The Emperor's Candlesticks

On a glittering Shrove Tuesday in Vienna, masks, music, and carnival freedom ignite a chain of danger. At the opera ball, the young Tsarevitch Nicholas Alexandrovitch, traveling incognito as a black domino, is captivated by a teasing odalisque and impulsively pursues her into the night, unaware that his reckless chase will become a political crisis. In the crowded foyer, Iván Volenski watches uneasily, then falls into a tense, flirtatious exchange with the enigmatic Madame Demidoff, whose composure conceals urgent fears and divided loyalties. As Nicholas vanishes, Madame Demidoff sends an agent to trace both him and Count Lavrovski, while Volenski and his grey-dominoed companions slip through Vienna's darker streets to a hidden meeting place. There, a mixed band of conspirators confirms that the Tsarevitch has been seized safely and turns to a ruthless plan: they will demand imprisoned comrades' release and safe passage from Russia, threatening the hostage's life if police intervene. Yet their triumph is shadowed by mistrust, and Madame Demidoff's influence, along with a scandalous theft of papers hidden among her stolen valuables, threatens to expose the conspiracy before it can succeed. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.