“It is done. Even if she wanted you, I would not let you have her. You are not worthy of a dog, much less a woman. Your father is to be pitied, having such a son as you.”

“Your words are worse than harsh, Maria,” Ivan blustered, coming to stand next to them. “I understand anger prompts them, but—”

“Not anger, Ivan, but the unfortunate truth,” Maria interrupted. “No one else dares to speak it to you, but I do. The dying know no fear.”

He had heard enough before he joined them to pale at the significance of those last words. “No! We cannot lose you both.”

“You have no choice this time. You cannot keep Anna when her heart leads her elsewhere. To try would bring no benefit, would instead bring disaster. But you have no one to blame but yourself, Ivan. Had you taught Nicolai better, had you curbed his cruel tendencies, she might have come to love him, instead of hating him.”

Ivan was blushing furiously after that, yet he couldn’t dispute such brutal truths, when Nicolai was indeed a disappointment to him. Yet their good fortune was at stake here, their incredibly long reign of luck, which he could not bear to see ended.

“Does it mean nothing, that we have always taken care of you Stephanoffs, that you have always had your home with us?” he said, trying to use guilt to reach her. “Where has your loyalty gone?”

“Loyalty?” Maria scoffed. “You lost mine years ago when you threatened me, Ivan, over my daughter’s leaving. Or did you think this old woman would ever forget that? What you have had since then is mere apathy on my part, since there is no other band that I cared to join. But we come again to the crossroads, of one of mine needing to go her own way, and she will not be hindered in this.”

“Maria—”

“No!” she cut in sharply. “There is no more to say, except this. I have given my life in service to you and yours, but it is over. If you don’t want me dying with a curse on my lips that will follow you until the end of your days, you will bid your farewells to my granddaughter and wish her happiness in the path she has chosen. Good fortune will still be yours as long as you are wise enough not to interfere with love.”

It was a sop for him to salvage his pride and walk away with dignity. This he did with a curt nod to first her, then Anastasia. His son had no dignity to begin with, however, so it was not surprising that he spat on the ground at Maria’s feet before he stalked off.