“You mean that you have managed to keep His Royal Highness safe all these years?”
Prince Ivan nodded.
“We were helped by the fact that the Grand Duke was not in St. Petersburg when the Revolution started, but was on his way South. It was some time before we learned that the Bolsheviks had assumed power and were determined to kill all the Royal family.”
He paused before he went on in a voice that seemed raw,
“It was only when our friends brought us the news that the Czar and Czarina had been assassinated and that the Grand Duke was also reported dead, that we realised the danger he was in.”
“I can understand your predicament,” the Duke murmured.
“We took the Grand Duke into hiding,” the Prince went on, “and by ‘we’ I mean his nephew, Prince Alexander Saronov.”
He indicated the other
