Over the course of the next hour, the sky darkened and the sifting ash grew so thick, Eduard could no longer make out the volcano on the horizon. But the earth continued to rumble regularly, and the volley of explosions served as a constant reminder that the eruption still raged out of sight. As the ash built up on the ground like hot, dingy snow, Marien’s friends huddled together at the windows of the drawing room, fretting about their return home. “We can’t go out in this,” one woman said, and the others nodded in agreement. “We’d never make it very far without an escort.”
They glanced at Eduard, as if he might be persuaded to venture out into the falling debris. He ignored them, preferring to stay at his wife’s side while among her friends to keep from falling into Reza. The crewman h
