Kate sat in her seat, pulling her coat around her. Since she was the only one in the audience section, it was rather cold and lonely. However, the beginning of the show soon captured her attention. It would be lovely to go on opening night. Perhaps, she would be near M. Niall and he could whisper some scandal about various actors. She had an idea that he had many stories to tell, most of them quite juicy.

During intermission, she silently laughed at her new admirer. This Maurice Chevalier was silly in the extreme, but he seemed to think that he was Valentino. This Maurice was everything she hated about Frenchmen. He immediately started to murmur endearments while taken her hand. She had no doubt that he could turn into an octopus in private. Utterly smarmy, but she had a little feeling that he wouldn’t be able to get too far.

Somehow, Simon had disappeared while she was being entertained. It was exceptionally rude to disappear, especially since he had brought her with him. There was no one to ask as to her comfort and she felt the ice-cold feeling of abandonment and fear.

She decided to go in search of Simon, who would keep her company for a while. Upon her question, the doorman was happy to escort her to the dressing room. Kate couldn’t help but wonder what his inner sanctum looked like. Besides, she’d never been in a dressing room before. It would be fun to go home with that adventure.

She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Really, who would treat a Grand Duchess that way ? Moreover, she was a lady, which entitled her to deference out of every gentleman. Simon needed an etiquette lesson. Therefore, Kate opened the door slowly and carefully. The sight that greeted her was one to take away her breath and speech. Her jaw certainly dropped to the ground.

Simon was drinking champagne with a woman wearing very little and what she was wearing was practically sheer. And there was even a cheetah ! What sort of odd dream had she walked into ? Whatever it was, she was disturbing something and she could guess what that something was. She took a deep breath and pulled a card from her purse.

“Monsieur Niall, please accept my apologies for bothering you. Please take my card, so you may return anything I happened to leave. My housekeeper will pass the items on to me.”

She handed the simple card to Simon. She did love her calling cards. They were thick and had the Imperial double eagle and were marked very lovely, but they seemed like they belonged to a different person. She was Kate, not Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Yekaterine Michailovna Romanova.
Kate closed the door very carefully after holding her head high and deposited a glove where Simon couldn’t help but see it. The ball was in his court right now, which Kate assumed was the right way to put it. As expected, her two bodyguards were waiting for her to leave the theater. It was really unsurprising. After all, Boris watched her in general, but Lyudmila went to the powder room with Kate and anywhere else that a man wasn’t commonly seen, like when Kate went shopping. There were times like this when she enjoyed being a princess in an ivory tower, although most of the time she wanted to be like a normal girl.

Kate and her protectors went quickly out of the theater and into the comfortable car. Kate’s very tired voice asked to be taken home. Once in her comfortable house in the old part of Paris, several Russian wolfhounds and her housekeeper Daria greeted Kate. It was good to be home because she knew that Daria knew exactly how to take care of her when she arrived tired and worn out.

Sure enough, biscuits were put in front of Kate while Daria made tea from a blend known only to herself. It was known to contain Valerian, chamomile, and some ingredients that made her fall asleep.

Fifteen minutes later, the tea begun to have an effect on Kate, who would never know that part of the special ingredients were a powder of sleeping pills and opium. After the special tea, Kate would sleep so soundly that there would be no nightmares or any other dreams.

A drugged Kate walked slowly into her gold and white bedroom and removed her coat and gown before her maids removed her corset and any other clothing. She was quickly put into a linen nightgown. She would be awakened for a late dinner and other things that would keep her out until dawn. There was one thing left to do before Kate fell asleep: remove the hennaed wig so that long black hair would cover the pillow. Once that was done, Kate sighed happily as she drifted off to sleep.