"Don't worry. I can see she's harmless. She's already left, and I'll make sure she's bothered no more. The commission will be interested in her observations, of course, particularly of the last night, but I'll keep certain things confidential."

While Blok didn't know whether or not Maria had suspected anyone was lingering in this room, he was sure she had never guessed it was her Sasha.

"So will you release what she told you about her father, or-as Maria said-will it be buried? Will the people ever be allowed to know the real Rasputin?"

"That's a complicated question with a simple answer: No." Blok slipped his hands into his pockets and turned and gazed out a window. "Before the revolution the stories of Rasputin served the anti-tsarist movement very well, just as they now serve the revolution, the more exaggerated the better. Rasputin soiled the image of Tsar Nikolai as no one else could, and once liodi liodi stopped seeing the Tsar as a demiG.o.d, the revolution was both easy and inevitable. Otherwise, Rasputin, not to mention the Empress, are guilty of only one thing: exceedingly well-intentioned but horrible judgment. In other words, Maria was absolutely correct. To allow any of what we really know about Rasputin and the former imperial family to become public knowledge would be political suicide, even today. The man himself continues to serve the revolution best in myth." stopped seeing the Tsar as a demiG.o.d, the revolution was both easy and inevitable. Otherwise, Rasputin, not to mention the Empress, are guilty of only one thing: exceedingly well-intentioned but horrible judgment. In other words, Maria was absolutely correct. To allow any of what we really know about Rasputin and the former imperial family to become public knowledge would be political suicide, even today. The man himself continues to serve the revolution best in myth."

"But that myth is so dangerous-rather like a stick of dynamite. Even behind the prison walls there's talk of civil war."

"Of course. Russia is a very big bear-a wild one, at that-and we have many difficulties ahead. Perhaps we're doomed to a second revolution, as so many suspect." Blok folded his hands behind his back and gazed down at his feet. "You heard what she said, that she's pregnant with your child?"

Staring into his lap, he nodded ever so slightly.

"So maybe instead we should charge you with treason. After all, rather than extinguish the Rasputins, you've ensured that they will live on."

"She's not...not like her father. She has a very pure soul-and a real gift with words." His hands still tied tightly behind the back of the chair, Sasha did not look up. "Prince Felix sent me to infiltrate the Khlysty Khlysty and his family-to find his religion, charm his daughter, enter his home-all in the hopes not of simply getting information but of unearthing scandal. Scandal that we could plant like dangerous propaganda. After all, don't you think fear and rumor and innuendo are-" and his family-to find his religion, charm his daughter, enter his home-all in the hopes not of simply getting information but of unearthing scandal. Scandal that we could plant like dangerous propaganda. After all, don't you think fear and rumor and innuendo are-"

"More powerful than the mightiest cannon? Yes, absolutely."

Sasha looked up, his brown eyes pleading. "It's better that she move on with her life, so please...please don't tell her I'm alive."

With a shrug, Blok turned on his heel and started out. "Don't worry, I won't." Reaching the door that led back into the throne room, he took hold of the lever...and then turned and stared back at the pathetic young man. "After all, it's obvious you haven't got much longer."

As Blok left the room, he heard the young man begin to weep gently, perhaps as much out of relief as anything else. But there was no need, thought Blok as he returned to his desk, to tell Maria that the father of her unborn child was alive. There was no need because Prince O'ksandr would soon be dead, for it was obvious the typhus was well along. What did he have-a week, two at the most?

Yes, he thought as he sat down at his desk, one more death. In the greater scheme of things, this young man, no matter how highly born, was insignificant, just another soul. But how was this to end and when would the cleansing of the country be complete? How many more millions would have to die before the war against the Germans would be over and the revolution within Russia would stop roiling?

And when would the River Neva stop flowing red?

Blok glanced at the extensive notes he'd taken of Maria's story. He'd fill out the report tonight and have it typed up tomorrow. But what were they, really? Just more words, more paragraphs? Pushing aside those papers, he came to yet more words-Prince O'ksandr's testimony taken yesterday-and reread the opening lines: Believe me, I'd tell you if I knew. But I really have no idea how Rasputin was introduced to the former imperial family, and I will swear to my death that I took no part in it. I've heard rumors that he was eager to penetrate the palace, that he did so via dubious means, and that he was a.s.sisted by one of the former grand d.u.c.h.esses-I think the one from Montenegro. It seems quite possible, but of all that I have no firsthand knowledge.

No, I didn't become involved in the plot to murder Rasputin until much, much later.

As he scanned the remaining pages, Blok realized that while the prince's words all seemed truthful, the Thirteenth really had no choice. No matter how long or short Prince O'ksandr had to live, if he got out, the truth of Rasputin might get out too, and then-well, no, no need to risk anything. Turning back to the front page of the prince's confession, Blok wrote in large letters, PRISONER TO REMAIN AT SHPALERNAYA INDEFINITELY PRISONER TO REMAIN AT SHPALERNAYA INDEFINITELY.

What happened to the characters based on real people?

