was a staple of Podentsky. I stirred my pelmeni dumplings and dolloped some so

decorated his face alongside a ginger beard, and he had brown eyes that sparkled like flames. He wore a tunic shirt th

t of my blonde hair and love of snow. It was true, the emerald frost dustings had made m

tongue. “I am n

yet another of his tales – this time, the daughter of the water serpen

f that is what you mean,” I simpered, devouring the pelmeni, smets

e remains off my plate – he was a big old p

d’s boy, Mikhail? He is

” I sniffed. “Once

s family is wealthy, Katinka. The

I licked the plate clean after Igor had finished. I ha

from Alexei, father’s best friend - the Copper King. Alexei was my godfather and had blessed me with a casket made of malachite at my birth, filled with jewels, as a dowry

ike this Rasputin, Koschei’s infamous son who had taken up with the Tsarina and White Palace ladies. No, I liked Azovka Popova – we played, she showed me how to race lizards, and I sewed her dresses of

, more flee here, to the Copper Kingdom. We can’t keep letting them in. But old Proktya says it’s fine, t

“That’s the boy I

meralds and mother of pearl inlay. “Oh, so now the daughter of the Copper Gua

yeing Azovka’s delicious cooking. It was like a love

eshy glinting in the gaslight. “No, you must grow strong to become the nex

eight room. It i

mined out of the mountains and they blessed our family wi

wa

carry Azovka up the Copper Mountain on my bare shoulders. That way, she would not have to turn into a lizard to sc

time to go set

let your old man

I liked to meet up on the far edge of town. That was where the Emerald Forest bloomed righ

w it and won’t tell you, dear reader. Danilo’s azure eyes

cheeks. I giggled, hitching Igor

h, I

he twilight. Stars

rms, and we would laugh, and sing, and gather herbs for our cooking, and stones fo

a’s graces always, like a star held captive by dawn, as

king beer and singing old songs. And Azovka smiled from ato

the icy ceiling and waved. She tripped a bit, c

sparklers, talked of city boys, then set out

arry?” Azovka asked dreamily, her

kovi

y turn t

s, you know, than an old man as a

tell of Copper Men. Do you actually know

e room were once old, corrupted kings w

ng you into

gor barked and chased a sparrowhawk out hunting a rabbit. The sled

ars tasted like the American pennies mama had left me in h

ou do not think I w

r Copper Guard, I promise you have the heart of a fern flower, a rare and beautiful thing, a

nd Igor set off again, past the Malachite Wall. Dedushka’s guard let us, royalty and the town vanguard’s daughte

“I’ll make chicken kiev for our midnight snack toni

ious to me than Koschei’s firebird, and I’d do a li

ne, and a brisk wind dust

two fourteen-year-old girls. It

die someday, in Azovka’s a

couldn’t help but think of

asleep in Azovka’s arms. Igor pulled the sleigh. It was an hour’s ride to the Copper Palace, but the

ing my malachite casket, w

d with copper snow and filings of iron, drowning my lungs i

and awoke. W