Anastasia

Set in a fantasy version of early 20th-century Rusya (a fictional analogue of Russia), the novel opens with a prologue in Cairo, where a sorcerer in monk's robes and his inhuman associate Katya lure a young man with ice-manipulation powers to a riverbank and use agonizing magic to rip his ability from his body, killing him. The sorcerer demonstrates the stolen power by freezing the Nile River. Later identified as Rasputin, he is the novel's central antagonist.

The story shifts to its narrator and protagonist, Anastasia Nikolaevna, the youngest of four Grand Duchesses living at Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. She introduces her sisters, Ollie, Tatiana, and Maria, along with their younger brother Alexei, the Tsarevich (heir to the throne), who has haemorrhaphilia, a hereditary bleeding disease that makes minor injuries life-threatening. Their father, Tsar Nicholas II, is away fighting a Cossack rebellion, while their mother, Empress Alexandra, is shy and devout. Anastasia, the family troublemaker, has not yet shown any magical ability.

When Uncle Nikolasha, the Tsar's cousin and military commander, gifts Anastasia an injured gyrfalcon she names Artemis, she hears the bird speak in her mind, the first sign she can communicate with animals. Stowing away on Nikolasha's train to witness the Cossack surrender, Anastasia watches as 14-year-old Damien Kaledin, son of the Cossack leader, attempts to assassinate the Tsar. She screams a warning and instinctively slows time, activating the hereditary Romanov power of time-walking and allowing her father to defend himself. The Tsar spares Damien and sends him to a military academy as a political hostage. On the train home, Damien reveals his own power: Anything he touches with bare hands withers and dies. Despite their antagonism, both feel a strange connection that persists for years.

Two years later, Anastasia meets Rasputin, a charismatic mystic who reads futures in pipe smoke, carrying a silver raven's skull pendant that he uses to prick subjects' fingers for blood before their readings. During her reading, he appears startled by visions of a figure with black, dripping hands. Shortly after, Alexei has a severe hemorrhage, and Mama summons Rasputin, who stabilizes the boy and warns that repeated treatment is necessary, securing a permanent position at the palace. Anastasia secretly convinces Rasputin to teach her magic, discovering she has an unusual affinity for learning multiple types of power. Their lessons include psychic combat: Rasputin tries to identify the figure from her reading while she guards Damien's identity as leverage. He also introduces her to Charoite, a rare crystal mined from the Lorne Mountain that amplifies magic but carries a corrupting influence.

Anastasia discovers that Rasputin matches descriptions of a vampyr and catches him feeding on Alexei during a treatment. He claims to be half-vampyr and says his blood is the only cure for the bleeding disease. She reluctantly keeps his secret. The crises escalate when Rasputin uses mental control over Alexei to have the boy retrieve the entire store of Charoite from the vault beneath the palace, a chamber protected by fire that only Romanov blood can pass through. Rasputin and Katya flee with everything.

During the Great War, Damien captures the city of Lemberg and returns for a triumphal parade on the day of Ollie's wedding. Anastasia rides out to meet him, and they share their first kiss; time freezes around them, creating a bubble where his death-touch cannot harm her. At the reception, a telegram reports Damien's father has been killed, and Damien rides away in grief.

That night, Rasputin launches a coordinated attack with vampyrs who have infiltrated the palace as servants and musicians. He calls down an ice storm, and his creatures slaughter the wedding guests, including Anastasia's parents, sisters, and extended family. Rasputin uses mind control to force Anastasia to slash her own arms, trying to extract Damien's identity, but she refuses to break. Her falcon Artemis crashes through a window; Anastasia dives into the frozen Neva River and is swept away.

Varvara, the mother of the Romanovs' former maid, finds Anastasia and nurses her back to health. Rasputin seizes control of Rusya, installing himself as regent with the puppet Tsarevich Alexei and instituting a brutal regime. Anastasia works under a false identity until she is transported to the Charoite mine, where conditions are nightmarish. The famous ballerina Anna Pavlova—whom Anastasia had met backstage after a private performance arranged for the imperial family—is also imprisoned in the mine; she recognizes Anastasia and gives her a hidden nugget of Charoite before dying. Anastasia uses the nugget to power the memory-keeper, a magical device from her grandmother that stores one perfect day's memories. The memory of her time with Damien rekindles her will to survive. Deep in the mountain, she discovers a massive hidden cache of Charoite, takes a piece, and fights her way to freedom. Damien, now Ataman (elected leader) of the Cossacks, rides into the Frost Forest to rescue her.

In the Cossack village, Anastasia and Damien learn to touch without harm by channeling love rather than fear. Stana, Nikolasha's secret lover, has fled to the village with their daughter Celine. She reads the couple's futures and declares Damien is destined to kill Rasputin, though a separate bone-reading reveals a death bond, meaning both Damien and Rasputin will fall together. They marry and launch a two-pronged attack on Alexander Palace. Inside, Rasputin ambushes them. When Alexei defies Rasputin, Rasputin accidentally kills the boy. Damien grabs Rasputin and drags him into the vault's wall of fire while detonating bombs strapped to his chest. The explosion blasts Anastasia backward through time.

She wakes on the morning of Ollie's wedding, two years in the past, her body restored and family alive. Rasputin's spirit has also returned, merging with his earlier self. During their psychic struggle before the explosion, Anastasia broke through his defenses and learned his origin story was deliberately reversed: His mother, wife, and daughter Katya were all vampyrs, while the power he manifested was magic, not bloodlust. Realizing Rasputin has changed strategy and is heading for the mountain's Charoite cache, Anastasia rides to Damien's camp. This Damien has not lived their shared years; he is younger, grieving, and hostile. She tells him the truth, demonstrates her power by touching his bare hands without harm, and performs a Cossack fire dance using knowledge from their other timeline. He agrees to fight.

The final battle converges at the Lorne Mountain, where Rasputin's army of vampyrs and monsters has overwhelmed the mine guards. Rasputin emerges carrying a massive crystal, absorbs its power, and begins obliterating soldiers. He kills the Tsar, draining his time-walking ability, and the dying Papa gives Anastasia his ring. Evo, Damien's uncle, and Alexei set charges inside the mine, bringing the mountain down and burying the Charoite along with Katya, who went inside to retrieve more crystals. Anastasia and Damien lock onto Rasputin simultaneously: Damien's hands drain his life while Anastasia engages him in psychic combat, forcing him to confront how his pursuit of power destroyed his wife and his daughter Katya, whom he just sent into the collapsing mine. She stabs him through the heart with the raven's beak. Rasputin's body rots to bone.

Alexei kneels and kisses the ring on Anastasia's hand, acknowledging her as ruler. She is crowned Tsarina, marries Damien, and reforms Rusya: She grants the Cossacks independence, raises the minimum age for laborers, and shares power with the Duma (parliament). Her siblings find happiness, and Alexei goes to live among the Cossacks, where Evo's regenerative blood provides a treatment for his bleeding disease. Anastasia activates the memory-keeper one final time, capturing a new perfect day as a guide for the future she and Damien have fought to build.