Rasputin had long predicted that, in the event of his own death, the royal family would soon perish. Indeed, not even three months after Rasputin's murder, Nicholas and Alexandra were pulled from the throne by the February Revolution. Exiled to Siberia, the imperial couple and their five beloved children were secretly executed in July 1918. Their hidden grave was not found until after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The highborn aristocrats involved in Rasputin's death were sent into exile before the Revolution and, because of this, escaped those tumultuous days unharmed. For the duration of his life, Grand Duke Dmitri never commented on the murder of Rasputin. Having fled to Europe with no fortune, only a t.i.tle, he married an American heiress and died in 1942; his son, Paul Ilyinsky, was for many years the popular mayor of Palm Beach, Florida, and died in 2004. Prince Felix perpetuated his own version of what happened that night and wrote several memoirs; he and his wife, Princess Irina, lived in relative comfort in Paris until his death in 1967. The monarchist Vladimir Purishkevich died of typhoid fever as civil war raged around him.

Anna Vyrubova, Alexandra's closest friend, was arrested and interrogated at length by the Thirteenth Section. When questioned about a possible s.e.xual relationship with Rasputin, she swore under oath that these rumors were nothing but lies and she was in fact a virgin. A small cadre of physicians examined her and, much to the surprise of the Thirteenth Section, immediately confirmed her claim. Eventually freed, Madame Vyrubova was later rearrested by the Bolsheviks, only to escape and disappear into hiding. Several years after Lenin seized power, she managed to flee across the ice floes to Finland, where she took her vows. She lived in seclusion until her death in Helsinki in 1964.

Rasputin's most notorious and fanatical devotee, Madame Lokhtina, was arrested by the Thirteenth, interrogated, and released. Dressed in torn filthy clothing, she was last seen in 1923 at a train station poking at people with her staff and begging for food.

Alexander Protopopov, Russia's last Minister of Internal Affairs, was imprisoned and shot, his body dumped in an unknown grave.

The great Russian poet Alexander Blok was indeed drafted and brought in by the Extraordinary Commission to transcribe the Thirteenth Section's interrogations of those who knew Rasputin. While he welcomed the overthrow of Nicholas II, he was soon greatly disillusioned by the Bolsheviks. His epic poem The Twelve The Twelve was published within a year of the Revolution, and while many consider it one of his greatest works, it also proved to be among his very last. His spirit and health shattered by what he saw around him, he died in 1921, at age forty-one, of complications from hunger and syphilis. was published within a year of the Revolution, and while many consider it one of his greatest works, it also proved to be among his very last. His spirit and health shattered by what he saw around him, he died in 1921, at age forty-one, of complications from hunger and syphilis.

Grigori Rasputin's ever-devoted wife, Praskovia, mentally r.e.t.a.r.ded son, Dmitri, and youngest daughter, Varvara, were all driven from their Siberian village by the Bolsheviks. Praskovia is believed to have died soon thereafter of unknown causes. Dmitri was later captured by Stalin's henchmen and thrown into the brutal Salehard Camp, one of the many gulags of Siberia, where he died of scurvy in 1937. Rasputin's treasured younger daughter, Varvara, disappeared completely, though it is rumored she died unnoticed in Leningrad in the early 1960s. Edvokia Pechyorkin-Dunya-who served Rasputin as both housekeeper and mistress, vanished into the flames of the Revolution.

As for the real Maria Rasputin, she fled to Siberia after the Revolution, where she impetuously married Boris Soloviev, an officer with a shadowy reputation. They escaped from Russia during the civil war-the only members of the Rasputin family to do so-and eventually found their way to Paris. Soon after her marriage, Maria gave birth to one daughter and then another, and when her husband died in 1926, Maria danced and sang in a cabaret to support her little family. Later she found work as a lion tamer in both London and Los Angeles, and the crowds flocked to see the daughter of the "Mad Monk" perform her magic over nature's wild beasts. While on tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus in Peru, Indiana, she was mauled by a bear, which forced her to quit the circus and take a job as a riveter in a Miami shipyard.

Finding peace far from Siberia, Maria lived out her old age in a bungalow tucked in the shadows of the Hollywood Freeway, where she lived on Social Security and the occasional babysitting job. While she never published any poetry, she wrote several memoirs and co-auth.o.r.ed a cookbook, which includes recipes for both Jellied Fish Heads and her father's favorite, Cod Soup.

Maria died in 1977. The Rasputin descendants continue to live in the environs of Paris.

Chronology 1894.

Nicholas II succeeds Alexander III 1914.

War breaks out against Germany St. Petersburg is renamed Petrograd 1915.

Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich is removed as Comannder in Chief Nicholas II appoints himself Commander in Chief, leaves for the front Alexandra's power and role in the government grow rapidly 1916.

Rasputin murdered by Yusupov and others December 16 1917.

February: Ma.s.sive demonstrations break out over food shortages Riots turn into revolution and mutiny Nicholas II abdicates February 28 The Provisional Government attempts to restore order March 4: The Provisional Government forms: The Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry for the Investigation of Illegal Acts by Ministers and Other Responsible Persons of the Tsarist Regime The Thirteenth Section, charged with investigating the Dark Forces (all who knew Rasputin are incarcerated and interrogated) August: The former imperial family is exiled to Siberia October: Second Revolution breaks out as Lenin and Bolsheviks seize power 1918.

