is exactly what I must do.”
Leonida frowned, unable to believe her mother could be so selfish.
“You will put Alexander Pavlovich at risk because you do not wish to confess your indiscretion?”
The dark eyes flashed with annoyance. “Mon Dieu. Have you not been paying attention over the past months?”
“You mean the uprising?”
“Alexander is devastated.” Nadia paced across the polished wood floor, her expression tight with unmistakable concern. “He considered the Semyonoffski Regiment the most faithful of all his soldiers and their betrayal has been like a knife in his heart. I fear for him, Leonida. He is so fragile. I am not certain he could bear what he is certain to believe is yet another betrayal.”
“We are all concerned for his welfare, but he is the Emperor,” Leonida pointed out softly. “He must know of any threat to his throne.”
Coming to a halt, Nadia turned to meet Leonida’s gaze with a tilt of her chin.
“I intend to ensure that any threat is brought to an end before Alexander returns.”
“How? If someone has managed to get their hands on the letters you wrote…”
“I am not convinced that anyone has actually seen the letters.”
Leonida lifted her hands to rub her throbbing temples. “You are giving me a headache, Mother. Perhaps you should start at the beginning.”
Drawing in a deep breath, Nadia pressed her hands to her stomach as she sought to gain command of her composure.
“Last week a masked man calling himself the Voice of Truth approached me at Count Bernaski’s masquerade. The ridiculous man claimed that he possessed the letters I had written to Mira and that he would make them public unless I agreed to pay him one hundred thousand rubles.”
“One hundred thousand,” Leonida whispered in shock. It was worse, much worse, than she had dreamed possible. “Good lord. We could not possibly pay such a sum.”
“I have no intention of paying so much as a ruble,” Nadia snapped. “Not until I am convinced the bastard truly possesses the letters, which I assure you I am not.”
“Why not?”
“Because as soon as the man turned to leave I motioned for Herrick Gerhardt to have him followed.”
Leonida grimaced. Herrick Gerhardt was Alexander Pavlovich’s closest advisor and the most alarming man she had ever encountered. Nothing escaped his dark, penetrating gaze. And his fierce devotion to the Emperor meant he would willingly destroy any threat without a hint of remorse.
It was impossible to be in his company without fearing you might be hauled to the nearest dungeon.
“Of course,” she muttered.
Nadia shrugged, not nearly so frightened of Gerhardt as she should be.
“This is not the first threat I have endured. My position often attracts those who would hope to use me to influence Alexander Pavlovich.”
Well, her mother was not alone. Leonida was shocked at the many occasions the members of society would approach her in hopes she could sway the Emperor.
As if she had any power. It was ludicrous.
“I assume Herrick managed to follow the man?”
“Yes. His name is Nikolas Babevich. His father is a Russian officer and his mother is—” Nadia gave a delicate shudder “—French. Disgusting people. They are never to be trusted.”
Leonida ignored her mother’s prejudice. Nadia possessed a vivid memory of Napoleon’s invasion and the costly war. “Was he captured?”
“Herrick decided it would be better not to allow the fiend to realize we had discovered his identity.”
Leonida shook her head. Had her mother taken leave of her senses?
“I will be the first to admit that I know very little of government affairs, but if you know who and where this villain is to be discovered then why on earth would you not have him arrested?” Leonida demanded in confusion.
“Because we cannot be certain he is acting alone.”
“Did Herrick at least retrieve your letters?”
“He searched the man’s house, but could find no letters.”
Leonida made a sound of frustration. “They could be anywhere.”
“He is being constantly watched so if he does have them hidden he will eventually lead the guards to the location.”
Leonida realized there was no use in pressing to have the horrid blackmailer arrested. If Herrick had decided to allow the man to remain free, then nothing she said would alter the situation.
Instead she concentrated on her more pressing questions. “Why do you suspect he is lying about having the letters?”
Nadia returned to her pacing, her fingers toying with the large drop diamonds of her necklace. A sure sign she was not nearly so composed as she would have Leonida believe.
“When he first approached me, I demanded that he show them to me. He claimed that he did not have them on his person, so I requested that he reveal precisely what they said. Again he refused, saying that he would offer no proof until I had paid his outrageous sum.”
“That does seem odd. Surely he must realize that anyone with the least amount of sense would demand evidence before paying?”
“Most gentlemen underestimate women. No doubt he assumed I would be so panicked that I would give in to his demands without thinking.” Nadia’s voice revealed her contempt for such stupidity. “And there is something else.”
“What?”
“Mira and I quite often traded secrets, so we devised our own code when we wrote to one another in the event our letters fell into the wrong hands. It was silly and no doubt childishly easy to decipher, but the man said nothing of having managed to translate the words.”
Leonida had to agree that it did sound suspicious. Even assuming the man thought a woman could be so easily culled out of such a large sum of money, he surely would have felt compelled to brag at his cleverness of deciphering the code.
In her experience, gentlemen never lost the opportunity to reveal their utter superiority to women.
“So, if he does not have the letters, how did he discover they exist? And how did he know they might be damaging to Alexander Pavlovich?”
“That is why Herrick allowed him to remain unaware we know his identity,” Nadia explained. “He believes that Nikolas Babevich is merely a pawn being used by others.”
Leonida shuddered, knowing it was more from apprehension rather than the chill of standing in the middle of the room wearing
