“We will find the French mage and his associates for you,” the elder Grigori said. With a bow, he turned and departed.

A sliver of hope rose in my chest. Could Papus be working with George and the Koldun now? What if George was here in Egypt?

“Katerina, there is something else of interest on this tablet,” Danilo said to me, beckoning me to look closer.

He pointed to the stone lying beneath the glass. “This is the history of the sword up until the time Ankh-al-Sekhem wrote this. The first human to wield the sword was a pharaoh princess: Meresankh, a daughter of Menes. She united Upper and Lower Egypt with the Grigori’s help.”

“A daughter?”

“A Queen of Swords.” Danilo shook his head. “How ridiculous! Still, she must have been a powerful necromancer for the sword to succumb to her. And for the Grigori to follow her.”

A Queen of Swords. I shuddered as I remembered the superstitious Pushkin tale. And Maman’s tarot deck.

“If the sword can only be carried by a necromancer,” I asked, “then why would it be hidden where only a magician can find it?”

“It is bitterly ironic, yes?” He had not anticipated this, I realized. “To force the magician to work with the necromancer. We must make Papus see reason.”

I worried then for George and the French mage. They could not let the lich tsar find Papus. Konstantin would force the mage to escort him past the seven gates and retrieve the sword. “Shall we go, Duchess?” Danilo asked. “I believe there is some beautiful jewelry downstairs that belonged to the wife of Ramses the Second.” But he really wasn’t asking me. He led me off to the floor below and showed me the elegant necklaces and earrings made of faience and gold that were thousands of years old. The museum was lucky to have these priceless artifacts in their possession. Most of the tombs found had long been robbed of their riches by adventurers wishing to sell the artifacts on the black market. Egyptian antiquities were a lucrative trade. I’d seen many suspicious but beautiful pieces not only in the Vladimir Palace, but also in the Winter Palace itself.


We paused in front of a golden statue of a fierce-looking lion-headed goddess. “That is Sekhmet,” Danilo said quietly. “Both a deity of war and of medicine.”