Mikhail
Chapter 1
Sleeping on a dragon’s hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself.
―C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
England, September 1559
The halls of Hampton Court Palace were quiet so close to midnight. There was no sound of laughter from the courtiers, not even the hushed murmurs of gentlemen luring young maids into dark corners for secret kisses. The tapestries lining the stone walls rippled faintly with the breeze that slipped in through half-open windows.
Mikhail Barinov adjusted his black-and-gold doublet as he walked in light, quiet steps toward a bedchamber door. He ignored the prickle of unease he felt at the silence cloaking him as he saw a guard ahead. The man was posted outside the door, his hand resting on the pomm
