thought.

I dressed myself in my undergarment set as best as I could to hide the cut, then I hid my nightgown under the bed and tried covering the place I had slept with the comforter. This seemed to have worked, as Katarina didn't say anything about it.

When the caravan accompanying me on my trek north left, Prince Leo saw us off. He was completely playing into his innocent personality even if he made a few verbal jabs at me. I just ignored him as haughtily as I could. 

This time I decided I would read as much as I could despite my nausea. I really didn't want to think about anything, be it last night or anything else. 

A few hours into the trip I was barred from reading by Katarina who unexpectedly grabbed my arm and pulled up my sleeve revealing my injury.

"I've waited long enough Kitty. When were you going to tell me about this?"

"It's nothing to note Katarina."

"Nothing to note? When I came to wake you up this morning your bed was covered in blood! I waited for you to say something about it but then you even went as far as to hide it from me. I think whatever it is, it is very much of note. And before you try to claim it was an accident, that's too straight of a cut to be an accident. Someone did that to you Kitty."

I sighed, there was no way I was going to be able to get out of telling her what happened, she was simply too headstrong and nosy. 

"Katarina, I will tell you because you are the only person I trust in this whole world. Please never show me that I misplaced this trust."

Katarina didn't say anything, instead she just nodded solemnly.

"It was stupid of me, I was lured out into the woods by Prince Sherbatsky. We exchanged a few words and, well, you can see how that turned out."

"Thank you for telling me Kitty," she said this with genuine kindness in her voice. So kind that I was blindsided when she took her own book in her hands and lightly wacked me on top of the head with it.

"I guess I deserve that for being stupid huh?"

"Yep," Katarina said while beaming,"remember you have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. I don't know what kind of life you lived before but you're a princess now. If you just wander off and get murdered you could really cause some damage to the kingdom. Also I'd miss you a lot."

"I'm really glad you broke that glass, Katarina."

"So am I Kitty."

I traveled the rest of the way to the Rostovs in relative silence. I decided to actually think about my situation for the first time in a while. I didn't come up with any particularly exciting revelations. My entire plan hinged on Anna holding all the answers. If that failed I figured that I'd pray Nikolai had his head screwed on tighter than his two friends. 

It was well past nightfall when we finally rolled into the Rostovs' estate. I nervously looked up at the imposing mansion standing in front of me. As I took my first step out of the carriage and onto solid ground I got the impression that this mansion held some of the many answers I was seeking.