  &quot;Dmitri, that was not enough rest and you know it,&quot; I grumble, hiding under my duvet and praying that he ll just go away.
  &quot;It doesn t matter. Our presence is required for luncheon in less than five minutes. I m not thrilled about it, either, but we have to go, and that means you have to get out of bed,&quot; Dmitri replies, pulling the covers off me. I m being invisible again, but the covers had more or less revealed my position and so Dmitri s arms wrap around me before I can escape. He pulls me out of bed, very much against my will.
  &quot;But I m still tired!&quot; I whine, clutching at the bedposts as I release the invisibility (there s no point in it now).
  &quot;You re putting up far too much of a fight to be really tired,&quot; Dmitri points out irritably. &quot;Will you just come along quietly? The sooner we go, the sooner it s over and we can move on to more

  &quot;Are you quite finished jabbing me in the hip with pins?&quot; I demand testily of the clumsy maids who are currently trying to fit me for my wedding dress. I am not certain we ve decided on the exact design for that exalted garment--I am determined to have straps or sleeves of some sort, while the couturiers insist that I ought to wear a strapless dress with some sort of wrapper--and so I am not sure what the point of these fittings might be, but far be it from me to argue with Zinaida s decisions, after she treated me so kindly yesterday at luncheon.
  &quot;So sorry, milady,&quot; the offending maid stammers as she tries once again to get the pin through the white fabric (which I find more than a bit itchy) without also piercing my skin.
  &quot;We re almost finished with today s fitting session, Aerys, I promise,&quot; Malina assures me. She seems worn down. I haven t seen muc

  I stare at the letter in shock. A physical manifestation of her dark powers might have been preferable to the verbal manifestation her elaborate handwriting contained. I simply cannot believe her nerve, although I suppose it shouldn t surprise me, knowing Grandmother. And she probably expects that the necklace has started working, since she has not received any complaints from the Berkeleys, at least, not to my knowledge. Dmitri would have told me, I m sure....
  Dmitri takes the letter from my hand and reads it quickly, his temperature rising in anger with every line. I have to snatch it from his hands to keep it from bursting into flame. The singed edges release a faint trail of smoke towards the ceiling. Something about his fire triggers a reaction in the parchment. The whole page turns black and flies out of my hand to hover in midair in front of me. It crackles loudly for a few se

&quot;Dmitri, that was not enough rest and you know it,&quot; I grumble, hiding under my duvet and praying that he ll just go away.
  &quot;It doesn t matter. Our presence is required for luncheon in less than five minutes. I m not thrilled about it, either, but we have to go, and that means you have to get out of bed,&quot; Dmitri replies, pulling the covers off me. I m being invisible again, but the covers had more or less revealed my position and so Dmitri s arms wrap around me before I can escape. He pulls me out of bed, very much against my will.
  &quot;But I m still tired!&quot; I whine, clutching at the bedposts as I release the invisibility (there s no point in it now).
  &quot;You re putting up far too much of a fight to be really tired,&quot; Dmitri points out irritably. &quot;Will you just come along quietly? The sooner we go, the sooner it s over and we can move on to more entertaining things later on.&quot;
  &quot;What, you mean like interviewing priests this afterno

Chapter 40 Battle Plans