The Seeds of Power Page 27

‘You will do no such thing,’ Anna said. Igor hesitated, trembling, looking from one sister to the other.

  ‘I suppose the Countess Anna has been filling your mind with all manner of rubbish,’ Dagmar said. ‘What has she told you?’

  Igor licked his lips. ‘That the Prince has placed her in charge of Bolugayen, Your Highness. During his absence.’

  ‘Why, that is absolutely true, Igor,’ Dagmar said. ‘No doubt the Countess showed you the Prince’s letter of instruction?’

  ‘Yes, Your Highness.’

  ‘Well, I have to tell you that such a letter no longer has any legal meaning whatsoever. It has been cancelled by order of the Tsar.’

  ‘That is a lie,’ Anna snapped.

  ‘What did you say?’ Alexandra had appeared on the gallery as well. Now she ran down the stairs, face ashen.

  ‘Ah, Alix. I have something to say to you as well, later. Colin is arrested. For links with the Will of the People, who have attempted to kill the Tsar.’ Dagmar opened her reticule, took out the newspaper cutting, and threw it on the floor. Anna didn’t move. ‘I have also received an official notification from the Tsar,’ Dagmar went on. ‘You may read it, if you wish.’ Anna’s knees gave way and she sat down, on the bottom step. Alexandra hurried to put her arm round her shoulder, then stooped to pick up the cutting and read it, her lips trembling. ‘What a pretty pair you make,’ Dagmar sneered. ‘Were you both in love with him? And no doubt Jennie as well. You will be pleased to know, Anna, that Jennie hurried off to Warsaw to be with him and escape the police. Oh, she is in it up to the hilt. Sheer jealousy, of course, because she was no longer wanted in St Petersburg. The Tsar has found a new plaything. Well, I imagine she knows what to look forward to, at the hands of the police. It will be a new experience for Colin.’

  ‘You are a fiend,’ Anna muttered.

  ‘Why, yes, I can be a fiend, to those who oppose me. Who have opposed me for so very long.’

  Anna raised her head. ‘If you lay a finger on me...’

  ‘I would not dream of laying a finger on you, Anna. But I intend that others should do so. Ah, Smyslov. Read that.’ She took the cutting from Alexandra’s hand and gave it to the bailiff. Smyslov read it in total consternation. ‘You will, no doubt, recall the conversation we had after my father’s death?’ Dagmar asked.

  Smyslov nodded, glancing at Igor as he did so. Igor was shivering. ‘I believe Prince Colin held a similar conversation with you, after he behaved so badly to me,’ Dagmar said.

  ‘He had the warrants,’ Smyslov muttered.

  ‘Well, I now have the warrants. Do you understand me?’

  ‘Yes, Your Highness. Will you be taking over the estate?’

  ‘For the time being,’ Dagmar said. ‘Until the arrival of the next Prince Bolugayevski.’

  ‘The next...’ Anna looked up with her mouth open.

  ‘I have decided to marry again,’ Dagmar said. ‘The moment Colin either dies or is executed. To Colonel Dubaclov. He is looking forward to it.’

  Anna leapt to her feet. ‘You are mad. You have to be mad. That guttersnipe?’

  Now that really is the limit,’ Dagmar said. ‘Igor, take the Countess Anna to her room. You have my permission to cane her. Cane her till she bleeds.’ Igor looked at his mistress in horror, then at Anna. ‘And then,’ Dagmar went on, ‘you have my permission to fuck her till she faints. Your people can help you. In fact, they can fuck her as well.’

  ‘You would not dare!’ Anna snapped. ‘Do you think I am some servant? Do you not think I shall reveal your secret?’

  ‘Why, yes,’ Dagmar said. ‘Let us reveal our secret, darling sister.’ She looked at the men. ‘What the Countess would like to tell you is that we both committed incest with our father. We were forced to it. I suffered most, as I had a child by Papa. There, now you have it.’ The men stared at her. ‘But if I were you, Igor, and you, Smyslov, I should keep it to yourselves, or I shall be very angry. And if anyone has any ideas about gaining an advantage over me by tattling to Colonel Dubaclov, I have already told him everything, so it will not work. And as for St Petersburg, I have turned my back on it. Bolugayen is my home, and Bolugayen is where I intend to be, for the rest of my days. Now, Anna, you asked me if I considered you a servant. Yes. As of now I intend to treat you as a servant. But I do understand that you will have to be taught the meaning of discipline. I think Constantine will see to that when he arrives. For the time being, I am merely punishing you for your rudeness. But I also consider you a whore. It is my intention that you shall be treated as a whore, for the rest of your natural life. Igor!’