Nicholas, Alexandra, and children are secretly executed July 16 1919.

The report of the Thirteenth Section, nearly 500 pages long, vanishes Maria Rasputin escapes from Russia 1920.

Russian Civil War ends 1977.

Maria Rasputin dies in Hollywood, California 1995.

The entire report of the Thirteenth Section is auctioned at Sotheby's in Paris

Glossary ahmeen

amen

amen arzhin

.71 meters

.71 meters banya

Russian sauna

Russian sauna batushka

the dear father

the dear father bistro

quickly

quickly bit-po-semo

so be it

so be it bizmyen

permission to kiss the tsaritsa's hand

permission to kiss the tsaritsa's hand bog

G.o.d

G.o.d bogoroditsa

the Virgin

the Virgin bozhe moi

my G.o.d

my G.o.d bozh'i-liudi

G.o.d's people

G.o.d's people chai'naya

teahouse

teahouse da

yes

yes derevenschina

naive country girl, yokel

naive country girl, yokel devochka

young girl

young girl devushka

girl

girl doche

daughter

daughter dochenka maya

my little daughter

my little daughter dorogaya maya

my dear

my dear Dukhobory

a religious sect known as pacifist "spirit wrestlers"

a religious sect known as pacifist "spirit wrestlers"

durachok

cute little fool

cute little fool durak

fool

fool dyadka

uncle, fellow, bodyguard

uncle, fellow, bodyguard dyavol

the devil

the devil fortochka

small transom window

small transom window garderob-sheek

coatroom attendant

coatroom attendant gospodi

good heavens

good heavens gospodin

mister

mister grupa seksa

group s.e.x

group s.e.x izba

peasant's log hut

peasant's log hut kammerfurier

court log

court log Kazanskaya

The Virgin of Kazan, one of Russia's most revered icons

The Virgin of Kazan, one of Russia's most revered icons Khlysty

a religious sect known as "the Whips"

a religious sect known as "the Whips"

kiot

large icon case

large icon case konyechno

of course

of course kosovorotka

Russian shirt, fastened alongside the collar

Russian shirt, fastened alongside the collar kroogli durak

round idiot, complete fool

round idiot, complete fool kto tam?

who is there?

who is there?

leemoan

lemon

lemon liodi

common people

common people malenkaya maya

my little one

my little one milaya maya

my dear one

my dear one ministir

minister

minister molodets

excellent, a smart one

excellent, a smart one Molokans

a religious sect known as "the milk drinkers"

a religious sect known as "the milk drinkers"

muzhik

peasant

peasant nyet

no

no narod

the ma.s.ses

the ma.s.ses ochen

very

very pelmeni

Siberian meat dumplings

Siberian meat dumplings pirog

a pie

a pie podstakanik

metal holder for tea gla.s.s

metal holder for tea gla.s.s pravoslavni

Russian Orthodoxy

Russian Orthodoxy proshchaitye

farewell

farewell prospekt

prospect, boulevard

prospect, boulevard prost.i.tutka

prost.i.tute

prost.i.tute radeniye

rejoicing

rejoicing radi boga

for the sake of G.o.d

for the sake of G.o.d rasput.i.tsa

a season of horribly muddy roads

a season of horribly muddy roads rasputiye

a crossroad

a crossroad rasputnik

a debauched person

a debauched person reeba bez vodii

a fish without water

a fish without water revolutsiya

revolution

revolution russkiye

Russian

Russian sevodnya soopa nyetoo

today there is no soup

today there is no soup sermyaga

peasant clothing of heavy cloth

peasant clothing of heavy cloth Skoptsy

a religious sect known as "the castrators"

a religious sect known as "the castrators"

slava bogu

thanks be to G.o.d

thanks be to G.o.d spasibo

thank you

thank you starushka

a sweet, old woman

a sweet, old woman strannik

a (wandering) pilgrim

a (wandering) pilgrim starets

a religious elder, a man of G.o.d

a religious elder, a man of G.o.d starii xhren

an old piece of horseradish

an old piece of horseradish Subbotniki

a religious sect whose beliefs fall between Christianity and Judaism

a religious sect whose beliefs fall between Christianity and Judaism svalnyi grekh

group sinning

group sinning takzhe

also

also tapochki

slippers

slippers telega

a cart without springs

a cart without springs vershok

4.4 centimeters

4.4 centimeters v'koosno

tasty

tasty vranye

fibs, the art of creative lying

fibs, the art of creative lying xhama

rogues

rogues Xhristos

Christ

Christ Xhristovshchina

the Christ faith

the Christ faith xhorosho

good/fine

good/fine ya spala kak ubeetaya

I slept like the dead

I slept like the dead ya tebya lubloo

I love you

I love you ya Vas slushaiyoo

I am listening to you

I am listening to you zakuska

appetizer

appetizer