Vlad glanced at Daniel, who didn't look very pleased with the situation, before shaking his head. "It's not a matter of being 'allowed' or not. Nicholas gave up his throne because the people turned against him - even his own army did. Although he was not a bad man, he made some poor decisions as a leader." He hesitated, not wanting to go into detail if Alexei could understand even some of what they were saying.
"Where is your family, Alexei?" The boy whispered that his father hadn't returned yet, but his mother and sisters were being kept in the palace. "Here," he said, turning back to Javert. "Under house arrest, which explains the armed guards. We cannot help them - not right now, at least." Vlad had always thought Nicholas was rather pathetic, a man who never should have been ruler in the first place; but incompetence didn't warrant being shot to death in a basement. It was cowardly, to get rid of a man who no longer posed any sort of threat and a family who never posed a threat to begin with. Besides, telling the boy 'no' would only upset him. What harm could it do to give him hope, even if it was false? No one would take the tsarevich seriously even if he did run around claiming they'd be saved. "We'll help you. Right now we have to leave, because it's too dangerous for us to stay, but don't worry." He got to his feet, ignoring Dracula's taunts that he was weak and soft and an embarrassment to his name.
"Be careful and stay quiet, Alexei." The boy nodded, his pale face brightening as he thanked all three of them in fast Russian. Vlad motioned for them to leave, and if Javert had questions then he could wait until they were out of the palace; especially since they hadn't been welcome there in the first place.