  Anna looked from her to Igor. Her brain seemed paralysed by the sudden overturn of her authority, her very existence. ‘If you will come with me, Your Excellency,’ the butler said.

  ‘If you touch me...’

  ‘Of course you must touch her, Igor,’ Dagmar said. ‘You have my carte blanche to do anything you like to her. But do not hurt her so that it will show. Except on her ass.’

  Igor’s face was working with a variety of emotions. Anna took a step backwards, and felt herself against the banister. Alexandra was also on her feet now. ‘You cannot be serious, Dagmar!’

  Dagmar pointed at her. ‘And you, miss, had better mind what you say. You are in deeper trouble than anyone, if I choose. Or if Constantine chooses. Remember this.’ Alexandra’s shoulders drooped, and she began to weep. ‘Now go to your room,’ Dagmar commanded. ‘And stay there until I send for you.’

  Alexandra looked at Anna, opened her mouth as if she would have protested again, then closed it again and went up the stairs. ‘Well, Igor?’ Dagmar demanded.

  Igor stepped forward. ‘Help me!’ Anna shouted at Smyslov.

  Smyslov licked his lips, looked at Dagmar, and remained still. Igor reached for Anna, and she struck at him, but he caught her wrist, pulled her forward, and drove his shoulder into her midriff. She gasped as the air was forced from her lungs, and before she could recover he had lifted her from the floor, his arm wrapped round her thighs, while her head and hair trailed down his back. This was the man who for the past six years and more had obeyed her every command. ‘Put me down,’ she shouted. ‘Igor, put me down immediately.’

  ‘Remember, Igor,’ Dagmar said. ‘I want to hear her scream. I want everyone in the house to hear her scream.’

  Smyslov took out his handkerchief and wiped his neck. ‘Your Highness...’

  ‘She deserves everything that is going to happen to her,’ Dagmar said. ‘She is a treacherous little bitch. Now tell me, where is Fine?’

  ‘Countess Anna gave him permission to go over to the Jewish village, Your Highness. There is some religious holiday to be observed.’

  ‘Ah,’ Dagmar said. ‘That is the best place for him. I can tell you, Smyslov, that when Colonel Dubaclov gets here, we are going to do something about those Jews.’

  Smyslov shifted his feet uneasily. For five years Bolugayen had been a happy place, a peaceful and contented place. Now... ‘Shall I announce the Prince’s arrest in the town?’ he asked.

  ‘Will there be a reaction?’

  ‘The Prince was very popular.’

  ‘And I am not, is that what you are telling me?’ Smyslov shifted his feet some more.

  ‘I wish the truth, Nicholas,’ Dagmar said, softly.

  ‘I think it is that the people associate you with your father, and serfdom, Your Highness,’ he said. ‘I know it is not possible, but they will suppose that you will somehow manage to reimpose serfdom.’

  ‘Who said it is not possible?’

  ‘But...the law...’

  ‘I do not intend to break the law. But is it not true that the Prince was very lenient regarding non-payment of mortgage fees, and even the corvee?’

  ‘Well...the Prince wished everyone to be happy.’

  ‘And that, as you well know, Nicholas, is an impossibility. Not everyone can be happy. The happiness we need to concentrate on is our own. So for the time being we will not announce the a
rrest of the Prince.’

  ‘The servants will speak of it.’

  ‘But they do not know, either, for certain. So it will be rumour. And in a few hours’ time Colonel Dubaclov will be here.’

  ‘One man, Your Highness? If there should be trouble...’

  Dagmar smiled. ‘The Colonel will be accompanied by a squadron of Cossacks, Smyslov. And he will also have with him Colonel Vorontsov and a detachment of police from Poltava. I assure you that there is nothing for you to be afraid of. As long as you do as I tell you.’

  *

  The people of Bolugayen turned out in the snow to watch the squadron of Cossacks riding down the road from Poltava. Behind them was a detachment of mounted policemen. The people looked at each other, unsure whether to fear the Cossacks or the police more. Then they saw that in the midst of the policemen there was a cart, and in the cart there was a man, his hands bound behind him. He wore no coat, and shivered in the cold, his flesh was almost blue. ‘David Fine!’

  The whisper spread through the onlookers as the prisoner was recognised. ‘David Fine!’

