The Romanov Empress by C. W. Gortner

Author:C. W. Gortner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2018-07-09T16:00:00+00:00

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THE WEDDING WASN’T lavish. Under the circumstances, it couldn’t be. Yet she wore the silver tissue gown, the side locks and crushing mantle, and the bridal diadem on her head. She moved with grace as she mounted the dais in the chapel. After their vows, she and Nicky turned to me and I kissed them, tears spilling down my cheeks.

Nicky whispered, “Mama, please don’t cry,” not because he was embarrassed but because he could see my sorrow overwhelming me, the memories of my own wedding day crowding around me in that chapel, thrusting home the realization that I’d never be a wife or an empress again.

Alexandra Feodorovna, her adopted Orthodox name, was the wife and tsarina now.

As they proceeded out to the clarion of trumpets, I followed with Alix, Bertie, and my other children behind me. I had to surrender. What had once been mine was hers. She had my rank and my son. God willing, she’d bear my grandchildren. I must resign myself. Though as dowager empress I would hold precedence by court tradition, she was now the first lady of the empire. I must not interfere. I must sacrifice my pride for Russia.

But promising to forsake my past and actually doing it was not so simple.

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