Chapter 13
St. Petersburg, 1916
Word quickly spread through St. Petersburg of Rasputin’s death on the night of December 17, 1916, and of how his assassins, members of the aristocracy, had invited him to their home where they killed him. There, they had first tried to poison him, but he did not die. They shot and beat him, but he did not die. Finally, they put a bullet to his head and were so afraid he would again rise up against them that they tossed his body into the icy Neva River.
The next day, his frozen corpse was found.
The authorities decided to burn the body so that no “cult of Rasputin” would ever rise up.
Militsa sat in her room, all the drapes drawn, tears streaming from her eyes over the death of the one she loved above all others.
“What will we do without him, Militsa?”
