Welcome to Unobscured, a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Minky.

Just a note before we begin. This episode includes discussion of sensitive topics.

Listener discretion is advised.

Anna had met Rasputin a few years before. His fanatical follower Olga had made the introduction,

and in a year's sense Anna had frequently opened her home to Rasputin and his zealous believers as

they gathered to pray and read the Bible. Now it was Gregorys turn. He was going to host Anna

at his home in Pekrofskol. In fact, Alexander herself had sent a whole party of women to stay with

Gregorys, learn from him, and share his teaching with her. She wanted to better understand how the man

lived and the weight of the things he taught, more than his few visits to the palace had allowed.

With the Empress behind it, the trip gave Anna a thrill. Something told her this was a turning point,

and that soon, like Olga, she would be in Rasputin's inner circle.

But the closer the trip came, the less certain she got that his inner circle was where she wanted to be.

She had seen the way that Olga and his other followers treated him. They threw themselves on him

in rapture. They kissed his feet with joy. Olga bundled up hairs from his beard as sacred relics.

Once Olga even said that Gregorys was transformed into Jesus Christ himself. Anna wasn't so sure.

When they arrived at a way station between Siberia and the capital,

Gregorys joined the group to escort them the rest of the way. To seat everyone, they split the

party into two different compartments. Three of the women made themselves comfortable and waved to

Gregorys as he led Anna and another woman, Yelena, to a different compartment where he ushered them

inside. So as Anna settled herself into the train car beside Gregorys in Yelena, she had a task

before her. It was time to make up her mind about who this man really was. Not to mention the

whispers in the group that spending time with Gregorys would mean more attention from the Empress.

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