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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 only pressed her face to Helene’s hair, kissed her on the head. A comforting gesture, but not the excitement Helene was hoping for.

“Where did you sneak off to anyway?”

“Nowhere,” Sisi replied quietly.

“Do you think I’ll make a good empress?” Helene asked, wishing she didn’t need the validation so very much. Wishing her hope wasn’t so fragile.

“Of course I do. You were made for it.” Sisi said the words, but her heart was somewhere else. Helene could tell. And it hurt.

“Better me than you, right?” She tried to bridge the gap between them, draw Sisi back into the conversation.

Sisi stiffened around her. “What do you mean by that?”

Oh no, had she said something unkind? She tried to explain. “Only what you said yourself: that you don’t know the right things to say or how to behave at court.”

“Like Maria Theresa, though.”

Helene turned her head.

“Maria Theresa was ruler for forty years, and she wasn’t proper at all,” Sisi went on.

“I suppose not,” Helene agreed, not sure where this was going.

“They say she rode horses through the hallways. She was a rogue.”

“I know, Sisi. We’ve read the same books.”

“It’s Elisabeth.” The word was pointed. Helene supposed she now knew that she was as forbidden from the nickname as her mother. It stung. Another wall up between them—and an unexpected one. Helene didn’t know what she’d done wrong.

“I’m sorry … Elisabeth.”

“It’s nothing,” her sister said, turning over to snuff out her lamp.

“Are you all right?” Helene whispered into the darkness.

“Yes, fine.”

“I didn’t mean to imply you wouldn’t be a good empress.”

“No—no—you didn’t.”

Helene stared out the window at the stars. What could be bothering her sister? Perhaps it was just too much, being here. It had been Helene’s idea to bring her, but perhaps Elisabeth would have been happier at home.

Oh.

It was about the empress comment. How could Helene have been so thoughtless? Talking about becoming empress was the same as talking about leaving Elisabeth. Helene hadn’t told Elisabeth that she was hoping to bring her to Vienna. Elisabeth didn’t know her sister’s plans. The thought was chastisement and relief all at once. Elisabeth must be grieving, and Helene talking so hopefully, so happily about her new life was a shot aimed at that grief. Elisabeth would miss her; Elisabeth still loved her.

Helene didn’t speak again. She’d let Elisabeth feel whatever she needed to feel, and tomorrow—perhaps—they could talk about Vienna. Then maybe they’d both feel better.

TWENTY-SEVEN

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HELENE WAS ASLEEP, BUT ELISABETH WAS DREAMING wide-awake. Sitting beside the window, inking out poetry by moonlight.