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Back The Empress
Chapters (68)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1853
  4. PART I
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. 1854
  42. PART II
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. THIRTY-NINE
  46. FORTY
  47. FORTY-ONE
  48. FORTY-TWO
  49. FORTY-THREE
  50. FORTY-FOUR
  51. FORTY-FIVE
  52. FORTY-SIX
  53. FORTY-SEVEN
  54. FORTY-EIGHT
  55. FORTY-NINE
  56. FIFTY
  57. FIFTY-ONE
  58. FIFTY-TWO
  59. FIFTY-THREE
  60. FIFTY-FOUR
  61. FIFTY-FIVE
  62. FIFTY-SIX
  63. FIFTY-SEVEN
  64. FIFTY-EIGHT
  65. FIFTY-NINE
  66. SIXTY
  67. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  68. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

She longed for Franz then. She hadn’t come here to talk about shoes or try on pretty dresses. They were pretty, and something in her wanted to be pretty in them—to see his face when she walked into the room in the crushed velvet or the blue silk. But that desire was swallowed by the stronger need to hide away in curtains with him and feel his lips soft on her skin, his breath warm on her neck. The stronger need to be alone so she could say out loud what she’d only put in letters: I love you. He was the point, not the gowns.

Something tapped lightly against her leg, and she opened her eyes. The other ladies were all examining shoes and dresses, distracted. Elisabeth raised an eyebrow, lifted the silk skirt, and found—

Luzi.

She smiled—bright, real—feeling lightness tug at the anxiety that had started to descend on her during the tour. It was just the kind of game Spatz would enjoy too: hiding from the grownups under a cascade of silk, pretending fairy magic had made her invisible.

Elisabeth winked at Luzi and then dropped the silk before he was discovered. Another confidence between them. And a relief. Because it was a reminder: Franz wasn’t the only one in the palace she was fond of. Luzi would be here always, reminding her of Spatz whenever she missed her. And Maxi was a sort of friend—even if he was also a rogue.

Her soul settled a little.

Elisabeth looked for something else to focus on, her attention landing on a spot of sunshine sparkling off the dresser. Jewelry, she realized. In a glass case, sparking like flame in the sun. It was a necklace hung with orange-yellow gemstones—old, elegant, regal.

“Do you like it?” Sophie emerged from the group, joining Sisi at the jewelry case. “It’s been in our family for hundreds of years.”

“It sparkles as if it were alive,” Elisabeth answered.

Sophie took the necklace out of its case and placed it gently against Elisabeth’s skin, fastening the clasp at the back of her neck.

There was something tender in the gesture, motherly. Elisabeth wondered if Sophie, with so many boys, hadn’t had many moments like these, if Sophie felt the warmth of it as acutely as she did. Elisabeth’s own mother had spent whatever small amount of tenderness she had on Helene. Elisabeth hadn’t gotten a single drop. And the gentle way Sophie placed the necklace on her skin made her want to cry.