  No one had known what to believe for the past twenty-four hours. Was it rumour, or fact, that the Prince was under arrest for treason? Was it rumour, or fact, that the Princess Dagmar had returned like an avenging fury? Was it rumour, or fact, that she had had her own sister caned and raped? Was it rumour, or fact, that she intended to have all the arrears of mortgage payments and corvee called in? But here was fact, staring them in the face.

  The cavalcade drew up in front of the mansion, and David Fine was thrown down from his cart. With his hands bound he could not protect his face, which was cut on the ice protruding amidst the hard-packed snow. Two Cossacks seized his shoulders and dragged him up, pulling him up the steps and then throwing him down again, at Dagmar’s feet. Standing at Dagmar’s shoulder, Alexandra gave a gasp of horror, and clasped her throat. Constantine Dubaclov signalled his men to dismount, and did so himself. Colonel Vorontsov followed him up the steps.

  ‘Your Highness,’ Dubaclov said. ‘We have the most serious news.’

  ‘Is it about the Prince?’ Dagmar might be acting a role, but she did it to perfection.

  ‘It is even more serious than that,’ Dubaclov said. ‘Colonel Vorontsov?’

  Vorontsov cleared his throat. ‘This creature’—he nudged David Fine with his toe, and David shivered—’has confessed to his part in the attempted assassination of the Tsar. What is more, he has confessed that the plot originated in his own village, here in Bolugayen.’

  ‘Our Jews?’ Dagmar made a magnificent job of appearing horrified.

  ‘I am afraid so, Your Highness. I have here an order from His Majesty commanding that a pogrom be launched against them. There are to be no survivors.’

  ‘Our Jews?’ Dagmar asked. ‘What a catastrophe. Still...’ She gave a brave smile. ‘I know you must carry out your orders, Colonel.’ She in turn nudged David Fine with her toe. ‘What about this one?’

  ‘No!’ Alexandra shrieked, running down the stairs and throwing her arms around David’s neck.

  ‘Ahem!’ Dubaclov said, loudly.

  ‘Yes, I understand,’ Dagmar said. ‘Allow me to deal with this matter, Colonel. But for the time being, can you not leave this boy alive? At least until you return from the Jewish village.’ She smiled again. ‘I do assure you that he is not going to escape.’

  *

  ‘I think it is all going very well.’ Dagmar sat with the two colonels in one of the ground floor drawing rooms, while Igor served them champagne.

  ‘We will leave tomorrow,’ Vorontsov said. ‘We should be back in under a fortnight. I would feel much happier if you allowed me to leave some of my men here.’

  Dagmar turned to Dubaclov. ‘I think it would be wisest, Princess,’ Dubaclov said. ‘Begin as we mean to go on, eh? The slightest show of revolt must be crushed with the utmost severity. Now is the time, Dagmar. The Tsar is in the mood for it.’

  ‘Well, then, leave me four of your men, Vorontsov,’ Dagmar said. Now tell me, is there news from St Petersburg?’

  ‘I left immediately after you,’ Dubaclov said.

  Dagmar looked at Vorontsov. ‘There has been no news as yet, Your Highness. Presumably, when the weather improves...’

  ‘The weather!’ Dagmar snorted. ‘Well, I hope that the Prince and his doxy are trussed up side by side by now, both screaming their heads off. Then tell me about Lebedeff.’

  ‘The Baron was very unhappy, Your Highness. He refused to accept that the entire Jewish community in Bolugayen could be implicated in the plot against the Tsar. He wished me to delay action until after we had obtained confirmation from St Petersburg...’

  ‘That could take weeks. Even months.’

  ‘I explained that to the Baron, Your Highness. Thus he accepted the situation.’

  ‘Baron Lebedeff is a silly old woman,’ Dagmar said. ‘Well, I am going upstairs. Good night, Vorontsov.’ Vorontsov hastily stood up and bowed. ‘Dubaclov!’ Dagmar called to the colonel. He too stood up, flushing. ‘Good night, Colonel.’ Vorontsov bowed again. Dubaclov followed Dagmar out of the room and to the stairs. ‘Dare we be so obvious?’ he asked. ‘Your husband still lives.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Dagmar said. ‘But here on Bolugayen we do whatever we wish.’ She climbed the stairs in front of him, knowing that he would be watching her hips moving beneath the gown. ‘Tell me,’ she said over her shoulder. ‘You have not inquired after Anna.’

