Forever in Your Embrace by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

slowly sipped the brew.
    “First let me express my deep remorse over your father’s untimely death, my dear,” Anna continued. “I understand that he took a fever and died quite suddenly.”
    Tears still had a tendency to blur Synnovea’s vision when she reflected on her recent loss. “Yes, I’m afraid so. My father appeared so hale and hearty before his illness, we were truly astounded by how quickly he was taken from us.”
    Anna latched onto the single word we with keen interest, hoping it held some significance. She would’ve snatched at dust motes if they’d have given her an alternative to what the tsar had forced upon her. “Did you have other relatives visiting you at the time, my dear? Your aunt from England, perhaps? It was my understanding that you have no kinsmen here in Russia with whom you could’ve gone to live. Is that indeed the case? I’m sure, since we’re hardly more than strangers, that you’d likely feel more comfortable living with relatives or a close acquaintance.”
    Synnovea felt a sudden surge of empathy for the princess, for it was apparent that Anna felt as trapped by the tsar’s decree as she did. His Majesty might have supposed that he was bestowing great compassion upon each of them by bringing them together, Anna as a childless wife, and she, a young woman without parents, but he had failed to consider that as two entirely different individuals who had never been intimate friends and who were totally bereft of bonding by blood ties, a definite threat existed that they’d eventually become enemies caged in the same house together, one forced to extend her hospitality and the other compelled to accept it. Synnovea could only wonder if the day would ever come when one of them would gather enough courage to approach Mikhail with a plea to be released from this uncomfortable arrangement he had concocted for them.
    “Did you have someone visiting you at the time of your father’s death?” Anna repeated, making no effort to curb her exasperation at the girl’s delay in answering.
    Synnovea vividly recalled the venom the princess had displayed toward their friend at the last diplomatic function to which her father had escorted them. Anna’s hostility had seemed to surprise everyone but the recipient of her disfavor. Indeed, it had been so apparent that Synnovea had grave doubts that it had diminished since then. “Countess Andreyevna was visiting us at the time.”
    Anna drew herself up in cool reticence, unable to squelch the animosity that rose within her at the mention of that woman’s name. “I wasn’t aware you had befriended Natasha. What with her stealing your father’s affections from your mother and trying to take her place in your life, I had imagined that you hated her.”
    Feeling her cheeks warm with rising ire, Synnovea stared into the swirling dark liquid as she twirled her goblet. “I’m afraid you misunderstood the relationship my father enjoyed with Natasha. It wasn’t one esteemed by lovers, but a friendship based on mutual respect. The countess was my mother’s friend long before she became ours. And as far as I know, my father and Natasha were never lovers and never discussed plans to marry each other. They were simply good friends, that is all.”
    Anna’s lips twisted grimly as the girl defended a woman whom gossips had labeled immoral. A widow after three husbands and a whole host of other men chasing her, eager to be the fourth! Why, the very idea of a boyarina inviting men to her socials like some unscrupulous harlot was absolutely unheard of! “As far as you know,” Anna goaded. Her tight smile barely disguised the malice churning within her. “But then, you may not have been aware of what was really going on behind your back.”
    “There is that possibility, of course, but only a minute one,” Synnovea responded and considered her wine in an effort to hide her irritation. The princess was dragging up stale slander, talk which she had