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Back The Empress Save as PDF
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

Sisi laughed, and Helene’s heart went light as a feather. It was the first time in so long that they’d joked like this. They’d been in the same house, as always, but Sisi had felt so far away—never showing up for lessons, always disappearing into the mountains. Did Sisi miss Helene as much as Helene missed her? Did she understand how much Helene wanted her to step up, to behave as a lady of the court would, so that Helene didn’t have to face it all alone?

“Sisi, I’m worried about you.” Helene caught her sister’s gaze and held it. “I’m worried that you’ll get lost.”

Sisi paused, surprise nudging her eyebrows upward, then waved a hand dismissively. “You don’t have to be. You know me—thick-skinned.”

“No, you aren’t.”

They both paused a moment, then Helene extended her arm, reaching for the diary. Another olive branch. “Show me.”

Elisabeth let her take it, and Helene read out loud:

Swallow, lend me your wings

Take me to a faraway land

When I float

Free

With you

Up there in the eternal blue firmament

Then I will praise the God of freedom.

It was good. Though they were always good. That wasn’t the problem. Helene handed the journal back. “Don’t let Mother see you with this.”

She said it lightly but hoped Sisi understood her full meaning.

Her sister stared back, deadpan in a way that usually meant a jest was coming. But Helene was relieved at the next words. Not a jest: a promise.

“I’ll behave. I’ll be invisible. You have my word.”

Helene let out a long breath, relief warming across her skin. But before the relief could fully sink in, Sisi winked suggestively, turned to the window, and spit extravagantly out of the carriage.

Helene felt her mouth drop open as Sisi put on her serious face again. “From now on.”

NINE

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BY THE TIME THEY ARRIVED AT THE KAISERVILLA IN BAD Ischl, Mother was awake, and the carriage felt like it had shrunk by half. Elisabeth couldn’t wait to be out of it.

Helene must have felt the same. She was grinning ear to ear when they stepped from the coach, her eyes sparkling with excitement as her gaze swept the elegant villa.

Elisabeth took it all in too: the rustling green trees and iron lampposts artfully placed around the drive, the warm pink stone of the building’s exterior. In the center of the drive, children and giant fish had been carefully carved into a stone fountain, water cascading joyfully over them as they laughed and played. Elisabeth had half a mind to join them.

But before she could give in to the temptation, Helene took her hand and led her from the drive, past cheerful blue shutters, and into the Kaiservilla.