  ‘Did she oppose you?’

  ‘She attempted to do so, certainly. I had to punish her, quite severely. But I wondered if you would not also like to punish her? She treated you very badly.’

  She had reached the gallery. Two maids stood there, curtsying. Dagmar waved her hand and they hurried away.

  ‘You mean you would let me do so?’ Dubaclov asked.

  ‘Would you like to? I think it could be quite amusing. I think it would be amusing to watch. Shall we go and visit her?’

  Dubaclov swallowed. He wanted this woman, both because of her animal sexuality and because of what she was offering him, that princedom of which he had always dreamed. And he wanted her despite knowing that she was indeed an animal, the product of nearly two centuries of unbridled omnipotence, untouchable wealth, unimaginable arrogance, come together in a single human being who considered that the world had wronged her. She was probably the most vicious woman in Russia. But she was his pathway to that omnipotence, that wealth, that arrogance...and if she was going to throw in the sister he really wanted to possess... ‘I think you would enjoy that too,’ Dagmar smiled, and took his hand.

  *

  Anna sat up as the key turned and the door opened. The room was in darkness, as she had not bothered to light the candle. She did not wish to look in her mirror and see herself. She did not suppose she would ever wish to do that again. At least, not until she had killed Dagmar. But if they were coming back to torment her again...She pushed herself up. She had been lying on her face across her bed, because it was too painful to lie on her back. Her buttocks ached from the caning, and besides lying on her back made her remember too much. She had not screamed when she had been caned. But she had screamed when the fourth man had mounted her.

  She closed her eyes. She could not bear to look at any of their hateful faces. The door closed again, softly. That certainly was not Dagmar. And there was only one intruder. Anna tensed her muscles. ‘Your Highness?’ Yevrentko whispered.

  Anna gave a little gasp and leapt off the bed, carrying a pillow with her to hold against herself as she turned to face him. ‘Have you been sent to torment me?’ she asked. ‘Once I had supposed you loved me.’

  ‘Your Highness, I do love you. I adore you. I would die for you now. Would you not like to escape this place?’

  Anna sat on the bed. ‘Is it possible?’

  ‘I would help you. I would escape with you.’

  ‘You would be hanged.’

  ‘I have said I will die for you. Would y
ou not escape with me?’

  ‘Where could we go?’

  ‘We could go south, to Sevastopol, Your Highness. We could get there before any pursuers. No one in Sevastopol knows what has happened here. To them, you are still mistress of Bolugayen. You could command a place on one of your ships, and we would be away.’

  America, she thought. We could sail to America. And Charles! But... ‘What of Alix?’

  ‘Your Highness...’

  ‘We cannot leave Alix here. Besides, we are fleeing to her husband.’

  Yevrentko gulped. ‘It will add to the risk.’

  ‘We will have to accept that. When?’

  ‘The Princess is still entertaining Dubaclov and Vorontsov, but they will be retiring soon. Then the servants. I estimate by midnight it will be possible to make a move. I will have to go and see the Countess Alexandra now, and then I will return for you just after midnight. You must be very warmly dressed, and you must bring all the jewellery you have.’

  Anna nodded. ‘Make sure Alix does the same. Now tell me what reward you require for this.’

  ‘Your Highness, my reward is serving you.’

  Anna held out her hand, and he kissed her knuckles...and the door opened. ‘Well, well,’ Dagmar said, raising the candle above her head. Yevrentko scrambled to his feet. Anna took a step backwards, still clutching the pillow against herself. Dagmar glanced from his face to Anna’s. ‘Hatching some plot? You slimy little toad. Well, you are dismissed. Ring that bell.’

  Trembling, Yevrentko obeyed. ‘You cannot dismiss Yevrentko,’ Anna said. ‘What will the boys do for a tutor?’

  ‘I will find another tutor,’ Dagmar said. ‘Ah, Igor. Get four of your men, and have Monsieur Yevrentko flogged until he bleeds. Tomorrow he will be expelled from Bolugayen. And Yevrentko, if I ever see you again I will have you shot. Take him out, Igor.’

  Igor gulped and looked at Yevrentko, and then at Anna. Anna’s knees gave way and she sat on the bed, her shoulders hunched.

  Yevrentko stumbled through the door. Igor followed.

  ‘Now, Anna,’ Dagmar said, ‘perhaps you should tell Constantine and I what you and that lout were talking about. I think you should close the door, Constantine. I think she is going to need to be persuaded.’