The room covered in gold brocade was one of the more familial rooms in the palace. Though too quaint to hold all eleven of the empress mother’s children, it was large enough to hold four of her seven daughters. We were spread out on overstuffed blue sofas and matching chairs. Mother had ordered the drapes, in blue as well, to be opened, so that we could better see the portrait of Ferdinand that sat covered in front of the marble fireplace. Near the front of the room, directly in front of the painting, sat Mother with my sister Josepha at her side.

Josepha was only a year older than me, but the difference between us could have been a vast cavern. Josepha tried to model herself after Elisabeth in both attitude and looks. She had little patience, especially for the likes of me, but spent as much time as she could doting on our eldest brother, Joseph, Mother’s coruler and heir apparent. Next to Josepha was her governess, the serious Countess Lerchenfeld.

Lerchenfeld was Mother’s intermediary in the care and upbringing of all of the empress mother’s daughters. It was Lerchenfeld’s duty to see that we had the best tutors, from music and dance to philosophy, so that the archduchesses would be the envy of the Holy Roman Empire. She also managed the other governesses, like Antoinette’s and my own vile warden, Countess von Brandis.

“Ladies, I believe that now that we are all here, we can begin the viewing,” Mother proclaimed with a little wave directing a servant to remove the burgundy cloth draped over the painting. For a moment, we all stared in silence. Shock, really. And then—I couldn’t help myself—a burst of laughter erupted from my gut and traveled to Antoinette. Mother snapped her head to us, her hawk eyes fixed on our uncouth behavior. I pressed my face into Antoinette’s shoulder, doing all that I could to hide my laughter.

“Well, he’s…” The words died on Elisabeth’s lips. There was no way to rectify the situation. The young king’s beady black eyes stared back at us. They were a little too close together, but they weren’t even the worst feature on his face. His nose, that poor bulbous appendage jutted out from his face like a beak. Only unlike a bird’s beak, it had a rounded bump at its tip that resided just above a pair of exceptionally large lips.

“He is by far the ugliest man I have ever seen!” I exclaimed as my sisters turned to me.

“Charlotte, that is enough. We do not need your commentary,” Mother said, not bothering to look at me. “This will be a most fortuitous marriage.”

“For him, maybe,” Antoinette whispered in my ear. I snorted as everyone’s eyes turned back to me.

“According to his tutors, he is of amazing health,” Countess Lerchenfeld stated. “He is strong and well loved by his people.”

“At least he has that,” Antoinette murmured.

“Ladies, I believe we have seen enough. You may leave. I would like to speak with Countess Lerchenfeld alone.” My sisters all got up and filed out of the room, but I slipped behind the ornate door. Pressing my ear to the gap between the hinges and the wall, I listened intently to the two women discuss my sister and her future husband.