Instead, his brother skipped a half step ahead and turned to walk backward, facing Franz again. “Perhaps we should talk about something other than your garden habits. How about Helene’s sister? I bet she’s as passionate in love as she is about putting a man in his place.”

Franz kept his mouth shut, his jaw tensing, lightness evaporating in an instant. Had Maxi seen them together? He didn’t think for one second that Maxi would let it pass if he had. He’d find a way to hurt Franz with the knowledge, either by leveraging the secret to get what he wanted or by screaming it from the rooftops, ruining everyone’s plans in a sentence or two.

But no, Franz realized. This was about Maxi—not Franz. Maxi had liked it when Elisabeth told him off at lunch.

“Your bride may be virtuous as they say. But it’s the sister I want to get alone.” Maxi grinned, and Franz’s jaw locked tighter.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t pictured it himself, of course: what it would feel like to kiss the smirk at the corner of her mouth, run a finger up the curve of her neck, press his lips to her collarbone. But the thought of Maxi picturing the same thing made him sick.

“Leave her alone, Maxi.”

He threw up his hands. “Brother, I would, but I think her mother brought her here specifically so that I wouldn’t.”

“You can’t scandalize the sister of the woman Mother has chosen as empress.”

“Who said anything about scandal? Maybe I’ll marry her. Make an honest man of myself.”

Franz clenched his fists at his sides. “Don’t play, Maxi.”

“What do you care, anyway?” Maxi eyed him, pulling in his brows.

“I care because you make fools of us all. You’re a Habsburg; you need to follow the rules.”

“Like you follow the rules? Have you forgotten about Louise?”

Franz bit his tongue. Having one discreet affair was different than having one hundred not-so-discreet affairs, and Maxi knew it.

When Franz didn’t answer, Maxi continued. “You get everything you want—damn the rules—and you know it. Habsburg. Louise. Mother’s attention. Father stepped down from the throne for you, for God’s sake. The rules bend themselves around you, and you don’t even see it. So don’t tell me to follow rules that won’t bend for me unless I break them.”