BooksBarbecue
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

Another wave of shame knocked Helene’s heart over. Helene had been working so hard for love, and it had come to Sisi by accident. So easily. What a fool Helene had been the whole time. It was just like their childhood: Sisi so easily loved, Helene so invisible.

“He called me to his rooms last night.”

Helene’s head jerked up in surprise and horror.

“But I left, Helene! I left. I chose you. You have to believe me.”

Sisi took Helene’s ice-cold hands in her warm ones, but Helene pulled them back. She turned her head away from her sister, focused on the corner of a window thrown wide, the sun staring unbearably down.

“I never wanted to be empress. I only wanted—him.”

The tenderness in Sisi’s voice ended the conversation for Helene. She stormed past her sister, throwing the door open. Her voice was cold. “Don’t follow me. Don’t speak to me. Don’t ever come near me again.”

THIRTY-FIVE

image

THE BALLROOM WAS EMPTY EXCEPT FOR FRANZ, Sophie, and Ludovika.

“Everyone out,” Sophie had said simply, and their guests had all retreated. That was her power. The power Franz had challenged.

Challenged when Elisabeth’s eyes flickered up to his and the nightmare and the doubts had simply fled. If anyone was going to wake with him in the throes of a nightmare, he wanted it to be her. If anyone was going to face the danger brewing in Habsburg at his side, he wanted it to be her.

He still wasn’t sure if something as fragile and perfect as what was between them could survive this world. But he was ready to try.

His mother spoke quietly, firmly. “This woman will become the empress of the second-largest empire on earth. You’ve had fun with your little game, but now the joke is over.”

Franz steadied his nerves, his voice. “It’s not a joke, Mother.”

Sophie’s face was incredulous, her fists tight at her sides. “Franz, I thought long and hard about which woman is right for Habsburg. Remember that we are fulfilling a divine duty.”

Franz took a deep breath. This was the real test. Him and Mother face-to-face. The guilt crashed against him in waves. She’d saved his life, and he was repaying her with trouble, with a choice that toppled her strategic plans.

“Helene is so well prepared, Your Majesty.” Ludovika bowed as she spoke, stepped toward him. “She will be no trouble to you.”

As if trouble was the problem here. As if he’d made this decision because he felt Helene was troublesome.

“Sisi is still so …” Ludovika was still speaking, and Franz turned to face her, eyes hard, daring her to say something negative about the woman he loved. She paused, choosing her last word with care: “… young.”